Sometimes the biggest gifts arrive in the most surprising ways. A couple in Singapore, Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo, were watching the news and saw a Caltech scientist help a quadriplegic use his thoughts to control a robotic arm so that -- for the first time in more than 10 years -- he could sip a drink unaided. Inspired, Chen and Luo flew to Pasadena to meet the scientist, Richard Andersen, in person. Now they've given Caltech $115 million to shake up the way scientists study the brain in a new research complex. Construction of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech will begin as early as 2018 and bring together biology, engineering, chemistry, physics, computer science and the social sciences to tackle brain function in an integrated, comprehensive way, university officials announced Tuesday.

President Obama is making a push for transparency in his last days in office before handing off the vast counter-terrorism apparatus he has built to President-elect Donald Trump, starting with a major address Tuesday defending his record on national security. Obama's speech, at the U.S. military's Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., will also explain the legal and policy underpinnings that his administration has established over eight years in deciding whether and how to detain, interrogate or kill suspected terrorists. The White House released some details on its legal rationale ahead of the speech. The efforts at transparency were striking for an administration criticized for being secretive by news and watchdog organizations; Obama has used the Espionage Act more times than all other U.S. presidents combined to investigate leaks of government information. The bid for openness also served to make public additional facts that can be used to hold the Trump administration accountable, though the White House downplayed any message to the president-elect.

They don't transport people around, but drones would fall under Elaine Chao's purview if President-elect Donald Trump's nominee is confirmed as secretary of Transportation. In the role, Chao -- who was Labor secretary under George W. Bush -- would oversee the nation's transportation systems and infrastructure, a wide-ranging job that also encompasses cars, trains and ships. Among the questions she'll have to answer on the drone front: whether the unmanned aerial vehicles will eventually be allowed to fly farther than their operators can see, function autonomously and fly over people on the ground. Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao. Chao will wield great power over how driverless cars and other automated vehicles will be regulated –... Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao.

While Chukwuagoziem Uzoegwu was growing up, his mother often would throw what he and his brothers called "educational tantrums." On those weekends or on random days in the long stretch of summer vacation, the Uzoegwu boys would be barred from TV "from sun up to sunset," he said. "Leisure time was spent reading. Leisure time was spent writing," said Uzoegwu, now 17 and a senior at King Drew Medical Magnet High School of Medicine and Science. Uzoegwu attributes his upbringing with his success as a student.

Deportation policies: An article in the Nov. 26 Section A about deportation policies stated that low-level crimes that are considered deportable offenses can include immigration or traffic violations. According to enforcement policies set by the Department of Homeland Security in 2014, minor traffic offenses and any crime for which an essential element is immigration status are excluded and do not make a person eligible for deportation. Also, the article said that Mayra Machado, who has spent a year in immigration detention, had pleaded guilty to one felony charge involving a forged check 12 years ago, when she was 18. She pleaded guilty to three felony charges in the case: forgery, theft by receiving and failure to appear. The victims of the deadly Oakland fire, who's to blame for one of the worst fires in California history, Dakota Access pipeline opponents have claimed a big victory for now, and robots are taking over many warehouse jobs in California.

With hands clasped and heads bowed, hundreds of USC students, faculty, staff and university leaders gathered at a memorial Monday for Bosco Tjan, a beloved neuroscience professor who was stabbed to death by a student on Friday, the last day of classes. "Tragically, Bosco died doing what he loved, doing what he believed in -- serving his students and building up a new generation of scholars," USC President C.L. Max Nikias said. "His achievements are real, his influence enduring." The shock of Tjan's death reverberated over the weekend through USC, where he had worked for more than 15 years and was considered a cornerstone of the neuroscience graduate program. He was a co-founder of the university's neuroimaging center, where he served as technical director, led a number of research projects and taught a lab course on functional imaging.

Amazon.com Inc. has built a convenience store that deploys a gaggle of technologies to allow shoppers to come in, grab items and walk out without going through a register. The 1,800-square-foot store in downtown Seattle, officially dubbed Amazon Go, is the latest foray in bricks-and-mortar retail by the e-commerce giant, which already has bookstores (including one in San Diego) and is working on drive-through grocery locations. It's a sign that Seattle-based Amazon sees a big opportunity in revolutionizing the traditions of Main Street commerce. In the much longer term, if the experiment works out and is adopted widely, it could radically transform the nature of work in the retail industry, much like self-driving car and truck technology threatens to upend transportation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a report this year that cashiers were the second-largest occupation, with 3.5 million employed in the U.S. The Amazon Go store is open to Amazon employees participating in a testing program.

Numerous California raisin growers are seeking federal compensation for crops surrendered years ago as part of an old supply management system. In two lawsuits that seek to become a large class action, and a separate suit filed by a single Fresno County farm, growers seek government payments to offset what's been deemed a government "taking" of their property. A federal judge last week kept all three lawsuits alive, rejecting Justice Department efforts to dismiss them. "At this point, the government should just settle and write the checks," said attorney James A. Moody, who represents Fresno County-based Lion Farms. "In my view, the case is over at this point."