Golden Nuggets: Earth Day, EDSBS Charity Bowl 2026, and Academic Awards

I definitely remember diophantine geometry, including the proof of the Atkin-Swinnerton-Dyer unbounded denominators conjecture from my Math 1B course.

Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets, our weekly recap article where we try to highlight all the fun, funny, or interesting things you might have missed roughly over the last week across Bear Territory (the whole damn world of course). Think of it like a cheat sheet for small talk about Cal.

The Main Course: Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day (Week/Month/Every Day is Earth Day!). Officially, Earth Day was yesterday (4/22), but there are a number of activities and places happening all throughout Berkeley, the Bay Area, and the world! Get out and help make the world a better place! Oski commands it!

For those of you local, you can join in up the hill at the Lawrence Hall of Science, or go hang out on the Glade. Or plant some trees down at the Berkeley Waterfront. Or get your plant starts over at King Middle School. Or join the Wild and Scenic Film Festival at the David Brower Center. Or just find something local to you! Happy Earth Day Friends.

Hot Links

• SF Gate caught up with known Write For California tailgate attender Zack Follett. See what he’s up to here.

• Berkeley News put together an article examining the impacts UC Berkeley grads can have in rural communities in case you need more anti-Fox News talking points

• Four UC Berkeley professors were named Guggenheim Fellows. Congrats to Elena Conis, Rasmus Nielsen, Michael Yartsev, and Hannah Zeavin!

• The media pieces keep coming. SF Standard sat down with Tosh Lupoi after Spring Ball to talk about his return to Berkeley.

Small Bites

• CBS Sports ranked every returning Power Conference starter going into 2026 and ranked JKS too low.

• URSINE UPDATES: Insurance Fraud? Learn more about the SoCal insurance fraud scam giving bears a bad name

• Berkeley Physics’ Assistant Professor Ben Safdi was honored with the New Horizons Prize for his work on axions and dark matter

• UC Berkeley Associate Professor Yunqing Tang was honored with the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize for work in Diophantine geometry, including the proof of the Atkin-Swinnerton-Dyer unbounded denominators conjecture and new irrationality results for special values of Dirichlet L-series

This Week in e-Commerce: THE EDSBS CHARITY BOWL

EDSBS Charity Bowl

Wouldn’t you know it, its time again for the EDSBS Charity Bowl, an annual fundraiser for New American Pathways, a non-profit in Atlanta that helps refugees settle here in the United States. Last year, we helped raise $28,190 from Cal fans (and I can’t find the exact number but it was north of $1 million total, probably closer to $1.5) to help refugees settle here in the United States and show who we can be at our best.

As of press time (10:15 AM on Wednesday), Cal has just overtaken Minnesota, thanks in part to a Koi Perich muffed punt and crossed into the 5-figures range. I’ve clipped a few scores and standings of interest below, but you can check the latest standings here at www.moneycannon.org/ and donate at www.edsbscharitybowl.com/

Golden Bear Honors

• Write for California’s own Ruey Yen was on Jeopardy! yesterday!

• Emma Donley (Beach Volleyball) was named one of 8 semi-finalists for the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Player of the Year award

• Ali Sahaida set a school record in Pole Vault and was named ACC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week

• Cal Women’s Rowing Varsity Eight was named ACC Crew of the Week

• Yamato Okadome, Samuel Quarles, Evan Petty, Freddy Klein, Hank Rivers, and Joshua Thai (Men’s Swimming) were all named to the All-ACC Academic Team

• Rebecca Ciancaglini, Violet Williamson, Sydney Griscavage, Mary-Ambre Moluh, Kathryn Hazle, Camille Henveaux, Jessica Davis, Abby Herscu, Adriana Smith, and Arielle Brotman (Women’s Swimming) were all named to the All-ACC Academic Team

Cal Pros Recap

Football

Jack Plummer is starting for the Orlando Storm while Chandler Rogers was named QB1 for the Louisville Kings in the UFL.

Golf

Max Homa got caught throwing clubs around right after saying you shouldn’t do that in Golf. Max is still correct though as he was merely lofting the club in a downward trajectory, not throwing. Colin Morikawa got a second straight top 10 finish and made some noise this weekend at RBC Heritage. Michael Kim also had a day, shooting a 62 and equaling his career low 18-hole score.

Basketball

Leilani Mcintosh won the 2025-2026 Turkish Women’s Basketball League Championship.

Volleyball

Carli Lloyd and Bella Bergmark helped LOVB Austin win the 2026 LOVB Championship!

Soccer

Mia Fontana signed with AFC Toronto. Alex Klow was invited to train with Bay FC and be available for selection in an international friendly last week.

And so we find ourselves again at the end of another beautiful, perfect, Golden Nuggets. Thanks again for reading and hope to see you next week!