UC Science Today

Why do researchers study astronomy if there’s not always a clear social benefit? Graduate student and planet hunter Lauren Weiss of the University of California, Berkeley says that other than satisfying curiosity, one reason is to someday travel to these planets and ensure our own survival.

"When I think about humanity, and the idea that we evolved from simple animals, to be curious and ask about the universe, and know that there are other planets out there, I think it would be really sad if our species came and went without ever leaving Earth. And that, to really be the next level of intelligent life form in civilization, we need to become space faring, and then that will also help ensure the survival of humanity over billions and billions of years. If we can spread ourselves out, instead of putting all our chips on one pale blue dot."

Weiss specializes in identifying exoplanets around nearby stars.

Why do researchers study astronomy if there’s not always a clear social benefit? Graduate student and planet hunter Lauren Weiss of the University of California, Berkeley says that other than satisfying curiosity, one reason is to someday travel to these planets and ensure our own survival.

"When I think about humanity, and the idea that we evolved from simple animals, to be curious and ask about the universe, and know that there are other planets out there, I think it would be really sad if our species came and went without ever leaving Earth. And that, to really be the next level of intelligent life form in civilization, we need to become space faring, and then that will also help ensure the survival of humanity over billions and billions of years. If we can spread ourselves out, instead of putting all our chips on one pale blue dot."

Weiss specializes in identifying exoplanets around nearby stars.

Why is it that some patients with Alzheimer’s disease can do complicated tasks like play the piano, but struggle to remember basic knowledge? While it’s unclear exactly why, scientists believe it has to do with toxins found in Alzheimer’s that target specific brain networks over others. Postdoctoral fellow Bryce Mander of the University of California, Berkeley explains.

"They target very specific brain networks. And the brain networks that are associated with promoting the how of how you do things, like how to ride a bike, how to hit a baseball with a bat, how to identify if a certain bird is a blue jay versus a crow. Those may not be as affected as much as the what, and the when and the who. Like who is this person? What do they do? When did you meet them? All that factual declarative knowledge gets deteriorated, but this procedural knowledge remains intact. And that's probably because very specific networks are affected and other networks aren't, and those other networks happen to support other abilities like procedural knowledge."

Why is it that some patients with Alzheimer’s disease can do complicated tasks like play the piano, but struggle to remember basic knowledge? While it’s unclear exactly why, scientists believe it has to do with toxins found in Alzheimer’s that target specific brain networks over others. Postdoctoral fellow Bryce Mander of the University of California, Berkeley explains.

"They target very specific brain networks. And the brain networks that are associated with promoting the how of how you do things, like how to ride a bike, how to hit a baseball with a bat, how to identify if a certain bird is a blue jay versus a crow. Those may not be as affected as much as the what, and the when and the who. Like who is this person? What do they do? When did you meet them? All that factual declarative knowledge gets deteriorated, but this procedural knowledge remains intact. And that's probably because very specific networks are affected and other networks aren't, and those other networks happen to support other abilities like procedural knowledge."

Why is it that some patients with Alzheimer’s disease can do complicated tasks like play the piano, but struggle to remember basic knowledge? While it’s unclear exactly why, scientists believe it has to do with toxins found in Alzheimer’s that target specific brain networks over others. Postdoctoral fellow Bryce Mander of the University of California, Berkeley explains.

"They target very specific brain networks. And the brain networks that are associated with promoting the how of how you do things, like how to ride a bike, how to hit a baseball with a bat, how to identify if a certain bird is a blue jay versus a crow. Those may not be as affected as much as the what, and the when and the who. Like who is this person? What do they do? When did you meet them? All that factual declarative knowledge gets deteriorated, but this procedural knowledge remains intact. And that's probably because very specific networks are affected and other networks aren't, and those other networks happen to support other abilities like procedural knowledge."

Why is it that some patients with Alzheimer’s disease can do complicated tasks like play the piano, but struggle to remember basic knowledge? While it’s unclear exactly why, scientists believe it has to do with toxins found in Alzheimer’s that target specific brain networks over others. Postdoctoral fellow Bryce Mander of the University of California, Berkeley explains.

"They target very specific brain networks. And the brain networks that are associated with promoting the how of how you do things, like how to ride a bike, how to hit a baseball with a bat, how to identify if a certain bird is a blue jay versus a crow. Those may not be as affected as much as the what, and the when and the who. Like who is this person? What do they do? When did you meet them? All that factual declarative knowledge gets deteriorated, but this procedural knowledge remains intact. And that's probably because very specific networks are affected and other networks aren't, and those other networks happen to support other abilities like procedural knowledge."

You've probably read or heard about scientists using radioactivity to determine the age of objects - most notably carbon-14 dating. We asked physicist Bruce Buchholz of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to describe how it works.

"Carbon-14 is produced naturally in the atmosphere by cosmic ray interactions with molecules in the atmosphere. Some of the nitrogen-14 in the atmosphere gets converted to carbon-14 by nuclear reaction from the cosmic rays. That carbon-14 gets oxidized to carbon dioxide, which enters the food chain. So, everything that's alive has a level of carbon-14 naturally and that component of carbon-14 is used for traditional radiocarbon dating to measure how old things are after they die."

At the lab, Buchholz helped pioneer their Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, or CAMS. It takes advantage of a dramatic increase in the atmospheric level of carbon-14 from aboveground nuclear testing in the late 50s and early 60s.

You've probably read or heard about scientists using radioactivity to determine the age of objects - most notably carbon-14 dating. We asked physicist Bruce Buchholz of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to describe how it works.

"Carbon-14 is produced naturally in the atmosphere by cosmic ray interactions with molecules in the atmosphere. Some of the nitrogen-14 in the atmosphere gets converted to carbon-14 by nuclear reaction from the cosmic rays. That carbon-14 gets oxidized to carbon dioxide, which enters the food chain. So, everything that's alive has a level of carbon-14 naturally and that component of carbon-14 is used for traditional radiocarbon dating to measure how old things are after they die."

At the lab, Buchholz helped pioneer their Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, or CAMS. It takes advantage of a dramatic increase in the atmospheric level of carbon-14 from aboveground nuclear testing in the late 50s and early 60s.

You've probably read or heard about scientists using radioactivity to determine the age of objects - most notably carbon-14 dating. We asked physicist Bruce Buchholz of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to describe how it works.

"Carbon-14 is produced naturally in the atmosphere by cosmic ray interactions with molecules in the atmosphere. Some of the nitrogen-14 in the atmosphere gets converted to carbon-14 by nuclear reaction from the cosmic rays. That carbon-14 gets oxidized to carbon dioxide, which enters the food chain. So, everything that's alive has a level of carbon-14 naturally and that component of carbon-14 is used for traditional radiocarbon dating to measure how old things are after they die."

At the lab, Buchholz helped pioneer their Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, or CAMS. It takes advantage of a dramatic increase in the atmospheric level of carbon-14 from aboveground nuclear testing in the late 50s and early 60s.

You've probably read or heard about scientists using radioactivity to determine the age of objects - most notably carbon-14 dating. We asked physicist Bruce Buchholz of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to describe how it works.

"Carbon-14 is produced naturally in the atmosphere by cosmic ray interactions with molecules in the atmosphere. Some of the nitrogen-14 in the atmosphere gets converted to carbon-14 by nuclear reaction from the cosmic rays. That carbon-14 gets oxidized to carbon dioxide, which enters the food chain. So, everything that's alive has a level of carbon-14 naturally and that component of carbon-14 is used for traditional radiocarbon dating to measure how old things are after they die."

At the lab, Buchholz helped pioneer their Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, or CAMS. It takes advantage of a dramatic increase in the atmospheric level of carbon-14 from aboveground nuclear testing in the late 50s and early 60s.