In 2013, the University of California, Berkeley, debuted a course to teach undergraduates the tricks used by scientists to make sense of the world, in the hope that these tricks would prove useful in assessing the claims and counterclaims that bombard us every day.
It was launched by three UC Berkeley professors — a physicist, a philosopher and a psychologist — in response to a world afloat in misinformation and disinformation, where politicians were making policy decisions based on ideas that, if not demonstrably wrong, were at least untested and uncertain.
The class,...
Five individual staff members from the College of Letters & Science were recipients of the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards (COSA) this spring. One of the highest honors bestowed upon staff by the Chancellor, and the COSA awards are presented to staff members and teams who 'demonstrate exceptional initiative to create significant...