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This month, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech are celebrating 90 years of partnership, having worked together on the world’s most advanced guidance and navigation systems in space. In the bird world, many Caltech birds are also masters of precision flight, known for their signature hunting behavior – flycatching. They launch from a stationary position, track a moving target with pinpoint accuracy, intercept it at the best moment, and return to where they started. This sally-and-ret

Strictly speaking, predators are animals that eat other animals, so a large proportion of our campus species qualify, including the undergrads ordering beef pho, the squirrels eating baby hummingbirds, and the occasionally cannibalistic turtles. While you are still blinking in disbelief and digesting that info, I am going to limit this column to a few obvious predators: those deemed dangerous by the consensus of two security forces – Caltech Security and the natural security league of American c

With the historic heat wave temporarily subsiding, our Caltech campus settles into a new academic year. As the Tech’s resident wildlife columnist, I’m here to extend a warm welcome to everyone new to Caltech — though after this summer, “warm” may not be the compliment it once was. Like many urban areas around the world, Caltech is an ecosystem where humans and other animals coexist. The campus is small, but a one-hour walk around it can easily turn up thirty wildlife species. In this guide I hi

As Mother’s Day has just passed and Father’s Day is coming up, this issue will talk about parenting in the nonhuman animal world. While all but one photo was taken off campus, a lot of the animals (mostly birds as I am a bird expert) mentioned in this article can be found in the adjacent Pasadena area, so keep your eyes out for spring activity! One of the greatest missions in spring for many animals is to raise a generation of young and graduate them into independent life. This intense process

Hello Tech readers! Time for another round of reviews where I explore the San Gabriel Valley food scene with the 2025 MySGV Food Passport. There remains only a few places in Pasadena still to explore: Birria Master, Edwin Mills, O’Seyo Shabu Shabu, All India Café, and Star Leaf. Birria Master’s hours are 5:30 PM to 11 PM, so its been a tricky place to find time for as the early bird I am! Edwin Mills is a place I tried to go on Valentine’s Day, and then again with Kayane another day, but we got

Many know that two CCE research groups are moving from Caltech to CU Boulder. This column will be a way that I keep the Caltech students (myself included) a part of the Caltech community as we finish our PhDs in Colorado. I recently went to Boulder, CO with my best friend Maria to explore the area and check out apartments. Note to the reader: I wrote this article like a scientist with figures called out in the text. Don’t hate me! Haha! My journey began with a flight from Long Beach Airport

It’s springtime, with blooms everywhere, and who wouldn’t appreciate a pair of colorful wings dancing in front of their eyes? In this issue, your avian specialist takes a small detour and presents some butterfly species on campus. While I haven’t surveyed the area thoroughly, there is a surprisingly rich collection of butterflies here, thanks to the variety of exotic flowers and plants. Once you start paying attention, the air itself feels a little more animated. Here are some that I have seen:

Here is a simple test of conscious living: ask a friend whether they’ve ever noticed the loud cries in the sky at sunrise and sunset. If they have no idea what you are talking about, they are missing a surprising amount of life. Give them a concerned look and point them to this article. It still shocks me that some Caltech students, after years in Pasadena, have never paid attention to these jet-engine-decibel calls. Others have noticed them, but wrongly blamed the crows. Please, just look up!

Hello Tech readers! Time for the third round of reviews where I explore the San Gabriel Valley food scene with the 2025 MySGV Food Passport. This passport is valid from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, so I have been trying to explore as many restaurants as I can in 2026! For this issue, I grabbed dinner with my Caltech bestie, Kayane, and then we went for ice cream. Baja Cali Passport descripti

Did you know that hummingbirds are a family of birds found exclusively in the Western Hemisphere (here chants the Bad Bunny version listing all American countries)? When I first arrived at Caltech, I found these hovering drones such a blessed sight. People here love hummingbirds — proved by the abundance of nectar feeders around the graduate student housing and in the front yards of many fancy Pasadena homes. A hummingbird feeder might be your easiest connection to nature! And here is a dedicate

I attempted to go to Edwin Mills (one of the places in the SGV Food Passport) on Valentine’s Day, but sadly we needed a reservation to try it out. Oops! So more delicious restaurants in the SGV Food Passport will be explored and reviewed next term. In the meantime, I was able to try out three other Pasadena restaurants and will review them here! Plate 38 _Plate 38 hosts acoustic live music night

Finally, a column about the turtles! The turtles have been an integral part of the Caltech community, and much of this connection is made by the enthusiastic Caltech students themselves. This column collects information and legends about the turtles from Hannah Way, the current president of the Caltech Turtle Club. Through my interview with Hannah, I learned many surprising and fun facts about Caltech turtles. I hope you, the readers, will learn something new from this article as well. The Calt

Time to review a few more restaurants featured in the 2026 SGV Food Passport! Last issue, I reviewed Lee’s Hoagie House and Paris Baguette. This time, I have explored two other places featured in the passport. Photo cred: Victoria Davis Taco Libre Passport description: “Teddy Bedjakian brings bold flavors to Old Pasadena with Taco Libre, offering a modern twist on tacos in a lively alley setting

Hello Tech readers! This is my first round of reviews as I explore the San Gabriel Valley food scene with the 2025 MySGV Food Passport. This passport is valid from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, so I will spend the first half of 2026 exploring as many restaurants and bakeries featured here that I can! Lee’s Hoagie House Passport description: “Shahan Der Ohannesian

Happy New Year to the loyal readers of my wildlife column! With ample winter rain and a lower likelihood of wildfires this year, it feels fitting to begin the term by turning our attention to aquatic animals and the ecosystems they inhabit. Although Southern California is generally dry, humans have long built artificial water systems to satisfy their aesthetic desires. Caltech is no exception. The campus hosts several iconic water features: the turtle ponds in Throop Memorial Garden, the Caltec

Happy New Year, Tech readers! Time to review the final three coffee shops featured in the 2025 Pasadena Coffee Passport! Two issues ago, I reviewed Highlight Coffee, Coffee & Plants, and Jameson Brown Coffee Roasters. This time, I have explored the last three coffee shops of the fourteen shops in the passport! Home Brewed Bar Pa

On Sunday, Nov. 9, Caltech hosted its inaugural campus bird walk with the Pasadena Audubon Society (PAS), a local nonprofit dedicated to birding and bird conservation. Although birding on campus has long been a cherished tradition—including the weekly bird walks led by Dr. Alan C. Cummings since 1986 (more on that in a future issue)—this was the first time the event was organized as an official PAS field trip, opening Caltech’s habitats to many local birders beyond the campus community. The tri

Correction of the previous issue “Caltech Wildlife: A Welcome Guide”: The caption for the first photo “a mysterious snapping turtle” should actually be “a razor-backed musk turtle.” Many thanks to Hannah Way, the current president of the Caltech turtle club, for pointing that out. According to Hannah, “we have two of these turtles in the pond. They can be identified by their tall and ridged shell with distinc

The second floor of Kerckhoff had an unusual stillness that evening. People trickled into the small library room for the Science and Faith Examined (SAFE) talk, uncertain yet curious. I sat near the back, notebook open, listening to Tara—a physics PhD student and president of GCF—unfold her reflections on quantum field theory and the Bible. The hum of conversation faded as she spoke about particles, fields, and the hidden architecture of creation. Her words carried not only the weight of scienti

![A curious fox squirrel. All photos courtesy of Jieyu Zheng.](https://xguzskbxiptvhbyggkpl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/2761

The Houston heat wrapped around me like an invisible shield as I navigated the city with the strange feeling that I was not walking to a lab or a museum, but to something that provided silence. The Rothko Chapel is hostile to sound: black walls, enormous canvases, light that doesn’t so much illuminate them as permeate through like some ancient sigh. There, in that weightless inner space, I found myself having a thought that does not frequently occur to me at Caltech, amidst equations and lab equ

I bought the 2025 Pasadena Coffee Passport back in February so that I had something fun to look forward to this year and support local businesses. It is now September, and I have only been to four of the fourteen shops in the passport! I’m determined to visit them all before the end of the year, so stay tuned for my next round of reviews. For now, read about the drinks, locations, and interior descriptions of the four coffee shops I visited thus far. ![](https://xguzskbxiptvhbyggkpl.supabase.c

Introduction Amid deadlines, data, and delayed dreams, it’s easy to overlook the fact that life doesn’t wait for us to solve every problem. At Caltech, where ambition surrounds us and the future feels constant, the present can easily fade into the background. Yet beneath the weight of equations, lab reports, and sleepless nights lies a truth waiting to be unearthed: hic et nunc—“here and now.” This simple, ancient Latin phrase serves as a profound reminder that our only true existence

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Some call them cute furry fairies; others regard them as rats with bushy tails. Love them or not, fox squirrels are there, every day on the Caltech campus. Among the mammals of Caltech, they’re arguably the happiest and freest. While Homo sapiens are burdened with homework and deadlines, and coyotes stick to moonlit hours to avoid the crowd, the fox squirrels roam wherever their paws take them. Stroll across campus and you’re guaranteed to spot one: foraging randomly in the grass (no, they do

Everyone knows Los Angeles is a huge melting pot of human culture, but did you know it’s also home to many animals from around the world? Pasadena alone has a surprising number of foreign bird species. Look closely and you can spot these feathered visitors daily at Caltech—including some that are endangered. This week’s wildlife column is about these special bird immigrants. _(Some photos were taken in the greater Pasadena area, but all the birds mentioned can be found on or near campus if you’

Spring at Caltech is a season of rapid transformation. Step away for just a few days, and you’ll return to a campus bursting with changes: the once-bare branches are now decorated with colorful flowers. The drastic changes aren’t limited to flora – migrating wildlife also contributes to the seasonal dynamics. Migration is one of nature’s greatest mysteries. California lies in the heart of a major migration corridor through the Americas, making Caltech a special stopover for many migrators. Take

In Search of Meaning Beyond the Microscope There is a question pulsing quietly beneath the surface of every lab bench, every line of code, every equation scribbled onto a whiteboard: Why are we doing this? Is it for discovery, for prestige, for the betterment of humanity—or something more elusive? At Caltech, we pride ourselves on pushing the boundaries of what is knowable, and we do, no one says the opposite. We decode the stars, manipulate the quantum, edit genes and simulate the brain.

Democritus: The Ancient Greek Who Would Have Loved Caltech’s Labs (If He Had a Microscope) Imagine if some guy from 2,300 years ago walked into a Caltech physics lab, took one look at an electron microscope, and said, “Yep, told you so.” That guy would be Democritus, the ancient Greek philosopher who somehow managed to predict the existence of atoms without a single piece of scientific equipment—just pure brainpower, a lot of thinking, and probably too much free time. Sure, he didn’t get eve

Woodpeckers are perhaps the most overlooked yet ever-present wildlife species on campus. Like the ubiquitous fox squirrels (a topic for another day), they are a daily sight if you know where to look. Every time I mention them to other Caltech students, the most common reaction is, “Wait, we have woodpeckers on campus?!” And I’ll nod slowly, like a long-time local: “Yes, we have at least three families of them.” Among all woodpecker species, acorn woodpeckers stand out for their habit of dri