UC Science Today

Could altering brain chemistry someday treat mental illnesses like addiction? A new study at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco has found that participants were more willing to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as fairness, after they were given a dopamine-increasing drug called tolcapone. Study leader Andrew Kayser says the findings may help future research on treating diseases like addiction, which can often disrupt an individual’s social relationships.

"Whatever the substance or even whether it’s a behavioral addiction like gambling, people can often, because of the focus on their addiction, whether that’s witting or unwitting, basically, not treat other people like they should be treated. The reason we think about that as having social dysfunction, is that it's a well-known story that as people get deeper and deeper into their addictions that they disrupt their family relationships."

The next step is to understand precisely how tolcapone affects the brain.

"The mechanism, by understanding it, may suggest which patients would benefit and also, importantly, which ones might not."

A five million dollar gift will go towards creating a new interdisciplinary center to fight climate change at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla says the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation will be a game-changer.

"This name is very carefully chosen – this is not only understanding the impact of climate change, but also understanding that while some of this change is happening, how do we adapt to this change? So for example, one of the possible outcomes of climate change is going to be sea level rise. Disruption of commerce, disruption of real estate properties, disruption of coastal land. This is where SIO, working with engineering, working with GPS, our new school of global policy and strategy, working with social scientists, physical scientists – all scientists and engineers, social scientists coming together to look at problems in ways that has not happened before."

A five million dollar gift will go towards creating a new interdisciplinary center to fight climate change at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla says the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation will be a game-changer.

"This name is very carefully chosen – this is not only understanding the impact of climate change, but also understanding that while some of this change is happening, how do we adapt to this change? So for example, one of the possible outcomes of climate change is going to be sea level rise. Disruption of commerce, disruption of real estate properties, disruption of coastal land. This is where SIO, working with engineering, working with GPS, our new school of global policy and strategy, working with social scientists, physical scientists – all scientists and engineers, social scientists coming together to look at problems in ways that has not happened before."

A five million dollar gift will go towards creating a new interdisciplinary center to fight climate change at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla says the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation will be a game-changer.

"This name is very carefully chosen – this is not only understanding the impact of climate change, but also understanding that while some of this change is happening, how do we adapt to this change? So for example, one of the possible outcomes of climate change is going to be sea level rise. Disruption of commerce, disruption of real estate properties, disruption of coastal land. This is where SIO, working with engineering, working with GPS, our new school of global policy and strategy, working with social scientists, physical scientists – all scientists and engineers, social scientists coming together to look at problems in ways that has not happened before."

Upwelling in the ocean, in which the deep, cold water rises to the surface, provides a very nutrient-rich environment for the marine ecosystem. But there are detrimental effects related to the upwelling system, too. As Tessa Hill of the University of California, Davis explains, when this water gets pulled back up to the surface, it’s also bringing up very carbon dioxide-rich water, which is increasing due to human activities and changing the chemistry of the water itself.

"We call this ocean acidification because when you add that carbon dioxide into the sea water, it changes the acidity of the water. The ocean soaks up that carbon from the atmosphere, so about 30 percent of what we put into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean. And so on top of all the cycling of carbon that would normally happen in the ocean, including things related to that upwelling system, there’s now a human fingerprint on top of that."

Acidic waters are affecting how oysters and mussels build their shell, so Hill is helping to monitor conditions off the Pacific coast, which helps hatcheries decide when to spawn.

Upwelling in the ocean, in which the deep, cold water rises to the surface, provides a very nutrient-rich environment for the marine ecosystem. But there are detrimental effects related to the upwelling system, too. As Tessa Hill of the University of California, Davis explains, when this water gets pulled back up to the surface, it’s also bringing up very carbon dioxide-rich water, which is increasing due to human activities and changing the chemistry of the water itself.

"We call this ocean acidification because when you add that carbon dioxide into the sea water, it changes the acidity of the water. The ocean soaks up that carbon from the atmosphere, so about 30 percent of what we put into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean. And so on top of all the cycling of carbon that would normally happen in the ocean, including things related to that upwelling system, there’s now a human fingerprint on top of that."

Acidic waters are affecting how oysters and mussels build their shell, so Hill is helping to monitor conditions off the Pacific coast, which helps hatcheries decide when to spawn.

Upwelling in the ocean, in which the deep, cold water rises to the surface, provides a very nutrient-rich environment for the marine ecosystem. But there are detrimental effects related to the upwelling system, too. As Tessa Hill of the University of California, Davis explains, when this water gets pulled back up to the surface, it’s also bringing up very carbon dioxide-rich water, which is increasing due to human activities and changing the chemistry of the water itself.

"We call this ocean acidification because when you add that carbon dioxide into the sea water, it changes the acidity of the water. The ocean soaks up that carbon from the atmosphere, so about 30 percent of what we put into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean. And so on top of all the cycling of carbon that would normally happen in the ocean, including things related to that upwelling system, there’s now a human fingerprint on top of that."

Acidic waters are affecting how oysters and mussels build their shell, so Hill is helping to monitor conditions off the Pacific coast, which helps hatcheries decide when to spawn.

If you’ve ever wanted to be taller, you may want to consider living in space. It turns out that astronauts can grow as much as two inches taller under microgravity conditions because the lighter load causes the soft discs in their spines to expand. Biomechanics professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that under Earth’s gravity, the discs compress and squeeze out water.

"So just having gravity pull down on you all day long, the water flows out of the disc. We see the reverse with astronauts and patients that are bedridden for a very long period of time. Astronauts are actually taller when they come back because they have low loading and their disc continues to expand."

Narrator: But O’Connell says that astronauts are also at greater risk of back injury, which is what inspired her lab to study the properties of spinal discs.

"Astronauts have a significant problem with bone loss when they're in space. And that can cause other problems they have a higher rate of herniation, which causes significant back and leg pain."

If you’ve ever wanted to be taller, you may want to consider living in space. It turns out that astronauts can grow as much as two inches taller under microgravity conditions because the lighter load causes the soft discs in their spines to expand. Biomechanics professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that under Earth’s gravity, the discs compress and squeeze out water.

"So just having gravity pull down on you all day long, the water flows out of the disc. We see the reverse with astronauts and patients that are bedridden for a very long period of time. Astronauts are actually taller when they come back because they have low loading and their disc continues to expand."

Narrator: But O’Connell says that astronauts are also at greater risk of back injury, which is what inspired her lab to study the properties of spinal discs.

"Astronauts have a significant problem with bone loss when they're in space. And that can cause other problems they have a higher rate of herniation, which causes significant back and leg pain."

If you’ve ever wanted to be taller, you may want to consider living in space. It turns out that astronauts can grow as much as two inches taller under microgravity conditions because the lighter load causes the soft discs in their spines to expand. Biomechanics professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that under Earth’s gravity, the discs compress and squeeze out water.

"So just having gravity pull down on you all day long, the water flows out of the disc. We see the reverse with astronauts and patients that are bedridden for a very long period of time. Astronauts are actually taller when they come back because they have low loading and their disc continues to expand."

Narrator: But O’Connell says that astronauts are also at greater risk of back injury, which is what inspired her lab to study the properties of spinal discs.

"Astronauts have a significant problem with bone loss when they're in space. And that can cause other problems they have a higher rate of herniation, which causes significant back and leg pain."