UC Berkeley (Audio)

Being okay with solitude improves your relationships. Sherry Turkle discusses identity and relationships with the following idea in mind: if you do not learn how to be alone you will only know how to be lonely. Series: "Excerpts" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 34650]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey. In the conversation topics covered included her formative experiences, her education, and the evolution of her thinking about the impact of the objects of the cyber world--computers, internet, cell phones, and robots--on the essential elements of identity formation--solitude, conversation, and empathy. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34497]

Highlights of the unique design and construction of UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium retrofit project, completed in 2012. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Science] [Show ID: 34492]

California reached its goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels four years ahead of the 2020 target date. Robert Epstein, co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs, takes a look at what is and is not working as we plan for an additional 40% reduction by 2030. He also examines California's role in reducing worldwide emissions in both developing and developed countries. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 34463]

The opening of a 4,500-square-foot universal locker room at UC Berkeley's Recreational Sports Facility (RSF) is believed to be the first large-scale collegiate universal locker room in California and one of just a few in the nation. Any students or other RSF members needing more privacy, including those who are transgender, non-binary or have disabilities or body image struggles, will find a welcoming facility next door to the men's and women's locker rooms.

The $2.7 million locker room has its own entrance, 400 lockers, 16 individual changing rooms, seven private showers, five private toilets and four shared sinks. It also leads to Spieker Pool, which, in the past, some students avoided, since it was only accessible through the existing locker rooms. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34494]

When you get sick, you want the right treatment fast. But certain infectious microbes are experts at evading the very anti-bacterial drugs designed to fight them. A simple and inexpensive new test developed by UC Berkeley researchers can diagnose patients with antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria in a matter of minutes. The technique could help doctors prescribe the right antibiotics for each infection, and could help limit the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, which kill as many as 700,000 people worldwide each year. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34493]

CalSol, the UC Berkeley solar vehicle team, has been around since 1990. Over the years the team has created eight generations of solar vehicles, each one getting closer to being ready for you. They have tested out at 80 mph, although generally they go in the 40-mph range after a charge of between four and five hours. The CalSol team designs, builds and tests these cars, including the current standard bearer, Zephyr. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Science] [Show ID: 34483]

Psych 24 is a one-unit, pass/no pass UC Berkeley freshman seminar that uses madcap improvisational theater to teach about the science of the human mind. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Education] [Show ID: 34481]

When were in pain, we have a hard time sleeping. But how does poor sleep affect pain? For the first time, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have answered that question by identifying neural glitches in the sleep-deprived brain that can intensify and prolong the agony of sickness and injury.

Their findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, help explain the self-perpetuating cycles contributing to the overlapping global epidemics of sleep loss, chronic pain and even opioid addiction. A 2015 National Sleep Foundation poll found that two in three chronic pain patients suffer from reoccurring sleep disruptions.

If poor sleep intensifies our sensitivity to pain, as this study demonstrates, then sleep must be placed much closer to the center of patient care, especially in hospital wards, said study senior author Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of neuroscience and psychology. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34477]

Recent UC Berkeley doctoral graduate, Rebecca Sorla Portnoff, uses her computer security know-how to help catch sex traffickers. She creates computer codes that help identify similarities in traffickers' online ads and find the Bitcoin accounts they use to buy the ads. Since graduating in 2017, Rebecca has been working for THORN: Digital Defenders of Children, an organization that builds technology to fight sexual abuse of children. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Science] [Show ID: 34476]