UC Berkeley

In the summer of 1967, more than 150 riots broke out in Black communities across the country, protesting racial injustice. President Johnson then called a special commission to investigate, which produced an unusual document, called the Kerner Report, which analyzed the reasons why Black communities were frustrated and rising up.

Carol Christ called this a "free speech" year when she took over as the UC Berkeley chancellor. But a conservative student group called Berkeley Patriot co-opted that language in advertising a "free speech week" – which was supposed to be taking place right now.

Three years ago a major earthquake rattled the Bay Area. Napa Valley was hit the hardest: 200 people were injured, one person died and the total financial damage in the area was almost a billion dollars. It was also the first time an experimental early warning system called Shake Alert notified researchers of a major quake before it actually happened. If researchers secure enough funding, we may have more time to duck, cover and hold on before the next big one.

Wednesday marks the first day of classes at the University of California, Berkeley, which means it’s also the first day of classes for new Chancellor Carol Christ.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the number of immigrant workers in the U.S. has tripled since 1970. As foreign born workers and their children make homes in the U.S., they often face a society that sees them as 'other.'

Ever wonder what that building is connected to the Ashby BART station in South Berkeley?

Clerical workers at the University of California went on strike across the state on Tuesday to push forward contract negotiations.

Imagine that cars that are no longer dependent on fossil fuels. Instead of gasoline, they’d run on a new fuel—called butanol—that’s made, with the help of bacteria, from three simple ingredients: sunlight, air and water.

Western literature’s most important books have been translated, not once, but many times. The book at the top of the charts is the Bible: more than 100 translations, and that’s just in English.

All week long, we've been playing this sound and asking you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it.

Chris Peeples is president of the AC Transit Board of Directors. He takes the bus to get to work and to doctor’s appointments; he had a stroke five years ago and doesn’t walk easily, even with a cane. In the last year, his professional and medical lives have collided in an unexpected way.

U.C. Berkeley is known for its world-class scientists, in disciplines like physics, chemistry or biology. 

Some scientists are saying that you can’t talk about the global refugee crisis without talking about another crisis: climate change.

It’s Friday morning at Lighthouse Charter School in East Oakland, and the kids in Ms. Baumert’s ninth grade class have a visitor. 

It’s a sunny, April afternoon at Richmond College Prep School. Around 20 fourth graders fidget at their tables near their outdoor garden. Each table is covered with placemats, bowls, cutting boards, and a recipe.

Throughout film history, the Golden Gate Bridge has been leveled in earthquakes, ripped apart by apes, melted, and even bitten in half by a mega-shark.

But how would the iconic span fare in more realistic disaster scenarios? We're going to take a close look at three very real situations – overcrowding, a tsunami, and an earthquake – and find out if those disasters could bring down the Golden Gate Bridge.

Hassan Astaneh is a professor of structural engineering and bridge engineering at UC Berkeley.

The LA Times recently published an editorial that reported that California’s reservoirs are currently storing only about a year’s worth of water supply. Significant storms could still add to that supply, but it’s daunting data, coming at the tail end of the traditional wet season.

There’s a science to happiness. And one of the centers for its study is right here in the Bay Area.

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley studies human happiness, compassion and altruism. KALW's Hana Baba wanted to find out the formula, so she went to the center and sat down with its co-director Dacher Keltner, author of the book, Born To Be Good.