Lights and ethereal music met history, technology and seismology Tuesday night in the kickoff to the Campanile’s centennial celebration, the first of many events scheduled throughout the year.

Cal Athletics' first All-American football player (he played from 1916 to 1918), Walter Gordon continued to be a trailblazer after graduation, in fields including policing and law. He served as Governor of the Virgin Islands and a federal judge. Read undergrad Allison Spivack's piece on a remarkable life.

Paul R. Gray, former UC Berkeley executive vice chancellor and provost and former dean of the College of Engineering, has been honored with the naming of a distinguished faculty chair endowed by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and his wife, Betty.

Most people eat and drink too much sugar — way too much. So UC Berkeley's Health*Matters program is issuing a 21-day sugar challenge encouraging people to cut back. It starts Feb. 9, and email registration is open.

The yearlong celebration of the Campanile’s centennial kicks off this evening (Tuesday, Feb. 3) with three 10-minute multimedia performances at the tower.

Those who have done time in jail or prison face unique challenges as scholars at UC Berkeley. Through their campus organization 'Underground Scholars,' formerly incarcerated students work to beat the odds and change the system.

Taking in such spine-tingling wonders as the Grand Canyon, Sistine Chapel ceiling or Schubert’s “Ave Maria” may give a boost to the body’s defense system.

The deadline is Feb. 13 for nominations for the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, which honors an alumnus who has distinguished record of service to his or her country.

On a campus visit, Goldie Blumenstyk, a longtime reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, discussed the perils and promise of colleges and universities with Carol Christ, director of Berkeley's Center for the Study of Higher Education.

Berkeley professor Judith Butler received the insignia of the French Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters in special ceremonies in San Francisco.

Never-seen-before work by the famed San Francisco music photographer will be on exhibit starting Feb. 6 in the Reva and David Logan Gallery of Documentary Photography at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. “The Haight: Love, Rock & Revolution" will run through May at North Gate Hall.

Michael Pollan's opening lecture for Edible Education 101 at UC Berkeley this spring drew a crowd in person and online Monday. His talk on food and the many ways it matters is now viewable online

Berkeley rapper Brandon “Lil B” McCartney drew a big crowd to Memorial Glade Friday night, performing with his group, The Pack, for a free Spring Welcome Week concert sponsored by UC Berkeley’s ASUC and New Student Services. He brought down the house with his hit "Vans."

Why is contemporary terrorism "disproportionately Islamist?" asks political scientist Steven Fish, author of Are Muslims Distinctive?. Writing for the Washington Post research blog "Monkey Cage," Fish debunks standard explanations and invites readers to indulge in some futuristic thinking.

UC Berkeley physicists used partially entangled atoms identical to the qubits in a quantum computer to demonstrate more precisely than ever before - to one part in a billion billion - that space is uniform in all directions and not squeezed.

Charles Hard Townes, a professor emeritus of physics who built the first microwave amplifier -- the maser -- and designed the first laser, died Jan. 27 at the age of 99. After receiving the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics, he went on to pioneer the use of lasers in astronomy.

Global food, global politics and Cal Day — just a sample from the menu of events at Berkeley this spring. This semester brings discussion of women in the world, an exhibit by legendary music photographer Jim Marshall, the National Parks centennial, and opera star Cecilia Bartoli. Berkeley’s Campanile rings in its 100th birthday with celebrations across campus.

The former city and now archaeological site called Cantona in the highlands east of Mexico City appears to have been abandoned nearly 1,000 years ago as a result of a prolonged dry spell that lasted about 650 years, according to a new study by geography graduate student Tripti Bhattacharya and professor Roger Byrne.

A new study shows that average salaries for underrepresented minority faculty members trail those of their white male counterparts by 1 to 1.8 percent, with gaps between women and white males slightly larger. The report calls for further research to investigate reasons for the differences, and lays out measures to make salaries more equitable.

New research moves the wonder material graphene a major step closer to knocking silicon off as the dominant workhorse of the electronics industry. While silicon is ubiquitous in semiconductors and integrated circuits, scientists have been eyeing graphene ­because of the ultrafast speed with which electrons can zip through the material.