Issue 12
Spring 2007

Editor in Chief
Wendy Hansen

Managing Editor
Wes Marner

Art Director
Andrew DeMond

Copy Editor
Michelangelo D'Agostino

Editors
Meredith Carpenter
Jacqueline Chretien
Andrew DeMond
Matthew de la Peña Mattozzi
Tracy Powell
Merek Siu

Layout Editors
Jacqueline Chretien
Tony Le
Matthew de la Peña Mattozzi
Kathryn Quanstrom
Jessica Walter

Web Editor
Jesse Dill

Contributing Artist
Jennifer Bensadoun

Printer
Sundance Press

20 Nobel Tradition

A history of UC Berkeley's laureates

by Jennifer Skene

25 Batteries Not Included

Big steps in small-scale energy sources

by Kayte Fischer

29 America's Next Top Model Organism

Fashionably scientific

by Tracy Powell

36 Researchers in Paradise

A tour of UC Polynesia

by Erica Spotswood

42 Collaborative Energy

New partnerships make UC Berkeley a hotspot for renewables research

by Kasi Kielbaugh

47 What's the Matter?

Exploring the invisible majority of the universe's mass

by Andrew Wetzel

52 Metropolitan Mammoth

One fossil's journey from riverbed to museum exhibit

by Nick Pyenson

9 A Bit of a Stretch
Stem cells take their cue from the heart's beat

10 Scent of a Man
Human Pheromones, or why love stinks

12 Right on Target
Reducing chemotherapy's collateral damage

13 What's making frogs croak?
A killer fungus threatens the mountain yellow-legged frog.

15 Double Trouble
Anthrax has two tricks for stealing iron.

16 Feel the Burn
Spiders and chili peppers have the same bite.

18 Fighting Fire with F.I.R.E.
New technology improves first responder communication.

23 Faculty Portrait: Stephen Smale

Professor Emeritus of Mathematics

by Meredith Carpenter

The Littlest Life Form

Smelling in Stereo

Catch a Wave

Matchmaker, Matchmaker



16 Quanta
Heard on Campus

58 Book Review
Freedom and Neurobiology

59 Who Knew?
The Freshmaker Fountain