Caltech Research News

  • Parkinson's Disease Drug Candidates Induce Unexpected Damaging Effects
    Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting over 10 million people worldwide. Some forms of Parkinson's disease are characterized by an inability of cells to clean up dysfunctional mitochondria, the cells' "powerhouses," particularly in neural cells of the brain. Like batteries, the mitochondria provide energy for a cell to function, but also […]
  • Braided Magnetic Flux Ropes Are Found at Both Human and Light-Year Scales
    Investigating solar corona structures has led Paul Bellan, Caltech professor of applied physics, and his former graduate student Yang Zhang (PhD '24) to discover a new equilibrium state of the magnetic field and its associated plasma. The solar corona, the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, is much less dense than the Sun's surface but […]
  • George Kadifa Elected as New Caltech Trustee
    George Kadifa is a co-founder and managing director of Sumeru Equity Partners. He has four decades of operating experience in the technology sector. Prior to joining Sumeru in 2015, Kadifa was executive vice president at Hewlett-Packard, reporting to the CEO, and a member of the executive committee. While at HP, Kadifa's responsibilities included leading growth […]
  • Caltech Elects Two New Trustees
    The Caltech Board of Trustees welcomes two new members.William Coughran (BS '75, MS '75); technologist and Silicon Valley executive, mentor, and investor; and George Kadifa (MS '82), founding partner and managing director of Sumeru Equity Partners, were recently elected to the Board. In total, the Board comprises 45 trustees alongside 22 life members of the […]
  • William Coughran Elected as New Caltech Trustee
    Dr. William M. Coughran Jr. is a technologist with more than two decades of experience in large-scale computing and networking systems. He is known for his influential role as a Silicon Valley executive, mentor, and investor, helping ambitious start-ups grow into transformative companies.Coughran began his career at Bell Labs, contributing to many significant projects, including […]
  • Brinson Exploration Hub Projects Make the Invisible Visible
    Three innovative new projects to explore Earth and the cosmos have been selected to move forward through the Brinson Exploration Hub at Caltech. The projects, each with a co-lead based on Caltech's campus and another from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will map the mysterious filaments of matter between galaxies using ultraviolet light, use seismic […]
  • Aaron Ames Named Director of the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies
    Aaron Ames, the Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Control and Dynamical Systems, and Aerospace at Caltech has been named the director and Booth-Kresa Leadership Chair of the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST). He succeeds Mory Gharib, who was the center's founding director."It is with great enthusiasm that I assume the role […]
  • Using Sound to Remember Quantum Information
    While conventional computers store information in the form of bits, fundamental pieces of logic that take a value of either 0 or 1, quantum computers are based on qubits. These can have a state that is simultaneously both 0 and 1. This odd property, a quirk of quantum physics known as superposition, lies at the […]
  • Andrei Faraon Named Director of Kavli Nanoscience Institute
    Andrei Faraon (BS '04), the William L. Valentine Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, has been named the next Fletcher Jones Foundation Director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at Caltech. Faraon steps into the position held since October 2019 by Julia R. Greer, the Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, […]
  • Imaging and Modeling of Myanmar Quake Gives Clues about Behavior of the San Andreas
    On March 28, 2025, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the Southeast Asia country of Myanmar along the Sagaing Fault, killing thousands and causing widespread damage. A new study from Caltech uses satellite imaging of the Sagaing Fault's motion to improve models of how such faults may behave in the future. The study indicates that strike–slip […]