When it pays to be overconfident

Overconfidence helps people gain respect, prominence and influence, according to UC Berkeley study. It also showed that overconfidence led to higher social status.

Study: Prepare grad students for work beyond academia

Universities need to work more closely with business, nonprofit and government sectors to better prepare graduate students for careers beyond academia, according to a report for a national project that a UC Davis dean helped guide.

UC Merced innovations all seen as a big win

Solar-powered farm equipment, almond byproducts as biofuels and new valves to improve blood flow for newborns were just some of the projects unveiled by UC Merced engineering and management students at the Innovate to Grow competition.

Researcher's waste-to-energy technology moves from the lab to the marketplace

Technology invented by a UC Davis researcher that converts solid waste into renewable energy debuted as the first commercially available, high-solid anaerobic digestion system in the U.S.

Fused genes tackle deadly disease in grapevines

A gene fusion research project led by a UC Davis plant scientist targets Pierce's disease, a deadly threat to California's wine industry.

UC Berkeley intellectual property has started 146 companies in 20 years

Some prolific UC professors have started plenty of companies, including one Berkeley chemist who has helped start 15 businesses, with five of them directly based on his laboratory's breakthroughs.

Universities' solar future illuminated

A group of UC researchers met recently at UC Merced to talk about some of the latest solar research and its potential impact.

Can 'carbon ranching' offset emissions in California?

A UC Berkeley scientist measures greenhouse gases coming up out of the peat-rich soil. She is looking for ways to reduce those gases, and that could create offsets that farmers and ranchers could sell to businesses trying to reduce their carbon footprint.

UC Davis to start up entrepreneur institute

The campus announced that it is launching a new institute devoted to education, research and outreach in innovation and entrepreneurship.

SynapSense raises $16M for data center energy monitoring

A startup, cofounded by a UC Davis researcher, develops sensors that help data centers monitor and cut down energy usage. It raised another round of funds from VCs to expand

Solar energy institute seeks to shine by raising funds

UC Merced is focused on making solar energy more affordable and efficient, and the funds from its sponsors are allowing the institute to thrive.

New avocado rootstocks are high-performing and disease-tolerant

Rootstocks can help control Hytophthora root rot, UC Riverside scientists found.

Hospital bills for appendix removal may range from cost of a refrigerator to cost of house

A UCSF study found huge disparities in patients' bills. Researchers say the results aren't unique to California and illustrate a broken system.

Portal facilitates tech licensing

Companies looking to license technology created by the University of California now can search on a new online portal, which UC's Innovation Alliances and Services office helped develop.

Study posits a theory of moral behavior

Sociologists at UC Riverside have developed a theory of the moral self that may help explain the ethical lapses in the banking, investment and mortgage lending industries that nearly ruined the U.S. economy.

Group encourages farming efficiency

Hoping to encourage the use of conservation practices, UC has launched an organization that could potentially save farmers time and money, and reduce their impact on the environment.

Study: High-skilled immigrants decrease poverty

A UC Davis economist has found that an influx of immigrants doesn't increase the poverty rate by depressing the wages of low-income, native-born Americans and can actually decrease poverty when higher-skilled immigrants enter the workforce.

UC Davis Olive Center is a research leader

The center opened in 2008 to "do for olives and olive oil what UC Davis did for wine."

How child care strengthens California economy

A UC Berkeley study shows that the childcare industry provides over 200,000 jobs for California residents as well as increases the demand of child care suppliers, such as grocery stores, health care centers and local businesses.

Federal spending on science pays off

A report supports research at university and federal labs and concludes that industry work tied to genomics generated $3.7 billion in federal taxes during 2010 alone.

Overcrowded ERs lead to even bigger problems

A UCSF study found that California hospitals in areas with large minority populations are plagued with overcrowding, which has become a major problem in the health system.

Social Security: fixing the glaring gap for women

Women typically receive less from Social Security than men, with millions of widows and women of color falling into poverty in old age, according to a UCSF study presented at a Congressional briefing.

Which ads are winners? Your brain knows better than you do

Advertisers and public health officials may be able to access hidden wisdom in the brain to more effectively sell their products and promote health and safety, UCLA neuroscientists report in the first study to use brain data to predict how large populations will respond to advertisements.

Berkeley gears up for new era of enterprise with Skydeck incubator

A startup incubator, which houses a mix of ventures founded by UC Berkeley faculty, students and alumni, heralds a dynamic effort to foster a new generation of young entrepreneurs and forge a hotbed of collaborative innovation and enterprise.

Graphene-based composites could cool electronics

UC Riverside researchers have developed a material that could efficiently remove unwanted heat from electronic components such as computer chips or light emitting diodes.

UC picks Richmond for Lawrence Berkeley lab campus

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory has chosen to build its new research facility on the Richmond shoreline, a move that could rank the city with Livermore and Berkeley as a new hub for scientific innovation.

San Diego's algal biofuels research enterprise continues rapid growth

San Diego's research efforts to produce new transportation fuels from algae generated more than double the number of jobs for local workers in 2011 than were available in the region just two years ago.

UC ranks high in earnings from business spinoffs

UC and Stanford continue to be fertile breeding grounds for breakthrough technologies, generating many millions of dollars in annual income for two schools that have played a central role in building Silicon Valley.

Berkeley reveals plan for academic center in China

UC Berkeley plans to open a large engineering research and teaching facility in Shanghai as part of a broader plan to bolster its presence in China.

Agilent joins UC Davis in center to research millimeter waves

A technology company and UC Davis will study high-frequency waves, which are used for whole-body security scanning devices at airports, medical imaging and defense applications.