University of California Video Podcasts (Video)

Geckos are renowned for their acrobatic feats on land and in the air, but a new discovery that they can also run on water puts them in the superhero category, says a University of California, Berkeley biologist. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 34480]

Dafina Toncheva invests in emerging technologies in the enterprise space with focus on Enterprise SaaS applications and security. She recounts her personal history; born and raised in Bulgaria with its political instability and financial hardships and her road to success. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Show ID: 34369]

A new fly-through of the fly brain allows anyone to whizz past neurons and visit any of the 40 million synapses where neurons touch neuron. Its a super-resolution view of the complex network connections in the insects brain that underlie behaviors ranging from feeding to mating.

Whats unprecedented, however, is that this 3D map over the whole fly brain, which shows details as small as 60 nanometers across, was captured in less than three days.

While the level of detail is not quite as good as that obtained with an electron microscope, efforts to fully map the neurons and synapses of the fly brain with EM have taken 10 years and the efforts of dozens of people. The new map was obtained a thousand times faster by combining two state-of-the-art techniques, expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 34478]

There are a variety of careers in the technology field that are potentially interesting to many. Find out about career paths in engineering and IT. From coding bootcamp to cybersecurity find out how to start or change your career. Series: "Career Channel" [Show ID: 34397]

Most hummingbirds have bills and tongues exquisitely designed to slip inside a flower, lap up nectar and squeeze every last drop of precious sugar water from their tongue to fuel their frenetic lifestyle.

But in the tropics of South America, University of California, Berkeley, scientists are finding that some male hummers have traded efficient feeding for bills that are better at stabbing and plucking other hummingbirds as they fend off rivals for food and mates. The males weaponized bills are good not only for pulling feathers and pinching skin, but also wrestling their rivals away from prime feeding spots. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Show ID: 34479]

The Trump Administration has an anti-ISIS military policy but has zeroed out reconstruction support for areas that have been liberated from ISIS in Syria. It has an anti-Iranian policy both rhetorically and economically, but it leaves containing the spread of Iran and the Shia militias in Syria to Israel and to the Russians and leaves Israel on its own to deal with the Russians. It has declared it will present a peace plan for the Israelis and Palestinians but at this point is unable to deal directly with the Palestinian Authority. In all these areas, there are elements of a policy but inconsistencies as well. The gap between objectives and means remains wide. Can it be bridged? Will we see an effective strategy for the area? And, what would an effective strategy look like? Dennis Ross will cover all this in his lecture. Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Show ID: 34373]

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" [Show ID: 34476]

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" [Show ID: 34477]

Most people are part-Neanderthal, the closest extinct human relative. Svante Pääbo explores human genetic evolution by analyzing preserved genetic material from the remains of ancient organisms, including Neanderthals. He explores his findings on interbreeding of Neanderthals and modern humans. Series: "Scripps Institution of Oceanography" [Show ID: 34458]

Whether your cesarean section was planned or unexpected this video will prepare you by explaining when you might need the procedure, what the process is like and what "gentle" cesarean means. Series: "Motherhood Channel" [Show ID: 34366]