UC Science Today

Developing clean, renewable energy sources is a global challenge. But through advances in semiconductor nanowire technology, University of California, Berkeley chemist Peidong Yang has a potential game-changer in the field of artificial photosynthesis. Yang and his colleagues are developing a way to capture carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into a sustainable transportation fuel. Yang says the whole system looks like a semiconductor chip.

"They look like a forest of nanowires. And underneath these forests basically, we culture these bacteria. So the bacteria basically is directly attached to the semiconductor surface."

This artificial forest of nanowires could reduce carbon dioxide from the air in part by generating enough energy from sunlight.

Basically it provides the capability to capture as much as possible, the solar spectrum, because that’s the energy input to these carbon dioxide reduction reactions. Second, it provides interface with these bacteria so that the bacteria can take the energy and the electron from the whole process and do the next step, which is the CO2 reduction.

Do your genetics or your environment determine whether you will develop a mood disorder? By comparing the brain structures of family members, neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft from the University of California, San Francisco discovered that the region of the brain responsible for emotion is passed down from mother to daughter. But teasing out the impacts of nature versus nurture is a different story. To resolve this issue, Hoeft will study the brain structures in families that have used in-vitro fertilization, or IVF.

"So what this allows us to do is to dissociate genetic, prenatal and postnatal environmental influence for the very first time in humans."

Basically, if a surrogate mother keeps the child she carries, she’s not passing along her genetics, but she does affect the child’s prenatal and postnatal environments. This scenario differs from a surrogate mom who doesn’t raise the child, because in this case, she just influences the prenatal environment.

"And so you can compare these different groups to try to dissociate these different pieces."

Zika isn’t the only mosquito-borne disease that has confounded scientists. Epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is currently looking at dengue transmission in Peru, where infected individuals may not display symptoms. To spread the disease, a mosquito must bite an infected human and become infected itself. Barker is looking at this person-to-mosquito disease transmission.

"What we really want to know is across that full spectrum of disease, from before you even show any symptoms, during symptoms, and afterward, how infectious are people to mosquitoes?"

Barker’s team is also providing surveys to people suspected of being infected. These questionnaires gather information on their symptoms and movement, or where they may go.

"The third part of the project really uses models to tie all of that information together, to have a more complete understanding of Dengue transmission over the full range of disease. Dengue’s caused millions of cases outside our border for many years."

Do your genetics or your environment determine whether you will develop a mood disorder? By comparing the brain structures of family members, neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft from the University of California, San Francisco discovered that the region of the brain responsible for emotion is passed down from mother to daughter. But teasing out the impacts of nature versus nurture is a different story. To resolve this issue, Hoeft will study the brain structures in families that have used in-vitro fertilization, or IVF.

"So what this allows us to do is to dissociate genetic, prenatal and postnatal environmental influence for the very first time in humans."

Basically, if a surrogate mother keeps the child she carries, she’s not passing along her genetics, but she does affect the child’s prenatal and postnatal environments. This scenario differs from a surrogate mom who doesn’t raise the child, because in this case, she just influences the prenatal environment.

"And so you can compare these different groups to try to dissociate these different pieces."

Zika isn’t the only mosquito-borne disease that has confounded scientists. Epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is currently looking at dengue transmission in Peru, where infected individuals may not display symptoms. To spread the disease, a mosquito must bite an infected human and become infected itself. Barker is looking at this person-to-mosquito disease transmission.

"What we really want to know is across that full spectrum of disease, from before you even show any symptoms, during symptoms, and afterward, how infectious are people to mosquitoes?"

Barker’s team is also providing surveys to people suspected of being infected. These questionnaires gather information on their symptoms and movement, or where they may go.

"The third part of the project really uses models to tie all of that information together, to have a more complete understanding of Dengue transmission over the full range of disease. Dengue’s caused millions of cases outside our border for many years."

Do your genetics or your environment determine whether you will develop a mood disorder? By comparing the brain structures of family members, neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft from the University of California, San Francisco discovered that the region of the brain responsible for emotion is passed down from mother to daughter. But teasing out the impacts of nature versus nurture is a different story. To resolve this issue, Hoeft will study the brain structures in families that have used in-vitro fertilization, or IVF.

"So what this allows us to do is to dissociate genetic, prenatal and postnatal environmental influence for the very first time in humans."

Basically, if a surrogate mother keeps the child she carries, she’s not passing along her genetics, but she does affect the child’s prenatal and postnatal environments. This scenario differs from a surrogate mom who doesn’t raise the child, because in this case, she just influences the prenatal environment.

"And so you can compare these different groups to try to dissociate these different pieces."

Zika isn’t the only mosquito-borne disease that has confounded scientists. Epidemiologist Chris Barker of the University of California, Davis is currently looking at dengue transmission in Peru, where infected individuals may not display symptoms. To spread the disease, a mosquito must bite an infected human and become infected itself. Barker is looking at this person-to-mosquito disease transmission.

"What we really want to know is across that full spectrum of disease, from before you even show any symptoms, during symptoms, and afterward, how infectious are people to mosquitoes?"

Barker’s team is also providing surveys to people suspected of being infected. These questionnaires gather information on their symptoms and movement, or where they may go.

"The third part of the project really uses models to tie all of that information together, to have a more complete understanding of Dengue transmission over the full range of disease. Dengue’s caused millions of cases outside our border for many years."

Estrogen, the primary female hormone, may be an important player in the prevention of autism, and might explain why girls are less likely than boys to develop the disorder. Researcher Matthew State of the University of California, San Francisco found in zebrafish that estrogen compounds could reverse abnormal behaviors caused by a specific gene mutation.

"The only way that you’re going to know what autism looks like in a zebrafish is to take a gene that you absolutely know leads to autism in humans, and then put that into a zebrafish, and figure out what does it do. Then we could take hundreds of compounds that might have an influence on brain function and expose the zebrafish and see whether or not any of the compounds correct the abnormality."

When the zebrafish were exposed to estrogens, the autism-like behavior disappeared, but State says there is much more work to be done before this can be extended to humans.

"To really know what it is that is causing someone to develop a social disability is a much more complicated question."

Estrogen, the primary female hormone, may be an important player in the prevention of autism, and might explain why girls are less likely than boys to develop the disorder. Researcher Matthew State of the University of California, San Francisco found in zebrafish that estrogen compounds could reverse abnormal behaviors caused by a specific gene mutation.

"The only way that you’re going to know what autism looks like in a zebrafish is to take a gene that you absolutely know leads to autism in humans, and then put that into a zebrafish, and figure out what does it do. Then we could take hundreds of compounds that might have an influence on brain function and expose the zebrafish and see whether or not any of the compounds correct the abnormality."

When the zebrafish were exposed to estrogens, the autism-like behavior disappeared, but State says there is much more work to be done before this can be extended to humans.

"To really know what it is that is causing someone to develop a social disability is a much more complicated question."

Estrogen, the primary female hormone, may be an important player in the prevention of autism, and might explain why girls are less likely than boys to develop the disorder. Researcher Matthew State of the University of California, San Francisco found in zebrafish that estrogen compounds could reverse abnormal behaviors caused by a specific gene mutation.

"The only way that you’re going to know what autism looks like in a zebrafish is to take a gene that you absolutely know leads to autism in humans, and then put that into a zebrafish, and figure out what does it do. Then we could take hundreds of compounds that might have an influence on brain function and expose the zebrafish and see whether or not any of the compounds correct the abnormality."

When the zebrafish were exposed to estrogens, the autism-like behavior disappeared, but State says there is much more work to be done before this can be extended to humans.

"To really know what it is that is causing someone to develop a social disability is a much more complicated question."