News and Issues

Wednesday the Supreme Court Justices heard challenges to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. On Tuesday, the court considered California’s Proposition 8. On this question the justices could rule broadly or narrowly: The court could reaffirm a lower court decision striking down the ban, a decision that would legalize same-sex marriages only in California. Or the justices could find Proposition 8 unconstitutional, potentially declaring all similar state bans are as well. more »

Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes — and for free. You'd open up a pre-filled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone. It's already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain. The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. more »

The largest source of uncertainty in today’s climate models are clouds. Clouds can both cool the planet, by acting as a shield against the sun, and warm the planet, by trapping heat. But why do clouds behave the way they do? And how will a warming planet affect the cloud cover? “We don’t understand many basic things about clouds,” Lawrence Berkeley Lab scientist David Romps says. more »

Calculating medical risk can be an inexact science, especially for older adults, with many factors from the environment to chronic diseases helping determine how long a person lives. A UC San Francisco team has developed a tool that can help determine – and perhaps influence – senior citizens’ 10-year survivability rates. more »