Caltech Magazine, Volume 87:2, Fall 2024

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
What’s inside the Fall 2024 issue.

Letters
Fall 2024 letters to the editor.

SoCaltech
John Hopfield wins Nobel Prize; Odes to Ingenuity; Activism through imagery; and more.

Signatures From the Past
How isotope research digs deep to solve mysteries from ancient Earth and beyond.

An Intriguing Red Planet Rock
A sample discovered by the Perseverance rover offers hints that Mars may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago.

Meet the 2024 Distinguished Alumni
Caltech’s annual Distinguished Alumni Awards—the highest honor the Institute bestows upon its graduates—recognize “a particular achievement of noteworthy value, a series of such achievements, or a career of noteworthy accomplishment.” The 2024 luminaries include a lauded bestselling science-fiction author and futurist; a chemist whose electron microscopy analysis revolutionized our understanding of genes and messenger RNA; a leading tech industry executive, venture capitalist, and mentor; and a chemical-sensing innovator whose research has led to life-saving discoveries.

The Evolution of Trolling
Understanding the scientific underpinnings of toxic online behavior.

Inside Look: Joe Parker
Beetles are on the brain, and the desk, of this evolutionary biologist.

Ripples From the Heart
Engineer Mory Gharib (PhD ’83) delves into the mechanics of the body’s most critical biological pump to reveal its secrets and develop lifesaving medical devices.

The Lab in the Sky Says Goodbye
A NASA DC-8 aircraft used to train many Caltech student scientists has taken its final flight.

In Memoriam
Camilla Chandler Frost, David Goodstein, Fred C. Anson, Virginia V. Weldon, Edward C. Stone, Jeff Kimble.

Endnotes
What does the Caltech Honor Code mean to you?