Jonas Zmuidzinas (BS '81), the Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics at Caltech, will receive the 2026 James Craig Watson Medal, a National Academy of Sciences honor presented every two years for "outstanding contributions to the science of astronomy." The award comes with a $25,000 prize, $50,000 of research support, and a gold-plated bronze medal.Zmuidzinas has […]

A new study, which draws on survey data from approximately 3,000 respondents in the United States and Canada, finds that women, on average, exhibit greater skepticism toward artificial intelligence (AI) technologies than men. Analysis suggests that differences in risk orientation and exposure help explain this gender gap.A paper describing the research appears in the journal […]

If you use consumer AI systems, you have likely experienced something like AI "brain fog": You are well into a conversation when suddenly the AI seems to lose track of the different ideas you have been talking about and how they fit together. That same problem crops up when programmers build "agents," systems that use […]

The first line of treatment for cancer is, whenever possible, to remove the cancerous tissue from the body. Though often remarkably effective, removing only the cancerous tissue is a challenge for doctors and surgeons. With no intraoperative method to analyze excised tissues, a surgeon typically must rely on preoperative visualizations—ultrasounds, MRIs, and the like—to accurately […]

Shri Kulkarni, the George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science, has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the highest honor from the organization, awarded annually since 1824.According to the award citation, Kulkarni is receiving the award for his "sustained, innovative and ground-breaking contributions to multi-wavelength transient astrophysics."In 1982, while […]

One year after the 2025 Los Angeles fires, Caltech researchers are pressing forward with research projects to provide answers in service of public health and safety. Through investigations that included testing for heavy metal contamination, monitoring air quality, and assessing the burn area's erosion hazards, Caltech scientists immediately launched into action in the days and […]

Dr. Ray Jayawardhana, an accomplished academic leader and renowned astrophysicist who currently serves as provost of Johns Hopkins University, has been named Caltech's next president, the tenth in the Institute's 105-year history.Jayawardhana's appointment by Caltech's Board of Trustees, announced today at a community-wide gathering on the Institute's Pasadena campus, was the result of a months-long […]

Astronomers have captured the most detailed look yet at faraway galaxies at the peak of their youth, an active time when the adolescent galaxies were fervently producing new stars. The observations focused on 18 galaxies located 12.5 billion light-years away. They were imaged across a range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to radio over the past […]

Caltech is a place unlike any other, an Institute that is truly "small but mighty." Its small size and the expertise of its community enable interdisciplinary connections and collaborative projects at all scales, sometimes in rapid response to devastating need. Here, physicists and mathematicians easily and regularly interact with biologists and chemists, astronomers and engineers, […]

Groundwater is a critical resource in Southern California, where long-term drought and climate change place increasing pressure on local aquifers. Some regions, like the Hollywood Basin (a small region in and around the West Hollywood neighborhood), are increasing their reliance on these aquifers in order to reduce the amount of water imported from elsewhere. A […]