UC faculty and alums behind 13 of TIME's Best Inventions of 2025

TIME magazine recently released its Best Inventions of 2025, highlighting the emerging technology and products that are "changing how we live, work, play, and think about what's possible."    

UC's ever ingenious faculty and alumni are right in the thick of it, being lauded for innovations that could help cure baldness, control tremors in people with Parkinson's disease, and offer a new biological tool for protecting endangered species, among others. 

The recognition from TIME comes shortly after Pitchbook placed six UC campuses - Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis, and Irvine - among the world's top 100 universities for undergraduate alumni who started venture-backed businesses.

UC's ten campuses are home to thriving ecosystems for innovation that help students, faculty and staff move their ideas from conception to the market. Many of the inventions on TIME's list this year have gotten a boost from UC business clubs, or their extensive ecosystem of incubators or accelerators. Others have benefitted from UC's technology commercialization experts. These groups link campus founders to local and global industries, helping UC inventions get out into the world, where they can generate jobs and economic growth.

UC faculty and alums are behind over a dozen of the inventions on this year's list, with contributions to aerospace, health, agriculture, computing and more. Learn more about some of this year's most exciting inventions from UC's extraordinary community of changemakers.

BrainSense aDBS from Medtronic: Controlling Parkinson's tremors

Co-developed by UC San Francisco neurologist Simon Little

Credit: Noah Berger / UC San Francisco

In February, the FDA approved Medtronic's BrainSense adaptive deep brain stimulation, which regulates brain signals to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The brain implant continuously analyzes neural activity for brainwaves typical of tremors and modifies those signals when they are detected. One of the two algorithms that power this new treatment was developed by UC San Francisco neurologist Simon Little while he was at Oxford University. Since coming to UC San Francisco in 2019, Little has continued to develop and test aDBS algorithms for treating more Parkinson's symptoms like stiffness, mood dysfunction and insomnia.

ChompSaw from Chompshop: A kid-safe power tool

Cofounded by UC Davis alum Kausi Raman

Credit: Chompshop

It's a tale as old as time: A kid gets a new toy and then wants to play with the cardboard box it came in. But cardboard has one drawback, says Chompshop co-founder and CEO and UC Davis alum Kausi Raman: It is "really hard for kids to cut." Her solution: ChompSaw, which looks like a mini table saw, but with no blade or spinning parts. Instead, the device, which is available for purchase at Chompshop's website, works like a rapid-fire hole puncher. Raman double-majored in economics and design at UC Davis, and served as the student lead at the UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

HerBrain: A breakthrough in pregnancy information

Created by Nina Miolane, UC Santa Barbara assistant professor

Credit: seksan Mongkhonkhamsao / Getty Images

HerBrain is the first digital twin of the maternal brain. UC Santa Barbara Assistant Professor Nina Miolane leads a team spanning Europe and the U.S. that's analyzing data collected through the Ann S. Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative, a research institute that unites seven UC campuses. The team aims to illustrate how brain structures change during pregnancy and beyond, offering science-based insights into changes people experience during this time. The HerBrain app is set to launch by 2027, with the goal of eventually integrating it into other pregnancy apps.

Majorana 1: The first topological quantum chip

Led by UC Santa Barbara professor and Microsoft quantum researcher Chetan Nayak

Credit: UC Santa Barbara / Microsoft

A flurry of tech breakthroughs in the last year has brought the age of super-powerful quantum computers much closer. Among these, TIME editors hailed the arrival of Majorana 1 from Microsoft, developed under the leadership of UC Santa Barbara professor Chetan Nayak. This palm-sized computer chip relies on topological quantum mechanics, which promises more stability and robustness to error than other quantum systems.

Memory Air from Science Lab 3: Scents to boost cognition

Invented by UC Irvine professor Michael Leon

Credit: Science Lab 3

UC Irvine professor Michael Leon discovered that older adults' brain activity and memory improved significantly when exposed to different odors while they slept - a result of the "direct superhighway" from our olfactory systems to our brains' memory centers, Leon says. With guidance and other support from UC Irvine, Leon and his collaborator Alan Bernstein created Memory Air, a device which cycles through 40 different scents nightly, with proven benefits for aging adults and those experiencing cognitive decline.

Non-invasive blood cloning from Colossal Biosciences: Saving species from extinction

Co-developed by UC Santa Cruz professor Beth Shapiro

Credit: Colossal Biosciences

Colossal Biosciences - the company that famously de-extincted the dire wolf earlier this year - is making it easier to save endangered species through cloning. The procedure previously involved surgically harvesting skin or tissue cells from the donor animal, but Colossal has cloned animals using cells from a simple blood draw. UC Santa Cruz professor Beth Shapiro, who wrote the book on de-extinction while serving as Director of Conservation Genomics at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, has overseen this breakthrough as Colossal's Chief Science Officer.

PP405 from Pelage Pharmaceuticals: A therapy to reverse balding

Founded by UCLA professors William Lowry, Heather Christofk and Michael Jung

Credit: Ippei Naoi / Getty Images

Throughout human history, there have been a number of existential quests: for knowledge, for peace, for riches - and for a cure for baldness. UCLA scientists at last have something to show for the latter, with the identification of PP405, a molecule that, when prompted, can waken dormant hair follicles and stimulate regrowth. With support from the UCLA Innovation Fund, three UCLA professors launched Pelage Pharmaceuticals, and this year the company reported promising results in a phase 2 clinical trial.

Salmon Saku from Wildtype: The first lab-grown seafood

Cofounded by UC Berkeley alum Justin Kolbeck

Credit: Wildtype

In May, cultivated salmon from San Francisco-based company Wildtype became the first cell-grown seafood to receive approval from the FDA. It was a long-awaited milestone for co-founders Aryé Elfenbein and UC Berkeley alum Justin Kolbeck. They launched Wildtype to improve food security and lessen the environmental ramifications of commercial fishing.

Scout Gen 5: AI vineyard management software

Cofounded by UC Davis alum Kia Behnia and UC Davis assistant professor of viticulture Mason Earles

Credit: WeBond Creations / Getty Images

UC Davis student research helped launch Scout, which uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to forecast vineyard yields. The technology emerged from the lab of Mason Earles, a UC Davis associate professor, who launched Scout alongside CEO and UC Davis alum Kia Behnia. Their Gen 5 software, introduced in April, analyzes vintners' photos and geolocations and uses AI to create an interactive vineyard map, plus a vine-level inventory with insights into each plant's health and productivity.

SoundHealth Sonu: Drug-free sinus relief

Cofounded by UC San Francisco alum Dr. Peter Hwang

Credit: SoundHealth

Stanford physician Dr. Peter Hwang has created a new, drug-free way to fight sinus congestion. Hwang, who earned his M.D. from UC San Franscisco, developed technology which uses targeted vibrations to constrict inflamed sinus tissue and move mucus, clearing stuffed passages. Entrepreneur Paramesh Gopi and, now SoundHealth's CEO, joined Hwang in creating the Sonu headband, which in June became the first FDA-approved device for treating nasal congestion and allergies without drugs.

TPSea Flex from Sway: Compostable retail bags

Invented by UC Santa Barbara alum Julia Marsh and UC Berkeley alum Matt Mayes

Credit: Sway

UC Santa Barbara alum Julia Marsh and UC Berkeley alum Matt Mayes cofounded Sway. This year the company launched an alternative to plastic retail bags called TPSea Flex: a glossy, translucent film spun from farmed seaweed that can be fed through legacy plastic-bag lines. It matches polyethylene's toughness, but is fully compostable. Sway launched TPSea Flex in 2024 after testing 400 different formulations, and has attained $8.5 million in funding to date - plus a client list including J.Crew and Prana.

Vera C. Rubin Observatory: Eyes on the skies

Developed and operated in part by UC Santa Cruz astronomers

Credit:Observatorio Vera C. Rubin/Anadolu/Getty Images

Astronomy's newest telescope takes about 1,000 pictures of the southern sky every night from a mountaintop in Chile. With giant mirrors concentrating starlight into a 3,200-megapixel camera, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to reveal billions of cosmic objects in the next decade, and could solve some tantalizing mysteries - including whether another planet lurks beyond Pluto in our solar system. UC Santa Cruz faculty and technicians have played key roles in the project - from its early stages through construction and commissioning - and continue to provide scientific leadership.

WattTime Automated Emissions Reduction: Automating cleaner energy use

Founded by UC Berkeley alum Gavin McCormick

Credit: WattTime

WattTime's Automated Emissions Reduction technology enables internet-connected devices like electric vehicles and thermostats to use electricity at times that will cause less pollution. Users can automatically avoid electricity consumption when power is being generated by fossil fuels and instead use more power when excess renewable energy is available. "You can change what time you use energy, and you can change where," says CEO Gavin McCormick, who earned a master's degree from UC Berkeley. In September 2025, the system surpassed 1 billion free users in 210 countries.

Sonia Fernandez, Mike Peña, Tom Vasich, John Harlow, Rose Miyatsu and Robin Marks contributed to this story.