Aug. 16, 2018 – A new interactive data explorer from the Labor Center at UC Berkeley offers an in-depth look at the people who make up California’s low-wage workforce. The analysis finds that one in three (32 percent) working Californians has a low-wage job, defined in the data explorer as a job that pays less than […]
UC Berkeley
Posted inEnviro
Environmental regulations drove steep declines in U.S. factory pollution
Aug. 9, 2018 – The federal Clean Air Act and associated environmental regulations have driven steep declines in air pollution emissions over the past several decades, even as U.S. manufacturers increased production, a study by two University of California, Berkeley, economists has shown. The study, forthcoming in the American Economic Review, found that polluting emissions […]
Posted inUS
Trump’s Helsinki press conference is sign of ‘textbook treason,’ Russia expert argues
July 18, 2018 – A long-time analyst of Russian politics said President Donald Trump’s deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin has done more to destabilize the western world order than any other effort by Russian or Soviet agents since the start of the Cold War. “Russia’s goal is undermining the West and NATO and undermining […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Study: Welfare backlash tied to white fear of declining status
May 30, 2018 – White Americans’ fear of losing their socioeconomic standing in the face of demographic change may be driving opposition to welfare programs, even though whites are major beneficiaries of government poverty assistance, according to new research from UC Berkeley and Stanford University. While social scientists have long posited that racial resentment fuels […]
Posted inRegional
Berkeley alum uncovers mystery of John Muir’s Sierra Nevada hut
March 6, 2018 – UC Berkeley alumnus Doug Harnsberger was hiking along California’s scenic John Muir Trail a few years ago when he came across a stone hut at the top of 11,955-foot Muir Pass, inside Kings Canyon National Park. Harnsberger, a 1977 graduate in environmental design and architecture, is a trained historical architect and […]
Posted inRegional
100 million dead trees in the Sierra are a massive risk for unpredictable wildfires
January 19, 2018 – To drive through parts of the Sierra Nevada these days is to witness a morbid reminder of California’s extreme drought: Vast landscapes of standing dead trees, a brown tide sweeping across the green landscape. It’s more than eerie; it’s a dangerously combustible situation, argues a new publication from Berkeley fire scientists. […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Which came first: Complex life or high atmospheric oxygen?
January 4, 2018 – We and all other animals wouldn’t be here today if our planet didn’t have a lot of oxygen in its atmosphere and oceans. But how crucial were high oxygen levels to the transition from simple, single-celled life forms to the complexity we see today? A study by University of California, Berkeley […]
Posted inCalifornia
Study: Gun deaths, injuries in California spike following Nevada gun shows
Oct. 24, 2017 – When gun shows are held in Nevada, gun-related deaths and injuries spike across the state line in California for at least the next two weeks. A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, examined gun deaths and injuries in California before and after gun shows in California and […]
Posted inCalifornia
Poll: California voters worry about housing costs, consider packing up
Sept. 19, 2017 – A whopping 56 percent of California voters surveyed for the latest Berkeley IGS Poll say they have considered moving because of the high cost of housing, with one in four saying if they decided to pack up, they’d probably leave the state. California housing costs are hardly news, but a new […]
Posted inUncategorized
Heavily used pesticide linked to breathing problems in farmworkers’ children
Aug. 14, 2017 – Elemental sulfur, the most heavily used pesticide in California, may harm the respiratory health of children living near farms that use the pesticide, according to new research led by UC Berkeley. In a study of children in the Salinas Valley’s agricultural community, researchers found significant associations between elemental sulfur use and […]
Posted inCalifornia
Climate policies study shows Inland Empire economic boon
Aug. 4, 2017 – According to the first comprehensive study of the economic effects of climate programs in California’s Inland Empire, Riverside and San Bernardino counties experienced a net benefit of $9.1 billion in direct economic activity and 41,000 jobs from 2010 through 2016. Researchers at UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education and the Center for Law, Energy […]
Posted inRegional
Total Solar Eclipse 2017: Here’s what you’ll see on Aug. 21
June 13, 2017 – Are you wondering what the total solar eclipse in late summer will look like from your patio? Or where to travel to get the best view of the eclipse? A unique simulator produced by the Eclipse Megamovie Project – a collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley and Google – has […]
Posted inRegional
Study refutes findings behind challenge to Sierra Nevada forest restoration
May 9, 2017 – A study led by ecologists at UC Berkeley has found significant flaws in the research used to challenge the U.S. Forest Service plan to restore Sierra Nevada forests to less dense, and less fire-prone, environments. Until recently, the consensus among forest ecologists was that before European settlers arrived in the Sierra, […]
Posted inEnviro
Fossil record should help guide conservation in a changing world
Feb. 14, 2017 – Scientists are joining lawyers, policymakers and writers to urge conservationists not only to save species, but also to preserve a diverse array of ecosystem structures and functions in the face of rising populations and changing climate. This could include allowing some species to disappear from some areas if that means a […]
Posted inCalifornia
California Climate Policies Bringing Over $13 Billion to San Joaquin Valley
Jan. 20, 2017 – Amid concerns about the economic and employment impacts of California’s ambitious climate policies, CLEE and its research partners have conducted the first comprehensive, academic study of the costs and benefits of these policies on the San Joaquin Valley. Together with UC Berkeley’s Donald Vial Center on Employment in the Green Economy, […]
Posted inCalifornia
Research on Fresno shows $15 California minimum wage has big impact on pay, none on jobs
BERKELEY, Jan. 12, 2017 – For the first time, economists at the University of California, Berkeley have measured the likely pay and job impacts of California’s scheduled statewide $15 minimum wage increase by 2023. The law will raise wages for 5.26 million workers in California over the next six years, they say. Larger paychecks for […]
Posted inCalifornia
ACA repeal could cost California more than 200,000 jobs
Berkeley, Calif. December 27, 2016 – New research from the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education shows that repealing the Affordable Care Act would not only take away health insurance from millions of Californians, but would also eliminate 209,000 jobs and cost the state economy $20.3 billion in GDP. The work […]
Posted inSci/Tech
UC Berkeley quake-detection app captured nearly 400 temblors worldwide
Dec. 14, 2016 – UC Berkeley’s worldwide network of smartphone earthquake detectors has recorded nearly 400 earthquakes since the MyShake app was made available for download in February, with one of the most active areas of the world the fracking fields of Oklahoma. The Android app harnesses a smartphone’s motion detectors to measure earthquake ground […]
Posted inUS
Statistician calls for audit to address presidential election hacking fears
Nov. 22, 2016 – With the Electoral College set on Dec. 19 to cement the results of Donald Trump’s presidential win, UC Berkeley statistician Philip Stark is calling for an audit to double-check that hackers did not manipulate the results. In an op-ed in USA Today, Stark and MIT cryptographer Ron Rivest, both advisors on […]