Biological Sciences

When Professor Gül Dölen joined UC Berkeley’s neuroscience and psychology departments in January 2024, the influential scientist got to work designing her new lab and office. Now, after an extensive renovation, Dölen can finally reveal the results, complete with dinosaur brain replicas, a wall-to-wall bookshelf, colorful floor tiles, trippy Beatles posters, and all manner of octopus paraphernalia.

This week, seven UC Berkeley faculty — representing academic fields from philosophy to molecular biology to engineering — were named members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Academy, chartered in 1780, was established to recognize accomplished individuals and engage them in addressing the greatest challenges facing the U.S. The 252 new electees encompass leaders in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research and science, and include the actor Jodie...

Two unrelated groups of nectar eaters, hummingbirds and sunbirds, evolved different techniques to slurp the sweet liquid from flowers. The tongue suctioning employed by sunbirds is unique among vertebrates.

While we often think of hummingbirds as sucking nectar from flowers, they’re not sucking the way we suction juice through a straw — they’re really sponging up nectar with their tongues and squeezing the juice into their mouths by compressing their tongues with their beaks.

Humans are naturally able from birth to use mouth suction to draw in liquid, but it’s not...