Jason Pohl
Science writer/media relations at UC Berkeley focused on social sciences + public health | Former newspaper reporter | Current ultramarathon runner/coach
- People say they care deeply about civil rights. But surprisingly, framing modern causes as matters of civil rights actually "backfires," according to a new study. Why? And what does it mean for advocates on all sides of the political spectrum? news.berkeley.edu/2025/06/20/n...
- Incredibly important perspectives and insights here: UC Berkeley experts react to U.S. Supreme Court ruling on medical care for trans minors news.berkeley.edu/2025/06/18/u...
- “If not leverageable for the sake of agenda-setting or even tone-setting to the public, the population is completely forgotten,” said Stephanie L. Canizales, a UC Berkeley sociologist and leading expert on undocumented youth. “And that really haunts me.” news.berkeley.edu/2025/04/24/t...
- Need a break from doomscrolling? Me too. So here's a story on the intersection of Egyptology, Reddit, chemistry, wellness grifts and the outsized effect a cringey 1990s psychedelics documentary on the famed blue lotus had on one UC Berkeley student's future. news.berkeley.edu/2025/03/11/i...
- "Over the past several weeks, we have seen events of world-historical proportions," a UC Berkeley expert on Russian aggression and the war in Ukraine said. "The United States has switched sides." A revealing Q&A here on fast-changing foreign policy: news.berkeley.edu/2025/03/07/a...
- One student escaped civil war by traversing mountains in Ethiopia. Another barely fled fighting in Burundi. Two more spent years in a massive refugee camp in Kenya. Now they're studying at UC Berkeley. It was such a privilege to get to know these four students: news.berkeley.edu/2025/02/20/a...
- I wrote a palate cleanser to cope with the chaos of the past few weeks. It was a helpful reminder that lots of people are genuinely trying to do meaningful and good things that might seem small but actually have very real effects. news.berkeley.edu/2025/01/28/w...
- "We should require these highly profitable companies to compensate communities, homeowners, businesses and even insurers for the losses," UC Berkeley's Dave Jones says in this sharp opinion piece today. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/o...
- Can California's "insurer of last resort" handle the expected deluge of claims? What is the FAIR Plan anyway? And what the heck does Florida have to do with all of this? My Q&A with CA's former insurance commissioner, who's now at UC Berkeley: news.berkeley.edu/2025/01/14/w...
- Toxic air and soil. Fragile housing markets. Insurance chaos. And the role of climate fiction in grappling with the climate crisis. Tons of interesting insights here, with more to come: news.berkeley.edu/2025/01/10/h...
- Was Trump's California bashing this week a glimpse of what's to come? UC Berkeley experts say yes. But how consequential it is on environmental policy, immigration and public health remains a bit — perhaps a lot — more nuanced. news.berkeley.edu/2025/01/10/t...
- As someone who grew up in — and was once evacuated from — a mobile home park in the SoCal mountains, this important piece hits hard.
- Read this heartbreaking piece about a mobile home park in LA that burned. It does something rare - explains why parks are so often refuges for families priced out of other neighborhoods: www.wsj.com/us-news/a-ra...
- "Catastrophic fire erases what was there before. So does forgetting. Memory is a resource for facing the future ... We cannot know the future, but remembering the past with care and accuracy equips us to navigate it."
- I wrote a thing, because these fires are in the increasingly common category of shocking but not surprising. Neither unprecedented nor unforeseen by those who study the subjects..... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Jason PohlHere's the reality about the #LAFires this week: this isn't the first time ANY of these places have burned. Not even close. In 2018, we mapped CA fire history to look at fire frequency across SoCal. Santa Monica Mtns area burns more than anywhere else -- up to once per decade in a given spot. 🧵
- Attn: Reporters covering the Los Angeles fires: My team built a page of UC Berkeley wildfire experts, contact info and research focuses. There's experts on WUI, urban fires, smoke dangers, air quality, forest management, wildfire modeling, and more! news.berkeley.edu/expert-topic...
- Not everyone is 100% available 100% of the time (obvi). But reach out to me if you need help lining up interviews, etc.
- Reposted by Jason PohlSo in all the discourse over how men don't read, I've noticed something weird. All the articles about this issue say that there are multiple studies showing women account for 80% of fiction sales. But none of them link to the studies — just to each other. www.vox.com/culture/3929...
- Obama’s book list includes one from UC Berkeley and sociology legend Arlie Russell Hochschild. It really is a great read! I wrote about “Stolen Pride” a few months ago (before the election) and it was/is one of the most memorable interviews of my year. news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/05/s...
- Reposted by Jason PohlSquirrels in CA seen hunting and eating voles in first evidence of widespread carnivorous behavior among squirrels, finds @ucdavis UW-Eau Claire study. (You’re welcome and happy holidays.) www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
- Reposted by Jason Pohl70 yrs ago, people began noticing dings in their windshields. Was it...cosmic rays? H-bomb fallout? Something else? —Police set up roadblocks —Marines searched —Seattle's mayor wired Ike for help Turns out, in most cases: "The pits had been there all along, but no one had noticed them until now."
- I've sent this piece about the Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic to, like, a dozen people today. Might as well put it here too! Sure hope the "drones" don't start dropping rocks on our cars... www.historylink.org/File/5136
- I've sent this piece about the Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic to, like, a dozen people today. Might as well put it here too! Sure hope the "drones" don't start dropping rocks on our cars... www.historylink.org/File/5136
- For the newspaper nerds: classifiedhumanity.com/tagged/Winds...
- Further down the rabbit hole, the '70s cattle mutilation/satanic panic part is way less fun but no less relevant! "Once something like this gets rolling, people are reluctant to accept a mundane explanation. Talk about satanic cults and visitors from outer space adds excitement to a drab existence."
- Reposted by Jason Pohl🌊‘We Cannot Wait Much Longer’: King Tides Foreshadow a Far Wetter Future for SF Shoreline 🚆It’s a reminder that as seas rise, future floodwaters could flood part of the city’s vital infrastructure: commuter rail lines @kqednews.bsky.social @kqedscience.bsky.social www.kqed.org/news/1201810...
