berkeley

from the edito r

Editor in Chief
Greg Alushin
Editors Spring 2011 Issue 20
Dear readers,
Allison Berke
Rachel Bernstein
sciencereview.berkeley.edu
Welcome to the 20th issue of the Berkeley Science Review and
our tenth anniversary. To celebrate, I decided to rummage
Crystal Chaw back through our archives and spend some time with Issue
Mary Grace Lin 1. It was remarkable to see how little has changed, including,
Sebastien Lounis coincidentally, an enduring fascination with volcanoes (Issue
Shirali Pandya 1 p. 7, Issue 20 p. 26), hormonal regulation of sexual behavior
Josh Shiode (Issue 1 p. 5, Issue 20 p. 9), and solar storms (Issue 1 p. 4, Issue
20 p. 6), phenomena which will continue to fill Berkeley labs
and our pages for many years to come. Nevertheless, I am very
Art Director Illuminating proud to say that we have come a long way from the black, white,
the dark genome
and blue of the first edition. I would like to dedicate this issue
Marek Jakubowski
to the memory of Eran Karmon, our founding Editor in Chief,
Layout Staff who, by starting a science magazine that anyone on campus could pick up and enjoy, planted
Kathryn Baldwin a seed which has since flowered into an expanding voice for research with a reach far beyond
Bancroft and Hearst.
Nicole Bennett
Katie Berry As science writers, we aspire to communicate complex ideas effectively, hoping to increase the
Amy Orsborn impact of science in society. Less often considered are influences going in the other direction,
Sheba Plamthottam yet the interplay between personalities, politics, economics, and research takes center stage
this issue. On page 44, Sisi Chen and Mark DeWitt chronicle the decade-long struggle over
the effects of a pesticide between a controversial professor, Tyrone Hayes, and the chemical
Copy Editor company Syngenta, waged through experiments, regulatory agencies, and personal vitriol.
Keith Cheveralls documents the damning scientific evidence that an oil company caused the
Hania Köver
continuing eruption of the devastating Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia (p. 26) Finally, on page
60 Jacques Bothma makes the case for why Professor Michael Eisen’s dream of a scientific
Managing Editor literature free for everyone to access should, and is, becoming a reality.
Mary Grace Lin The BSR is run by students who also happen to be scientists, and thus it is no surprise that
we continually tinker with (and sometimes dramatically alter) the form and content of our
magazine. While we always have an opinion of what works best, I am pleased to announce
Web Editor a new way for you, our readers, to have a say: the Reader’s Choice Award, to be given each
Anna Goldstein issue. Go online (http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu) to vote for your favorite feature or brief;
the author(s) of the winning article receives a $150 cash prize and a profile on the BSR blog,
Web Designers
which is already chock-full of wonderful pieces to keep you informed between print issues. In
Laura Fredriksen addition to highlighting particularly strong writers, prize-winning articles will inspire future
Chris Holdgraf stories relevant and interesting to you.

As I hang up my editor’s hat, I would like to thank all of the writers, editors, and layout staff for
Printer making the past year such a wonderful experience and for two issues that highly paid profes-
Sundance Press sionals (by journalist standards, at least) would be hard-pressed to beat. It has been an honor.

Enjoy the issue,

Greg Alushin
Editor in Chief

Spring 2011 Berkeley Science Review 1