Golden Nuggets: A Perfect 10, Coevolution, and the Secret to Love

Mya, Coffee, and even MORE awards!

Mya, Mya, Mya!

Mya oh Mya! Mya Lauzon had herself quite a week at the Big Meet this past Friday where Cal narrowly defeated Stanford thanks in part to Mya’s PERFECT 10 Floor Routine. With the score, Mya became the first Golden Bear to earn a perfect 10 across three events and was named ACC Gymnast of the Week for the 2nd straight and third time this season. Mya was also named Inside Gymnastics Gymnast of the Week. What a week, and keep it up Mya!

Love Is In The Air

With Calentine’s Day around the corner, a local television station in Wisconsin profiled Elaine Spaulding and Arthur Aron, two UC Berkeley graduates and psychologists who will celebrate 50 years of marriage this Thursday with their families in Mexico City. Elaine and Aron would go on to long distinguishes careers and coauthored the 1997 study “The 36 Questions that Lead To Love” (Question 1: What are your thoughts on the California Golden Bears.). Congrats Elaine and Arthur!

For those looking for love, consider attending the speed-dating event at Downtown Berkeley BART sponsored by BART!

FRESH POTS!!!!!!!!

Recently, UC Berkeley has put together a number of YouTube videos and collected them in a playlist called “101 in 101,” the premise being that a faculty member explains a basic scientific principle or research topic at the University (the 101) in 101 seconds. This week, Integrative Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology Professor Noah Whiteman explains the long and bloody coevolutionary war that gave us that good good brown juice, Coffee and Caffeine! Thanks Coevolution!

2024 Regents Foster Youth Award

Continuing #AwardSZN, Alishba Sardar (Master in Social Welfare ‘25) was selected as a recipient of one of the Regents Foster Youth Award. “This award is a tribute to her talent, fortitude, and perseverance to succeed academically and personally in the face of challenges. The Selection Committee was especially impressed not only with her service as a peer leader for the Berkeley Hope Scholars(opens in a new tab) community, but also with her impact on state and national policy. Her achievements serve as examples to us all.” Congrats Alishba!

How many lawyer jokers are there?

One. The rest are true stories.

UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky was recently named the American Bar Foundation’s 2025 Outstanding Scholar Award for his work in the scholarship in law and government. “The Outstanding Scholar Award is given annually to an individual who has engaged in outstanding scholarship in law or government. This year, the ABF recognizes Chemerinsky for his commitment to the study of US constitutional law and civil procedure, as well as for his leadership at the University of California, Berkeley.” Congrats Dean!

UC Berkeley Night at Candlestick Park AT&T Park Oracle Park and the SAP Center

The San Francisco Giants just announced their promotional schedule for the 2025 Season, including UC Berkeley Night on Friday April 25th! Get your tickets now for these sweet sweet uniforms.

The Sharks also announced Cal Night March 29.

Ron Rivera on Radio Row

In the year that continues to be weird, Ron Rivera was recently announced to have some to be determine future role within Cal Athletics related to Football. Just after the announcement, Ron was on hand at Radio Row during the leadup to the Super Bowl this past week and caught up with Friend of the Progruhm Pat McAfee.

All-Access with Charmin Smith and Marta Suárez

The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show (podcast) this week interviewed Cal Head Coach Charmin Smith and Marta Suárez “about the surprising success of the Golden Bears in their first year in the ACC and the culture that this eclectic group has developed in Berkeley.” Give it a listen here on Apple Podcasts or here on Spotify.

National Period Table Day

This past Friday, the nation proudly celebrated National UC Berkeley Is The Best Periodic Table Day. UC Berkeley of course is credited with discovering or assisting in the discovery of 16 elements according to this perfectly preserved Lawrence Berkeley National Lab website from June 7, 1999. For those keeping score at home, that’s UC Berkeley - 16, Stanford - 0. Celebrate wisely with some Californium!

Rewilding Berkeley’s Campus

The Daily Cal posted an OpEd this week on the Re:wild Berkeley Chapter which aims to reduce herbicide use on campus in favor of organic weed management. It’s a good read and all got started by Mackenzie Feldman and Bridget Gustafson, two Cal beach volleyball players. Give it a read here!

Golden Bear Honors

• Mya was Mya

• Cal Baseball opens this Friday!

• The Daily Cal profiled the Cal Boxing Club

• Cal Ice Hockey is going to Regionals!

• Cal Lightweight Rowing needs your help rigging an election! Vote for them here and help them get some money for equipment and transportation!

• Cal Hockey put together a nice video of Senior Night against San Jose State

• Women’s Swim and Dive ranked #6 heading into the postseason

• Men’s Swim and Dive ranked #3

• Women’s Gymnastics ranked #7

• The Cal Campus now features Nobel Laureate parking for bicycles

• John Goode was named January’s Gatorade Student Athlete of the Month

• Marta Suárez picked up her 500th Career Rebound

• Jeremiah Wilkinson was named ACC Rookie of the Week

• Mykolas Alekna was named to the Bowerman Mid-Indoor Watch List

• Giavonna Meeks was named the ACC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week

• Matteo Bardana was named the MPSF Freshman of the Week

• Kristin Persson, Stuart Russell and David Schaffer (Engineering Faculty) were named to the National Academy of Engineering

• American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton (written by Lise Pearlman ’74 along with her husband Peter Benvenutti ’74) which won six best documentary awards, is airing Feb 10 on KQED

Cal Athletics Round Up

• Cal Ice Hockey advanced to the Pac-8 Championship with a win over USC before losing to Washington in the title game

• Cal Men’s Basketball completed the sweep against NC State. Rich Lyons joined them post game. They later lost to Wake Forest.

• Women’s Basketball lost to Louisville and Notre Dame.

• Softball beat Minnesota and lost to Maryland, beat Utah and Maryland, and lost to ASU.

• Women’s Gymnastics beat Stanford.

• Track and Field placed 9th each in Men’s and Women’s division in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic.

• Women’s Water Polo beat San Jose State and Pacific.

• Lacrosse beat UC Davis.

• Men’s Gymnastics lost to Air Force.

• Rugby rugbied UCLA.

Cal Pros Round Up

• Nikko Remigio rocked some custom Filipino-themed cleats during the Super Bowl and 89 yards on four returns (well there’s your problem Chiefs…)

• Michael Kim took 2nd at the WM Phoenix Open over the weekend

• Max Homa sat down with ESPN for a nice interview

• Anthony Ervin was named to the 2025 International Swimming Hall of Fame

• Georgia Bell won the Wanamaker Mile at the 117th Millrose Games and set a personal best of 4:23.36

• Cam Jordan officially launched the Cam Jordan Foundation Legacy Scholarship Program and received the Bart Starr Award

• Cal retains their 5th place ranking in all time points scored in the Super Bowl

• Jaylon Tyson showed some muscle

• Cam Bynum showed off those sweet moves

• Jared and Christen Goff announced they’re expecting!

Next Week in Berkeley

• 2/12 Cal Men’s Basketball plays some school in Durham, NC

• 2/13-2/15- Men’s Golf competes at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii

• 2/13 Women’s Basketball plays Boston College on Sneakerhead Night

• 2/14-2/15 Track and Field competes in the Husky Classic in Seattle

• 2/14 Lacrosse plays USC

• 2/14-2/16 Softball plays Oregon State, Saint Mary’s, Kansas, Iowa State, and Southern Utah in the Wilson Invitational

• 2/14 Women’s Gymnastics faces Utah State and Texas Women’s University in the Metroplex Challenge

• 2/14-2/17 Baseball opens the season against Nevada

• 2/15 Men’s Tennis plays UC Davis

• 2/15 Women’s Water Polo plays UC Davis

• 2/15 Rugby plays Grand Canyon

• 2/15 Men’s Basketball plays Georgia Tech

• 2/16 Rugby plays University of British Columbia

• 2/16 Women’s Basketball plays Syracuse

• 2/17-2/22 Women’s Swimming and Diving starts the ACC Championships

• 2/18-2/22 Men’s Swimming and Diving Starts the ACC Championships

Well. We made it. What a week. As always, drop what I forgot in the comments! And until next time, I’m going to coevolve with coffee to figure out an even faster brewing method.