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 […]

They might be tiny "antweight bots," but they are amped up and out to destroy their competitors. They are under-1-pound, 3D-printed, and remotely controlled robots designed and created by the newly formed Caltech Combat Robotics club, and they have started taking on challengers in local competitions. The simple goal of each face-off? Knockout opponent bots. […]

A key discovery from NASA's Cassini mission in 2008 was that Saturn's largest moon Titan may have a vast water ocean below its hydrocarbon-rich surface. But reanalysis of mission data suggests a more complicated picture: Titan's interior is more likely composed of ice, with layers of slush and small pockets of warm water that form […]