Berkeley engineers frequently win awards for scientific achievements — but it’s not every day they win an Oscar. Last weekend, as a lead-up to the Oscar ceremony Feb. 22, EECS professor James O’Brien was awarded a technical achievement Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his contribution to special effects.

Energy and resources professor John Harte has studied a plot of land in the Rocky Mountains for 23 years to determine the effects of warming on the environment, and documented a warming and drying of the soil that leads to fewer wildflowers and more shrubs. Surprisingly, nearby mountain meadows and grasslands are already showing such ecosystem changes due to global warming.

Since the recent outbreak of measles, there's been a lot of anger at parents who won't vaccinate their children — but little attention to subtle psychological biases that can contribute to their unwillingness to actively "intervene," writes psychology professor Tania Lombrozo.

It's never too soon to start making plans for summer fun — and around Berkeley, that means camp. UC Berkeley offers dozens of options for families, and registration is open now.

Engagements and weddings are a part of the Campanile's 100-year-history. The airy observation deck gives proposals a lift; the esplanade below is a busy wedding site.

Cal Performances today announced the launch of a bold new program with ambitious aims: to cultivate public artistic literacy and create cultural access for diverse future audiences in the digital age. The project is aptly named for a UC Berkeley-based initiative: Berkeley RADICAL.

Google Inc. has given $1 million to the UC’s Lick Observatory in what astronomer Alex Filippenko hopes is the first of many private gifts to support an invaluable teaching and research resource for the state. The unrestricted funds, spread over two years, will go toward general expenses, augmenting the $1.5 million the UC Office of the President gives annually to operate the mountaintop observatory for the 10-campus UC system.

Campus scholars reflect on recent #BlackLivesMatter protests — from Ferguson, Missouri to the Golden Bear Cafe — in a timely African American studies online publication, Insurgency: The Black Matter(s) Issue.

For sci-fi fan David Litt, a chemistry grad student, it's not OK if the atmosphere around an imagined planet is made of highly explosive gasses. What do sci-fi writers themselves say about plausibility? Read Litt's blog post in Berkeley Science Review.

Biomass conversion to electricity combined with new technologies for capturing and storing carbon, which should become viable within 35 years, could result in a carbon-negative power grid in the Western U.S. by 2050. That prediction comes from an analysis by professor Daniel Kammen and grad student Daniel Sanchez of the energy & resources group.

The pioneering spirit of UC Berkeley is reflected in the new main campus website, which launched Saturday, Feb. 7. The site features a mix of compelling campus stories, powerful videos, social media feeds and a lovingly detailed historical section with five timelines and 248 milestones with images or videos.

The University of California will phase in a plan to require all incoming students to be screened for tuberculosis and to prove they're vaccinated against hepatitis B, measles, mumps and rubella; meningococcus; varicella (chicken pox); and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough).

W. Norton Grubb, a prolific scholar who was the David Pierpont Gardner Professor in Higher Education at UC Berkeley and emeritus at the Graduate School of Education, died recently on a trip to Taipei. He was 67.

At the end of this semester, Cal Golden Bears champion swimmer Missy Franklin will turn pro, though she will continue her studies and training on campus. In a new NewsCenter video and a cover story in the NCAA magazine, she talks about her life at Berkeley and her future as a pro.

The University of California has posted information for its employees, retirees and students who might have been affected by the security breach and theft of data from Anthem, the health insurance giant.

Jonathan Bray, professor of geotechnical engineering, and Clayton Radke, professor of chemical engineering, are among 67 new members and 12 foreign members elected to the National Academy of Engineering Thursday, Feb. 5.

UC Berkeley and UCSF scientists joined colleagues from the biopharmaceutical industry on Feb. 4 to celebrate the launch of the Innovative Genomics Initiative, which aims to perfect gene editing technology discovered at Berkeley and apply it to the development of new drugs to fight disease globally.

UC Berkeley scientists have found the mechanism by which titanium, prized for its high strength-to-weight ratio and natural resistance to corrosion, becomes brittle with just a few extra atoms of oxygen. The discovery could potentially lead to more practical, cost-effective use of titanium in a broader range of applications, including vehicles, buildings and bridges.

The MacArthur Foundation has honored the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center for its investigations and research on war crimes and human rights abuses with a 2015 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The award, announced Thursday, Feb. 5, comes with $1 million, which the center will use to establish an endowment and to expand its sexual violence program.

The Bakar Fellows Program, now entering its fourth year, is inviting applications from other early career professors interested in innovative research that hold commercial promise.