- When machine learning is used to suggest new potential scientific insights or directions, algorithms sometimes offer solutions that are not physically sound. Take for example AlphaFold, the AI system that predicts the complex ways in which amino acid chains will fold into 3D protein structures. The system sometimes suggests "unphysical" folds—configurations that are implausible based […]
- Lihong Wang, the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Medical Engineering Leadership Chair and the Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Caltech, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Election to the NAM is among the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and "recognizes individuals who have demonstrated […]
- Developmental biologist Sir John Bertrand Gurdon, co-winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and a former Caltech postdoctoral researcher, passed away October 7, 2025, at the age of 92.Gurdon was awarded the Nobel Prize for his pioneering research in nuclear transfer, showing that mature cells can be reprogrammed to serve as stem […]
- Georgia Gkioxari, assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences and electrical engineering at Caltech, has been selected to be one of 20 Packard Fellows for 2025. The Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering are prizes of $875,000 in unrestricted funds for early career researchers to use over a five-year period.Gkioxari, who is also a William […]
- Introducing X1: The world's first multirobot system that integrates a humanoid robot with a transforming drone that can launch off the humanoid's back and, later, drive away.The new multimodal system is one product of a three-year collaboration between Caltech's Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) and the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi, […]
- Even in an environment as seemingly simple as a drop of water, bacteria can organize themselves into complex patterns or arrangements. Through experiments, theory, and computational modeling, scientists from Caltech and Princeton University have found that the way these cells arrange themselves is shaped by oxygen levels and is predictable and controllable, offering insights that […]
- The Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy (LCSSP) will be formally launching its newly funded Biopolicy Initiative on October 14, 2025, with an introduction by President Tom Rosenbaum, followed by comments from Mary Maxon, the executive vice president of Carnegie Sciences, on the importance of focusing on policy when engaging in […]
- Birds are a critical part of the global ecosystem; they enable our food production through consumption of agricultural pests like aphids and rodents, and control the spread of diseases by eating insects like mosquitos and ticks. However, around 15 percent of all bird species now face risk of extinction—in Hawaii alone, 33 of the state's […]
- Caltech has appointed new leadership to the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Leinweber Forum for Theoretical Physics.Xie Chen, the Eddleman Professor of Theoretical Physics, has become the director of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics after its former director, Hirosi Ooguri, the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, moved […]
- Everyone's journey into science is unique. Alejandro Stefan-Zavala's passion for engineering began in his childhood backyard where he used simple tools to tinker with homemade robots.On Saturday, November 8, 2025, students and families are invited to listen as Stefan-Zavala shares his journey to Caltech, where he is currently a graduate student in aeronautics. Working in […]