Volume 1, Issue 2
The Cellular MechanicCarlos Bustamante is a mechanic. He tinkers with machines to see what makes them tick. He talks a lot about torque and force, compression and tension. Bustamante is not an engineer though. He's a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry. And the devices he studies are the microscopic machines behind life itself--cells, proteins, molecular motors, and DNA. An Explosive Theory About VolcanoesThe hulking steel volcano simulator in UC Berkeley professor Michael Manga's laboratory is a far cry from the baking soda-and-vinegar science fair projects of our youth. Of course, that's to be expected. What's unusual is that Manga, a professor of earth and planetary science, is trying to answer the same question posed by the quintessential science class experiment: Why do volcanoes erupt? The Mathematics of High-Tech HighwaysHow long 'til we get there? That question is at the tip of every child's tongue during long road trips. The answer is squarely in the realm of probability and statistics. Just ask John Rice, a UC Berkeley professor of statistics searching for meaning in masses of traffic data. |
In 2001, Carlos Bustamante was selected by Time magazine as one of "America's Best" in science and medicine. |