Dear Readers,

What a pleasure it has been to be a part of the 50th issue of the Berkeley Science Review. This momentous issue was truly a labor of love, reflecting the 25 years of graduate students, postdocs, and technicians who have dedicated their time and passion to this incredibly special organization. Although the world remains a scary and uncertain place, we continue to build community by doing our science and sharing it.

This issue is a very special one. Eleanor Wang undertook a massive project of chronicling the past quarter-century of BSR, and in their feature piece they share moments from over a dozen interviews with BSR alums since our organization’s founding. They recount stories of how the magazine developed from a small group of passionate graduate students to the wide-reaching organization it is today, and they reflect on the impact that working with the BSR has had on alums in their paths as science communicators.

You will also hear some quintessentially “Berkeley” stories in this issue. In “More than just a T-shirt,” Aidan Mills shares the most recent advances in understanding the element berkelium through the painstaking production of its first carbon-containing compound—aptly named “berkelocene”—marking the ongoing push to put UC Berkeley back on the map for research on superheavy elements. Jack Schill introduces the ‘ammatka Cafe in “A taste of Ohlone culture,” a new fixture at the Lawrence Hall of Science that is the result of an Indigenous-led initiative to repair the relationship between UC Berkeley and the Ohlone community. In “From bench to bedside at Berkeley,” Thrisha Praveen describes a novel diagnostic tool being developed with the support of the university-affiliated biotech incubator, Bakar Labs.

At the intersection of technology and sustainability, Sam Oaks-Leaf and Albany Blackburn lay out the material effects of the world’s growing reliance on artificial intelligence and how scientists are innovating to meet these resource demands. In “The rains are coming,” Savvas Marcou describes a science policy success story using next-generation weather forecasting tools to deliver real-life impacts to Indian farmers. Sydney Hemenway shares research being done to bring the unique chemistry of star formation down to earth and into the lab. Finally, Madison Webb reviews the book Third Millenium Thinking, which was co-written by three UC Berkeley professors across disciplines to provide a roadmap for applying scientific principles to daily decision-making.

Issue 50—and our organization as a whole—would not be what is it without the tireless commitment of a truly phenomenal group of writers, editors, designers, and leaders. These individuals have dedicated their time between experiments, data analysis, and paper writing to make this issue the best it can be and to keep countless logistics running smoothly behind the scenes. I’d finally like to thank our donors and subscribers for their continued support and belief in our mission. I hope you enjoy the 50th issue of the BSR, and here’s to another 25 years!

Sincerely,

Katherine Flug, Editor in Chief