Golden Nuggets: Penguin News (Because they are the Bears of Birds), Graduations, and Lotsa Awards!
Many people have said this to me.
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. Sorry for the two week break! Here’s my quick recap.
Main Course: NEW PENGUINS kinda
We start this penguin news, or as I like to call them, the Bears of Birds of Antarctica. “An international team of penguin experts led by Chilean and University of California, Berkeley biologists announced the discovery — the first new penguin species named in more than 100 years — in a paper published last month in the journal Communications Biology.”
Read more about the Bears of the Birds of Antarctica in this UC Berkeley Research profile.
Hot Links
Sense and Sensibility
SF Chronicle caught up with Saul Perlmutter to discuss Sense, Sensibility, and Science. “Sense and Sensibility and Science” was started 13 years ago by a team of UC Berkeley professors, including a Nobel laureate, who wanted to give students the tools to combat misinformation and improve their communication skills in an increasingly confusing world. They did not expect the class to become so popular — it’s now taught at a handful of other schools including Harvard and the University of Chicago — or for their lessons to become even more urgent.” Read the full profile here.
Data Center Water Usage
CalMatters has a good profile on data center water usage., including some recent research out of UC Berkeley. Give it a read here.
Orbital-Dependent Coulomb Drag in Electron-Hole Bilayer Graphene Heterostructures
This one is just a fun one to throw of some interesting AI thieves. We see you silly little robots. But if you actually want to read about some new research out of Berkeley related to Orbital-Dependent Coulomb Drag in Electron-Hole Bilayer Graphene Heterostructures, I have just the link for you!
Small Bites
Congratulations to the winners of the Chancellor’s Public Service Awards!
Congratulations to UC Berkeley Journalism Alums Kathleen Hennessey, Susie Neilson, and Garance Burke on winning Pulitzers!
Congratulations to Charles Long, the 2026 University Medalist!
Congratulations to Eddie Hart, Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Inductee!
Congratulations to Jack Clark, Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Inductee!
Congratulations to Missy Franklin, Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Inductee!
UC Berkeley conferred the first degrees in its new Korean Studies program!
Downtown Berkeley got a new coffee shop.
Congratulations to Alex Filippenko for winning the Gruber Cosmology Prize for work on supernovae!
Congratulations to Amy Tan on being named Alum of the Year!
Golden Bear Honors
Gavin Eddy was named ACC Pitcher of the Week
Berta Passola Folch was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team
Valentina Savva took first in the Hammer Throw at the ACC Outdoor Championships
Valentina Savva (First Team), Kai Anderson, Ali Sahaida, and Adrianna Coleman (Second Team) were all named to the Track and Field All-ACC Team for Day 1 of the ACC Championships
Nik Iwankiw, Chukwunonso Udeh, and Luke Buddie (Second Team) were named to the Track and Field All-ACC Team for Day 2 of the ACC Championships
Saqqara Ruffin and Nik Iwankiw (Second Team) were named to the Track and Field All-ACC Team for Day 3 of the ACC Championships
Jett Kenady (Baseball) was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team
Gavin Eddy (Baseball) was named to the All-ACC Second Team
This Week in e-Commerce
This week, we travel back to the 1980s to feature a team issued Cal Football Jacket! Check it out on eBay here!
Cal Pros
Soccer
Alex Morgan announced that she’s expecting her third child on Mother’s Day! Congratulations!
Basketball
Jaylon Tyson remains the loan remaining Bear in the NBA Playoffs and played 4 minutes in the Cavs Game 7 win over the Pistons, but didn’t appear in the loss to the Knicks.
Football
Aaron Rodgers signed a 1-year deal with the Steelers and announced it would be his final year.
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!