UC Science Today

Could understanding smell lead to odor-detecting robots? That’s what a multi-university research team is hoping to accomplish. Study leader Lucia Jacobs of the University of California, Berkeley explains.

"Our goal is to identify the common algorithm that all these animals are using to find odors. If we can do that, then we can use that to build robotic devices that can find odors. And then that will finally be able to replace dogs and other mammals – we use pigs to find truffles, we use giant Gambian rats to find land mines in Africa. So just providing the science behind that, that’s got to be valuable."

Jacobs and her team, were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to identify the mechanisms behind odor navigation. They will compare the behavioral and cognitive differences of a variety of animals during odor navigation, including humans, dogs, cockroaches, and slugs.

"So what we are hoping to do is to find the secret that we can give to engineers who can then build a robot who could do that."

Could understanding smell lead to odor-detecting robots? That’s what a multi-university research team is hoping to accomplish. Study leader Lucia Jacobs of the University of California, Berkeley explains.

"Our goal is to identify the common algorithm that all these animals are using to find odors. If we can do that, then we can use that to build robotic devices that can find odors. And then that will finally be able to replace dogs and other mammals – we use pigs to find truffles, we use giant Gambian rats to find land mines in Africa. So just providing the science behind that, that’s got to be valuable."

Jacobs and her team, were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to identify the mechanisms behind odor navigation. They will compare the behavioral and cognitive differences of a variety of animals during odor navigation, including humans, dogs, cockroaches, and slugs.

"So what we are hoping to do is to find the secret that we can give to engineers who can then build a robot who could do that."

Overfishing is often cited as having a large negative impact on coral reefs. But until a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography looked into it, there was no global snapshot of key coral reef fishes and their ecological role in maintaining the balance of coral reef health.

"There was this missing link, you know overfishing of what and what’s the current status of overfishing of these important species that we know have a really important ecological role in maintaining that balance between corals and their seaweed competitors?"

That’s Jennifer Smith, a marine ecologist who led the effort to compile the global data.

"We complied this global data set that allowed us to ask what the current status of coral reef herbivorous or grazing fishes was. We found that in fact, in fished areas these herbivorous fishes were reduced by greater than 50% in comparison to unfished areas or remote islands that don’t have any local human populations."

Overfishing is often cited as having a large negative impact on coral reefs. But until a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography looked into it, there was no global snapshot of key coral reef fishes and their ecological role in maintaining the balance of coral reef health.

"There was this missing link, you know overfishing of what and what’s the current status of overfishing of these important species that we know have a really important ecological role in maintaining that balance between corals and their seaweed competitors?"

That’s Jennifer Smith, a marine ecologist who led the effort to compile the global data.

"We complied this global data set that allowed us to ask what the current status of coral reef herbivorous or grazing fishes was. We found that in fact, in fished areas these herbivorous fishes were reduced by greater than 50% in comparison to unfished areas or remote islands that don’t have any local human populations."

Overfishing is often cited as having a large negative impact on coral reefs. But until a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography looked into it, there was no global snapshot of key coral reef fishes and their ecological role in maintaining the balance of coral reef health.

"There was this missing link, you know overfishing of what and what’s the current status of overfishing of these important species that we know have a really important ecological role in maintaining that balance between corals and their seaweed competitors?"

That’s Jennifer Smith, a marine ecologist who led the effort to compile the global data.

"We complied this global data set that allowed us to ask what the current status of coral reef herbivorous or grazing fishes was. We found that in fact, in fished areas these herbivorous fishes were reduced by greater than 50% in comparison to unfished areas or remote islands that don’t have any local human populations."

The Multimodal Imaging Lab at the University of California, San Diego is comprised of an interdisciplinary group who study the human brain using a variety of imaging, recording and computational techniques. Chun Chieh Fan, a graduate student in UCSD’s Cognitive Sciences Department, explains the benefits of studying brain function non-invasively.

"To study human brain in vivo is quite a difficult question because we want to know how brain function, but we don’t want to dissect everybody’s brain while they are alive. Now we can allow different techniques to look into human’s brain in vivo to see how they work."

Fan was part of a team that recently used techniques at their lab to discover that the three-dimensional shape of the brain’s cerebral cortex correlates with one’s genetic heritage, yet has no bearing on functional or cognitive abilities.

"So, that’s the main purpose of doing the multimodal because we can combine all the different technique together to really know how human brain function."

The Multimodal Imaging Lab at the University of California, San Diego is comprised of an interdisciplinary group who study the human brain using a variety of imaging, recording and computational techniques. Chun Chieh Fan, a graduate student in UCSD’s Cognitive Sciences Department, explains the benefits of studying brain function non-invasively.

"To study human brain in vivo is quite a difficult question because we want to know how brain function, but we don’t want to dissect everybody’s brain while they are alive. Now we can allow different techniques to look into human’s brain in vivo to see how they work."

Fan was part of a team that recently used techniques at their lab to discover that the three-dimensional shape of the brain’s cerebral cortex correlates with one’s genetic heritage, yet has no bearing on functional or cognitive abilities.

"So, that’s the main purpose of doing the multimodal because we can combine all the different technique together to really know how human brain function."

The Multimodal Imaging Lab at the University of California, San Diego is comprised of an interdisciplinary group who study the human brain using a variety of imaging, recording and computational techniques. Chun Chieh Fan, a graduate student in UCSD’s Cognitive Sciences Department, explains the benefits of studying brain function non-invasively.

"To study human brain in vivo is quite a difficult question because we want to know how brain function, but we don’t want to dissect everybody’s brain while they are alive. Now we can allow different techniques to look into human’s brain in vivo to see how they work."

Fan was part of a team that recently used techniques at their lab to discover that the three-dimensional shape of the brain’s cerebral cortex correlates with one’s genetic heritage, yet has no bearing on functional or cognitive abilities.

"So, that’s the main purpose of doing the multimodal because we can combine all the different technique together to really know how human brain function."

A man’s risk of prostate cancer increases with elevated blood levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. But PSA screenings can sometimes lead to false-positives or false-negatives, and even invasive procedures like biopsies or surgeries. Epidemiologist John Witte of the University of California, San Francisco says that his team is looking to improve the accuracy of PSA tests by examining the genes that affect PSA levels.

"Everyone has a different constitutive level of their PSA, kind of like we have different levels of cholesterol that are somewhat genetically determined. Right now, every PSA is treated the same. But if we knew, "Oh, this person is just a high PSA producer genetically," then they would have to cross a higher threshold to go to the next step in being screened for prostate cancer. Or if someone is a low PSA producer, then maybe they would have a lower level instead of just using a single cut off for all men. So this actually I could see actually having really near-term value."

A man’s risk of prostate cancer increases with elevated blood levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. But PSA screenings can sometimes lead to false-positives or false-negatives, and even invasive procedures like biopsies or surgeries. Epidemiologist John Witte of the University of California, San Francisco says that his team is looking to improve the accuracy of PSA tests by examining the genes that affect PSA levels.

"Everyone has a different constitutive level of their PSA, kind of like we have different levels of cholesterol that are somewhat genetically determined. Right now, every PSA is treated the same. But if we knew, "Oh, this person is just a high PSA producer genetically," then they would have to cross a higher threshold to go to the next step in being screened for prostate cancer. Or if someone is a low PSA producer, then maybe they would have a lower level instead of just using a single cut off for all men. So this actually I could see actually having really near-term value."