Spencer Klein/Courtesy

Right now, UC Berkeley graduate Zigmund Kermish should be preparing to launch a balloon-based telescope from Antarctica. This instrument, which would rise 120,000 feet into the atmosphere, collects data that might provide insight into the physics behind the Big Bang.

He would be on the ice by Nov. 1 if the U.S. government hadn’t shut down.

But without a spending bill to fund government operations, the National Science Foundation ran out of funds for the U.S. Antarctic Program about Monday, forcing a delay on Kermish’s work as well as that of other campus researchers. The shutdown comes at a crucial time for these scientists — the start of Antarctic summer, when many researchers head south to upgrade or begin projects.

Even if the federal government were to reopen tomorrow, Kermish said, researchers would not fully recover from the delay.

The base out of which these balloons are launched opens only for this period of about three months, during which weather further limits the time available for preparation and launch. Kermish, who is working on this project as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, said this instrument has been developing since about 2008.

Now, they must wait another year to collect data.

In an Oct. 8 statement, the NSF said it will continue to staff research stations in Antarctica at the minimum level, called “caretaker status,” required to keep people and property safe. What constitutes caretaker status, however, is still unclear to researchers.

“The rule is only essential operations can continue,” said Elizabeth George, a UC Berkeley doctoral student working on another project, the South Pole Telescope. “So in principle, you can say, ‘My equipment’s going to freeze — that is essential,’ but the reality of the situation is those decisions about what’s essential are not really made by scientists.”

The South Pole Telescope detects remaining light from the Big Bang, according to George, which can be used to study the early universe. Regardless of what the NSF decides to do, she said, any delay can wreak logistical havoc on such a large enterprise.

“Anything you do in Antarctica is driven by logistics: You need food, you need fuel, you need transportation,” said Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory senior scientist Spencer Klein, who is involved with the Berkeley IceCube group, which also does work in Antarctica. “Things that are just minor details here are enormous down there.”

George fears that, because of the current delay, the fuel required by these research stations will not arrive in time to start them up for next year. In that case, South Pole Telescope researchers will lose a year of data.

Additionally, contract workers, who agree to work in Antarctica for a set period of time, will be out of a job if a lack of funding prevents their deployment.

Klein faces similar issues in his South Pole project. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory — one cubic kilometer in volume — detects subatomic particles called neutrinos, which possess incredibly high energies. Scientists hope they can see how the particles reached such high energies by tracking their direction.

Klein said the NSF is unlikely to risk damaging equipment, considering the organization has already invested $242 million in IceCube. According to Klein, the observatory needs at least two people at the South Pole to maintain the technology and collect data. If data collection continues but the shutdown prevents researchers from flying down to upgrade the hardware this Antarctic summer, he said, the sacrifice will be survivable but not ideal.

“I just feel pretty helpless about the situation,” Klein said. “Everybody’s kind of making this up as they go.”

Contact Melissa Wen at mwen@dailycal.org.

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In a paper published on Oct. 7 in the journal Emotion, researchers revealed a link between DNA and the susceptibility of marital satisfaction to emotional influences. Researchers looked at a certain allele — a gene variant people inherit from each parent — that comes in a long or short version.

The researchers found inheritance of two short alleles predicted a heightened reaction to the emotional ups and downs of marriage. In contrast, the longer variant attenuates the effects of emotional fluctuation on spouses’ relationship satisfaction, according to Lian Bloch, a former graduate student at UC Berkeley who worked on the study.

“It certainly does point to the implication that our genes actually have a role in how emotions can affect our relationships, which is pretty profound,” Bloch said.

According to campus psychology professor Robert Levenson, the senior author of the study, these findings are the result of  more than 20 years of research. Levenson observed and surveyed a 156-person sample of married couples every five years, beginning in 1989.

“We bring them in our lab so we can take a snapshot of their marital interaction,” Levenson said. “We send them cards on their anniversary and stuff. So we’ve been part of their lives for two decades.”

In 2009, researchers received a grant allowing them to collect and study DNA from 125 people in the group. They had previously compiled a “recipe” for marital success based on which emotions couples generate and how they regulate them, Levenson said.

“Those are the ingredients,” Levenson said. “Now the question is, where do they come from? We thought, ‘Well, maybe one of the sources of these emotional ingredients are genetic differences.’ ”

They chose to focus on this particular allele, according to Levenson, because of its known connection to emotional responsiveness. It regulates serotonin, a chemical important in mood adjustment. People with two of the short alleles tend to experience the chemical more strongly.

While the short allele has been linked to negative outcomes, such as higher risks of depression and anxiety, Bloch said the results of this study are not black and white. While the short variation decreases resistance to emotional turmoil, it also allows a person to flourish more in a positive emotional climate.

According to Levenson, researchers are continuing to study DNA collected from the 125-person sample, including a gene that regulates dopamine, another mood-adjusting chemical. Like Bloch, he points to the nuances in this genetic evidence.

“This is not destiny,” Levenson said. “These are just slight differences in how you react to your environments. But they do accumulate over the days and the months and the years and the decades.”

Contact Melissa Wen at mwen@dailycal.org.

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UC Berkeley College of Engineering Dean S. Shankar Sastry will join a new United Nations Scientific Advisory Board that will provide counsel on international decisions regarding sustainable development.

Sastry received notice of the appointment Sept. 27, three days after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced his intention to create the board in an effort to further integrate science into policy discussion.

The 26-member board, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will have two United States representatives — Sastry and Susan Avery, director of a nonprofit marine-science research institution.

“I’m honored, really honored,” Sastry said. “It’s humbling to be included in this group.”

Sastry said the appointment is in line with a long history of work on sustainable development at UC Berkeley. As examples, he pointed to his 2008 meeting with former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and the work of colleagues such as UC Berkeley professor of energy Daniel Kammen.

“There are a lot of people on campus who have a lot to say, and so I think it’s really a pleasure to sort of bring to voice a lot of what we’ve been talking about on campus,” Sastry said. “I do think it will help us get the Berkeley message out to an international forum.”

Kammen said Sastry has pushed for many sustainability research projects on campus. Sastry’s record includes his work on Berkeley-India Joint Leadership on Energy and the Environment and his position as faculty director of the Blum Center for Developing Economies.

The creation of the board, Kammen said, also fits with what he sees as Ban’s respect for science’s ability to inform policy.

“It’s really consistent with what I think the U.N. is doing right, and that is emphasizing what science and technology can offer in the process of sustainable development,” Kammen said.

Although Sastry acknowledges the extra time commitment joining the board entails, he sees the role as harmonious with his other jobs, calling them “synergistic.” Additionally, College of Engineering Associate Dean of Research Jeffrey Bokor noted that Sastry’s experience on the board can influence his work on campus.

“It brings him a visibility of what UNESCO is up to in a way that he could not otherwise have had,” Bokor said. “What Dean Sastry will learn from serving on this board will come back to the university.”

Other board appointees include Ahmed Zewail, a Nobel laureate in chemistry and Linus Pauling Chair professor of chemistry at California Institute of Technology, and Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to Sastry.

“(The board is) really a way to engage the whole world, because the planet that they have to save is ours — is all of ours,” he said.

Contact Melissa Wen at mwen@dailycal.org.

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At its meeting Tuesday night, the council discussed a proposed smoking ban and referred it back to city staff to enhance the effectiveness of enforcement policies. The policies would have added nonsmoking clauses to leases and allowed residents to file claims against their neighbors for violating the ban on smoking.

Multiple-unit housing refers to all buildings with more than one living unit, such as apartments, fraternities and nursing homes. The ordinance aims to protect residents from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoking.

After much discussion, the council decided the new regulations ought to be enforced by a procedure similar to that used for a barking-dogs ordinance, which requires two neighbors to file complaints and subjects violators to a possible infraction citation, according to city spokesperson Matthai Chakko.

But Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, the only one to vote against the motion, is worried that the changes might result in smokers being unfairly evicted from their homes. For him, the current recommendations were already a good compromise between the housing security of smokers and the well-being of their neighbors.

“My main concern is we’ve really tried to craft a law that discouraged evictions, and now the council’s actively talking about encouraging evictions,” Arreguin said. “The direction the council moved in is a step backwards.”

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, however, thought protecting public health should take priority over protecting tenants from eviction.

“If I repeatedly smoke in my unit, and I am damaging the health of the people around me, I deserve to be evicted,” Capitelli said at the meeting.

These recommendations follow a previous City Council meeting held in May. According to Arreguin, a smoking ban has been in development for six years.

Liz Williams, project manager for the nonprofit Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, agrees with the council’s decision to draft new regulations. At the meeting, she noted the need for more enforcement from a city agency.

“Our organization cannot support the ordinance as it is currently written due to the lack of city enforcement,” she said during public comment. “The primary enforcement mechanism in the ordinance puts the burden entirely on a nonsmoking neighbor.”

The amended ordinance requires that landlords notify tenants of its terms in January, according to Chakko. The new regulations themselves will be unknown until council members receive another draft from the city’s Health and Community Services Department staff, he said.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that the result will be an enforceable ordinance that protects the health of Berkeley residents in multi-unit housing,” Williams said. “Nobody wants their family to get sick from a neighbor’s drifting smoke.”

Contact Melissa Wen at mwen@dailycal.org.

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The Alameda County District Attorney’s office had charged Sean Alston, 43, with 11 counts of grand theft and one count of receiving stolen property. However, the court later dismissed the case, and it has now moved to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, according to Stephanie Chan, communications assistant at the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.

On Sept. 16, Berkeley police officer Benjamin Phelps arrested Alston at 12:59 a.m., according to the police report. Phelps had recognized Alston from a booking photo when he saw the suspect sitting behind the wheel of a black Ford Focus on Byron Street near Bancroft Way, the report states.

Phelps found four bank cards in Alston’s pants pockets, more access cards on the back seat of his car and two visa cards in a purse on a floor in the vehicle that Phelps knew belonged to a victim of mail credit card theft. He also found Alston to be in possession of a suspended license.

“Alston took full responsibility for all the cards in his possession and in the car,” Phelps stated in the police report.

Because Alston was on federal probation, he was subject to a search condition, according to the report.

He had previously been convicted of six felonies in Alameda and Contra Costa counties for possession of a controlled substance in 1998, two counts of unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle in 2004, forgery and second-degree burglary in 2006 and receiving stolen property in 2007. Alston served prison terms for three of the offenses.

BPD spokesperson Jennifer Coats said the police do not yet know how Alston obtained the stolen credit cards.

“Usually what’ll happen (after an arrest) is our detectives will follow up and see if there’s any other crimes that may be associated with his actions,” Coats said.

According to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California calendar, Alston was scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning.

Contact Melissa Wen at mwen@dailycal.org.

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Benny Grush/Staff

California’s community colleges may soon be able to charge higher fees for certain high-demand classes, after both houses of the California State Legislature passed a bill earlier this month.

Normally, California residents pay about $46 per unit to take classes at community colleges, with each class offering about three units. The bill, waiting to be signed or vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, would implement a pilot program allowing six community colleges across California to offer additional classes during summer and winter sessions at a cost of about $200 per unit.

“I fundamentally don’t believe that our system should force students to take six to eight years to complete a four-year education,” said Assemblymember Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, author of the bill.

The bill comes in the wake of a 21 percent decline in community college course offerings since the 2007-08 academic year, according to a March 2013 report by the Public Policy Institute of California. Williams hopes the additional courses — although more expensive upfront — will allow students to ultimately save money by graduating earlier.

The pilot program, if the bill is signed, would begin in 2014 and be evaluated in 2017. If deemed successful, the policy could extend to community colleges across the state, including Berkeley City College.

Ben Tagami, a BCC freshman, said classes often fill up quickly, sometimes within one week. He is taking a required math course at another community college because he could not get into the class at BCC.

“I would be willing to pay more for popular classes,” Tagami said. “Students need to fill certain class credits, and if they aren’t available at BCC, (they have to) either commute to another college or wait until the next sign-up period.”

However, Jonathan Lightman, executive director of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, believes the bill, instead of aiding students, will divide those who can afford higher fees and those who cannot.

He also noted that out of the six community colleges in the program, only one or two have indicated interest in providing the higher-cost classes.

Pasadena City College, which the bill aims to include in the pilot program, does not intend to participate and is instead looking into federal grants and legislation that would give students school credits for past professional work, said Juan Gutierrez, director of public relations at the Pasadena college.

Although Jesse Rothstein, an associate professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy, agrees community college funding should come from the government, he would rather colleges charge more for additional classes than not offer them at all.

“It’s a shame that the state has defunded its higher education system to such an extent,” Rothstein said. “It is a slippery slope. The problem is, we’re already halfway down the slope.”

Contact Alison Fu and Melissa Wen at newsdesk@dailycal.org.

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