Caltech

09/03/2026

Wildfires don’t all burn the same things, and that matters when it comes to what they leave behind. In a wildland–urban interface (WUI) fire, flames can consume homes, vehicles, wiring, plastics, and other manufactured materials alongside vegetation. That can leave behind contaminants, such as lead and other heavy metals, in ash, dust, and soil that may require professional testing and careful cleanup.

Research following the Eaton Fire has helped inform post-fire recovery and policy. In California, lawmakers have passed a bill to establish first-in-the-nation standards and guidance for environmental testing and remediation in homes after a wildfire.

Caltech geochemist François Tissot testified in support of the bill, drawing on findings from research his group conducted in the wake of the Eaton fire. The takeaway: After a WUI fire, homes left standing in the burn area still require careful assessment before reoccupation.

In California, lawmakers have passed a bill to establish first-in-the-nation standards and guidance for environmental testing and remediation in homes after a wildfire. The legislation now awaits the governor’s signature.

09/02/2026

On May 29, 2026, a crowd of about 150 people gathered in and around a colonial-style house on campus that belongs to Caltech’s theater arts group, also known as TACIT. In one corner, visitors sat captivated by an attendee who claimed to have arrived from a future where whales have gone extinct. Another attendee said she had come from a future in which reliance on fossil fuels had been eliminated. The suspected time travelers were in fact part of Caltech’s first Time Travel Gathering, in which improvisational actors and students played futuristic characters.

09/02/2026

Caltech’s Hosea Nelson is using AI and a cloud-based laboratory to investigate molecules found in nature whose 3D structures remain unknown. 🧬☁️

Molecules with unknown structures may make up the majority of natural material on Earth. Revealing those structures could open the door to new discoveries in chemistry, biology, and beyond.

Nelson’s team is building a programmable cloud laboratory where scientists and AI can work together to determine molecular structures from samples. The long-term goal is to generate the massive amounts of data needed to train the next generation of AI models for chemistry.

It’s part of the Genesis Mission, a national effort to use AI to accelerate scientific discovery by giving researchers entirely new ways to explore the natural world.

08/30/2026

Get ready to widen your view 🤩

While you wait for launch, brush up on some key facts about Roman!

https://go.nasa.gov/4ydmu4f

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

Go NASA! Go Roman! 🚀🔭

Ad astra ⭐

At 7:26am ET (1126 UTC) on Aug. 30, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope took to the skies en route to its new home 1 million miles away from Earth. It should reach its final destination in one month: https://go.nasa.gov/4ceJGXk

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

After over a decade of development with mission partners, Caltech, IPAC, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are excited to support and pursue new areas of research and discovery following Sunday's launch of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

08/30/2026