Stanford, California - Though she was born and educated in Dublin, and raised her family there, Eavan Boland also lived in the United States and in London as a child. Her latest volume of poetry, A Woman Without a Country, engages some of the contrasts and contradictions that come from living in a place without feeling that one fully belongs to it. As she puts it in the book, "This sequence is dedicated to those who lost a country, not by history or inheritance, but through a series of questions to which they could find no answer."

Stanford, California - So-called patent trolls may actually benefit inventors and the innovation economy, according to a Stanford intellectual property expert.

Stanford, California - When confronted with the notion of asexuality, most people are baffled by the idea of a life devoid of sexual attraction.

Berkeley, California - Birds are more important than previously recognized as hosts for Lyme disease-causing bacteria in California, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley researchers.

Berkeley, California - Scientists have captured the first detailed microscopy images of ultra-small bacteria that are believed to be about as small as life can get. The research was led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley. The existence of ultra-small bacteria has been debated for two decades, but there hasn’t been a comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based description of the microbes until now.

Sacramento, California - The California Energy Commission has launched a new online system for schools to submit Energy Expenditure Plans under the California Clean Energy Jobs Act (Proposition 39). The system provides schools a streamlined process to submit all the elements of a plan for review and approval under the newly authorized 2015 Program Implementation Guidelines.