Opinion

After five years of volunteering under different acronyms, I officially became by far the oldest orientation leader in fall 2026. I enjoy the festive (and freebie-loaded) orientation weeks, but more importantly, the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new students rejuvenate my excitement about a place that feels a bit too familiar. The yearly revitalization of our campus matters for both first-years and old-timers. For new students, it is the season to find their footing by declaring majors or joinin

May 27, 2026, marked my fifth anniversary of my arrival at Caltech, when I was freshly off the boat – or rather, off the plane. Here in Southern California, the weather seems almost unchanged from one day to the next, and the lack of dramatic seasonal shifts can create the illusion that time is stagnant (unless you are a birder paying close attention to migrants). But as we approach this year’s commencement, I cannot help but reflect on how quickly time has passed. Out of more than 8 billion pe

Accept your existence like you accept the Caltech squirrels. (Credit: Jieyu Zheng) Last month the Caltech community suffered the tragic loss of Parker Thompson. I did not personally know Thompson, but it warms my heart to see the many articles and photos on The California Tech dedicated to his memory. Mental health is a tremendous challenge in intense academic environments like Ca

The sixth Grand Theft Auto game has been highly anticipated ever since it was announced in 2023, even winning the Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards in 2025. It’s set to be published by Rockstar Games on Nov. 19, 2026 and is projected to earn hundreds of millions of dollars. It will undoubtedly be the most anticipated game release of the year. You shouldn’t buy it. The projected $80 price tag is egregious enough, with some rumors claiming that it will even be $100. More importantly, you

The southern Alberta sky — the kind some people are desperate to fight for. (Photo: Flickr) Thanks to a certain U.S. president, the new year has seen a curiously Canadian topic readmitted to the news cycle: Alberta separatism. A t

This year’s Super Bowl kicked off on Sunday, February 8th, between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Over 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year, which creates a fierce competition between companies to create the best ads they can for the most effective viewer impression. The most heartwarming ad — rated USA Today’s #1 of Super Bowl 2026 — was Budweiser’s depiction of the relationship over time between a Clydesdale foal and an eagle chick. These animals are closely

In March 2021, a digital collage file by the artist Beeple sold for an astonishing $69 million at Christie’s auction. The buyer of this NFT (non-fungible token) didn’t receive a physical object or exclusive rights to the art – essentially, they paid for a certificate of ownership recorded on a blockchain. In practical terms, what they bought has no intrinsic use: it’s a JPEG image anyone can copy. As one tech reporter put it, NFT buyers are often “just buying bragging rights and an ass

The ‘60s were a wild time. Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, and members of the counterculture movement were defying traditional social norms. It was an age of innovation, reform, and progress, and Caltech undergraduates had t

As Caltech researchers, there is perhaps nothing so guarded as data. We scrutinize with excessive detail our data collection methods, data analysis methods, false-positive and false negative rates, and possible sources of bias to ensure that our interpretation of said data is trustworthy. But even before that…we make sure the data is there. So, reading Jordan Marie-Smith’s NPR article, “USDA cancels survey tracking how many Americans struggle to get enough food,” felt like a punch in th

If you don’t know yet, Caltech’s sex discrimination policy includes a specific clause (Article 15.5) prohibiting any relationship between employees—meaning faculty, postdocs, and staff—and undergraduate students. It also advises caution and professionalism in any relationship where a power imbalance exists. This is where it becomes truly damaging—you start to believe it’s your fault. E

It is well known that A.I. companies have red-teaming, RLHF, and guardrail teams specialized in protecting against hate speech, bomb-making, or any crazy idea that pops into a person’s destructive mind. However, even with protection, the A.I. can be “tricked” and

My reign of terror is over, and my era as ASCIT President has come to its end. Through this opportunity, Caltech and its community have taught me countless lessons that I wouldn’t be able to learn in any classroom, and I thank each and every one of you for the faith you’ve put in me as the ASCIT President and the ways you’ve helped me grow. As some small return to the confidence you’ve put in me, I’d like to offer one final piece of unsolicited perspective I’ve gained over my past three and a h

I analyzed my dreams for two years using AI, and this is my testimony. My interest in dreams began when I was a teenager, and my father, after graduating in Civil Engineering and Computer Science, decided to enroll in a Psychology course to understand the human psyche. I lived with him, and there was a clea

Here are some classes I found fun, even if they’re not everyone’s idea of a “good class.” While most of the Core and other courses are designed just to introduce the fundamentals of a subject, the ones below stood out for being especially engaging. Bi 1 — The Great Ideas of Biology: Rob Phillips I’ve actually never been enrolled in Bi 1, I just showed up to most of the lectures because it was very interesting to see what was up. The best part of Bi 1 is that it is not a biology course at a

“All individuals, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, have civil and constitutional rights under U.S. law,” reads https://international.caltech.edu/guidance. This idea that the Constitution guarantees basic rights to all - freedom of speech, religion, press, and more – has been fundamental to the American creed for centuries. Today, the current US administration is upending this national value by employing chilling tactics to silence sp

Well, this evening I find myself with one of my usual inspirations. I promised myself that I would go to bed early, but, in this place, that is never really possible. I tried, at least, and now, in this phase of almost REM relaxation, I write. Background music fills the room, my rosettes hanging on the wall watch me silently, and in these six square meters of chaos – today I would say around 70% – I try to put my thoughts in order. It has been a tough day. The bed is still unmade, but I will sle

My name is John Chapman, and I am a G5 chemistry graduate student. I have gathered union petition signatures, organized vote parties for union authorization, sent mass emails in support of the union, and spoken in person to most grad students and postdocs in Schlinger, Church, and Crellin for Caltech Grad Researchers and Postdocs United (CGPU). I’m about as pro-union as they come. But right now, CGPU is at best misleading and at worst outright lying about compensation gains in the recent tentat

Nearly a year since voting to form our union, the elected CGPU bargaining team is proud to unanimously endorse a YES vote on a full Tentative Agreement (TA) to ratify Caltech Postdoc (PD) and Graduate Student Workers’ (GSWs) first-ever union contract. This historic agreement demonstrates the power GSWs and PDs have built and exercised through mass engagement in our contract campaign. It also reflects a shared desire between GSWs and PDs and the Caltech Administration to reach an agreement in the

I just finished reading the new book Star Bound by Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III (shoutout to my friend Paige Kaufman who released a podcast interview with the authors yesterday – Space Spiels, wherever you get your podcasts). In the book, the authors discuss – among other things – how we have successfully grown plants in lunar regolith brought back from the Apollo missions. This is especially relevant now, as Artemis is aimed at establishing a permanent base on the surface of the Moon

For the astute eyes on campus, you may have noticed something different about Caltech Hall, specifically the bridge across the pond. But for those who may not know, the bridge going across Caltech Hall Pond has been completely covered in gold leaf, or so it seems. That is because this golden glimmer upon the bridge is actually an art installation called This Moment in Time by Lisa Albuquerque, and it is one piece of an art exhibition hosted by the Caltech Library, _Crossing Over: Art and Scie