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Blog of the Berkeley Science Review, a graduate student-run magazine that aims to highlight the groundbreaking research occurring at UC Berkeley and around the world.
Anna Goldstein
17 posts
Brian Lambson
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- March 7, 2011
- 12:46 PM
- 743 views
Hydrogen production with disorder-engineered nanoparticles
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
One great example of nanomaterials that can address environmental problems is photocatalytic water splitting, which produces hydrogen gas through a chemical reaction that consumes only water and sunlight. This eco-friendly hydrogen can power zero-emissions fuel cells found in cars and a number of other emerging clean technologies. The goal is to replace conventional methods of manufacturing hydrogen, which generally consume fossil fuels and/or large amounts of electricity.
In photocatalysis, materials like titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles catalyze water splitting by absorbing light and transferring the light's energy to nearby water molecules. In turn, the water breaks apart into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Because of the absorption properties of TiO2, artificially generated ultraviolet light is required for the reaction to proceed efficiently. However, in a recent publication in Science, a group of Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that a slightly modified version of TiO2 nanoparticles can split water under natural sunlight.
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Chen X, Liu L, Yu PY, & Mao SS. (2011) Increasing solar absorption for photocatalysis with black hydrogenated titanium dioxide nanocrystals. Science (New York, N.Y.), 331(6018), 746-50. PMID: 21252313
- March 2, 2011
- 12:08 PM
- 682 views
News from the Kepler observatory: our galaxy is really, really big
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
The Kepler observatory was launched into orbit in early 2009. Its mission: to search for planets in solar systems other than our own. Their recent results point to a staggering number of planets that share the galaxy with us, many of which orbit their sun in a habitable temperature zone: between 0 and 100 °C. This means that water-based life such as ourselves would neither freeze nor boil away, assuming that the planet has atmospheric pressure similar to Earth.
Normal, Earth-bound telescopes can detect light emitted from stars throughout the galaxy, but reflections and emissions from their orbiting planets are too weak to be detected that way. In order to "see" planets, Kepler actually measures a drop in the intensity of light we see when a planet passes directly between Kepler and a star.
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William J. Borucki, et al. (2011) Characteristics of planetary candidates observed by Kepler, II: Analysis of the first four months of data. The Astrophysical Journal. arXiv: 1102.0541v1
J. J. Lissauer, et al. (2011) A closely packed system of low-mass, low-density planets transiting Kepler-11. Nature, 470(7332), 53-8. PMID: 21293371
- September 7, 2010
- 01:54 AM
- 674 views
Gaming for good: human thought beats computer algorithms at solving protein structures
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Considering my fascination of late with unusual author lists in science papers, you can guess how excited I was to see an article in Nature that credited online gamers. I was especially amused to see that citation services like PubMed … Continue reading →... Read more »
Cooper S, Khatib F, Treuille A, Barbero J, Lee J, Beenen M, Leaver-Fay A, Baker D, Popović Z, & Players F. (2010) Predicting protein structures with a multiplayer online game. Nature, 466(7307), 756-60. PMID: 20686574
- February 21, 2011
- 05:04 PM
- 624 views
Dead salmon finds home. Still dead.
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
It isn't breaking news, and it's hardly science. Still, considering last month's discussion of statistical rigor and the recent kerfuffle over a paper in a well-respected psychological journal purporting extra sensory perception, now is the perfect time to revisit the dead salmon study.
In 2005, a graduate student in the lab of Abigail Baird at Dartmouth College needed to test his fMRI protocols for an upcoming experiment. Having already tested a pumpkin and a cornish game hen, the obvious next step was to scan a whole salmon from the local supermarket.
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Bennett, C., Miller, M., & Wolford, G. (2009) Neural correlates of interspecies perspective taking in the post-mortem Atlantic Salmon: an argument for multiple comparisons correction. NeuroImage. DOI: 10.1016/S1053-8119(09)71202-9
- March 26, 2011
- 01:32 PM
- 611 views
Birds are quantum physicists!
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
A paper appeared last year in Current Biology describing the ability of birds to see magnetic fields. Many birds respond to changes in the earth's magnetic field, and the theory is that they use this ability to navigate during migration. As I mentioned in my blog, scientists have been trying to figure out just how birds can accomplish this amazing feat. Several hypotheses involve the protein cryptochrome, a molecule that seems to be nearly one-of-a-kind as far as biological structures go. Now scientists have taken the awesome factor for this mechanism one step higher: a paper in PRL suggest that these birds may actually be using quantum entanglement in their navigational systems.
For those uninitiated into the world of really tiny physics, entanglement basically describes two electrons that are inextricably linked.
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Erik Gauger, Elisabeth Rieper, John J. L. Morton, Simon C. Benjamin, & Vlatko Vedral. (2009) Sustained Quantum Coherence and Entanglement in the Avian Compass. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 040503 (2011). arXiv: 0906.3725v5
Stapput K, Güntürkün O, Hoffmann KP, Wiltschko R, & Wiltschko W. (2010) Magnetoreception of directional information in birds requires nondegraded vision. Current biology : CB, 20(14), 1259-62. PMID: 20619654
- September 10, 2010
- 12:33 PM
- 608 views
A showdown in Nature between Chu and Cohen-Tannoudji
by Anthony Fu in Berkeley Science Review Blog
The argument stems from the interferometry work published in Nature earlier this year:
Müller H, Peters A, & Chu S (2010). A precision measurement of the gravitational redshift by the interference of matter waves. Nature, 463 (7283), 926-9 PMID: 20164925
Cohen-Tannoudji says, "Wrong."
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Müller H, Peters A, & Chu S. (2010) A precision measurement of the gravitational redshift by the interference of matter waves. Nature, 463(7283), 926-9. PMID: 20164925
Wolf P, Blanchet L, Bordé CJ, Reynaud S, Salomon C, & Cohen-Tannoudji C. (2010) Atom gravimeters and gravitational redshift. Nature, 467(7311). PMID: 20811407
Müller H, Peters A, & Chu S. (2010) Müller, Peters . Nature, 467(7311). PMID: 20811408
- August 31, 2010
- 12:30 PM
- 602 views
Genomic analysis can be powerful – in the right hands
by Rachel Bernstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
You may have heard about the controversial genetics study connecting a set of 150 genetic markers to “exceptional longevity” (people living past 100). Everybody’s interested in living longer, so it’s not surprising that the work, published by Boston University researchers in July in the journal Science, was covered with much fanfare in many main-stream news outlets (for example, in the NY Times and Scientific American). Science even hosted a media teleconference to promote the story. Continue reading →... Read more »
Teslovich TM, Musunuru K, Smith AV, Edmondson AC, Stylianou IM, Koseki M, Pirruccello JP, Ripatti S, Chasman DI, Willer CJ.... (2010) Biological, clinical and population relevance of 95 loci for blood lipids. Nature, 466(7307), 707-13. PMID: 20686565
- February 11, 2011
- 05:39 PM
- 593 views
Harnessing Nature to cure its (man-made) ills
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
When I think about harnessing the power of water, I think of the Hoover Dam in Nevada (where I’m from) or the awesome tide-harnessing turbines that are being installed along coastlines as we speak. As scientists concerned about the future of our planet, we are always looking for ways to co-opt natural processes to greenify (buzz-word!) our energy-producing endeavors. Recently, Greg H. Rau of UC Santa Cruz and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory described how we could appropriate and intensify the natural carbonate mineral cycle. This innovative work builds on existing proposals to use limestone and seawater to mimic erosion, which has the dual potential for cleaning up power-plant exhaust and mitigating ocean acidity.
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Rau, G. (2011) CO2 Mitigation via Capture and Chemical Conversion in Seawater . Environmental Science , 45(3), 1088-1092. DOI: 10.1021/es102671x
- March 21, 2011
- 01:32 PM
- 576 views
It’s all in your head: a review of The Belief Instinct by Jesse Bering
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
I've been a voracious reader lately—a cookie monster of the written word. It started with Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon, and continued with The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (which I reviewed here) alongside The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (yes, I am still a young adult, thank you very much). The latest to be devoured was The Belief Instinct by Dr. Jesse Bering.
I first found Dr. Bering's work reading his often hilarious, always insightful blog Bering in Mind, and it was sci-love at first read. In The Belief Instinct, Bering investigates the genesis of humankind's seeming instinct to believe in a higher power and tackles difficult questions: "Why do people often believe that natural disasters have meaning?" and "Why are humans, religious or not, so engrossed by the thought of an afterlife?"
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Piazza J, Bering JM, & Ingram G. (2011) "Princess Alice is watching you": Children's belief in an invisible person inhibits cheating. Journal of experimental child psychology. PMID: 21377689
- September 15, 2010
- 07:04 AM
- 545 views
Going green… literally
by Brian Lambson in Berkeley Science Review Blog
While impressive, the last few decades of human achievement in photovoltaics pale in comparison to nature’s equivalent technology: photosynthesis. Just look at the numbers—every year photosynthesis produces about 3,000 exajoules (EJ) of chemical energy, or 7 x 1017 kilocalories, which equates to about half the total energy stored in the world’s petroleum reserves (and approximately the average daily caloric intake of eating champ Joey Chestnut). Compare this to the 0.1 EJ of electrical energy produced annually by man-made photovoltaics. Closing this gap is the key to a sustainable energy future, and unlike nature we don’t have the luxury of waiting billions of years to get there.
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Sarovar, M., Ishizaki, A., Fleming, G., & Whaley, K. (2010) Quantum entanglement in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes. Nature Physics, 6(6), 462-467. DOI: 10.1038/nphys1652
Ham, M.-H., Choi, J. H., Boghossian, A. A., Jeng, E. S., Graff, R. A., Heller, D. A., Chang, A. C., Mattis, A., Bayburt, T. H., Grinkova, Y. V.... (2010) Photoelectrochemical complexes for solar energy conversion that chemically and autonomously regenerate. Nature Chemistry. info:/10.1038/nchem.822
- July 14, 2010
- 05:04 PM
- 540 views
Designer Genes
by Jessica Harvey in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Synthetic biology is a promising field of research that aims, in part, to engineer organisms to produce medicines and biofuels. Its allure lies in using biological building blocks and pathways, already exquisitely designed by nature, to produce essential materials for human use (instead of trying to re-invent everything ourselves from scratch). Continue reading →... Read more »
Gibson, D., Glass, J., Lartigue, C., Noskov, V., Chuang, R., Algire, M., Benders, G., Montague, M., Ma, L., Moodie, M.... (2010) Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome. Science, 329(5987), 52-56. DOI: 10.1126/science.1190719
- November 19, 2010
- 01:52 AM
- 521 views
Molecular recess
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
It would be an understatement to say that molecular machines have been under a tremendous amount of pressure lately. Proponents of nanotechnology have left them variously responsible for curing the world’s diseases, providing mankind with limitless food, water, energy and information, and even self-assembling so we don’t have to make them ourselves. And that’s only a partial list. Under the weight of such towering expectations, can we really blame them if they give up and turn the planet into grey goo?
Perhaps in an effort to save us from such an apocalyptic scenario, some nanoscientists have set more leisurely intermediate goals for molecular machines, like getting them to play games. A group of researchers from Columbia University recently developed a two-player strategy game between a human player and DNA-based molecular computer called “tit-for-tat”. Continue reading →... Read more »
Pei R, Matamoros E, Liu M, Stefanovic D, & Stojanovic MN. (2010) Training a molecular automaton to play a game. Nature nanotechnology, 5(11), 773-7. PMID: 20972436
Lund K, Manzo AJ, Dabby N, Michelotti N, Johnson-Buck A, Nangreave J, Taylor S, Pei R, Stojanovic MN, Walter NG.... (2010) Molecular robots guided by prescriptive landscapes. Nature, 465(7295), 206-10. PMID: 20463735
- October 27, 2010
- 09:06 AM
- 510 views
Graphene research at Cal: Close, but no Nobel
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Fans of the Nobel Prize in Physics know that this year's honors went to a pair of U.K.-based researchers for the discovery of graphene, a.k.a., The World's Thinnest Material. While neither winner has a significant connection to UC Berkeley (the last Cal professor to win the physics Nobel was George Smoot in 2006), many here in the physics department can rightly claim at least some stake in this year's prize. That's because graphene's discovery in 2004 sparked a huge burst of high-impact research around the globe, much of which has been influenced by the work of Berkeley scientists.
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Zhou SY, Gweon GH, Fedorov AV, First PN, de Heer WA, Lee DH, Guinea F, Castro Neto AH, & Lanzara A. (2007) Substrate-induced bandgap opening in epitaxial graphene. Nature Materials, 6(10), 770-5. PMID: 17828279
Son YW, Cohen ML, & Louie SG. (2006) Half-metallic graphene nanoribbons. Nature, 444(7117), 347-9. PMID: 17108960
Son YW, Cohen ML, & Louie SG. (2006) Energy gaps in graphene nanoribbons. Physical Review Letters, 97(21), 216803. PMID: 17155765
Zhang, Y., Brar, V., Girit, C., Zettl, A., & Crommie, M. (2009) Origin of spatial charge inhomogeneity in graphene. Nature Physics, 5(10), 722-726. DOI: 10.1038/nphys1365
Levy N, Burke SA, Meaker KL, Panlasigui M, Zettl A, Guinea F, Castro Neto AH, & Crommie MF. (2010) Strain-induced pseudo-magnetic fields greater than 300 tesla in graphene nanobubbles. Science, 329(5991), 544-7. PMID: 20671183
Girit, C., Meyer, J., Erni, R., Rossell, M., Kisielowski, C., Yang, L., Park, C., Crommie, M., Cohen, M., Louie, S.... (2009) Graphene at the Edge: Stability and Dynamics. Science, 323(5922), 1705-1708. DOI: 10.1126/science.1166999
Zhang Y, Tang TT, Girit C, Hao Z, Martin MC, Zettl A, Crommie MF, Shen YR, & Wang F. (2009) Direct observation of a widely tunable bandgap in bilayer graphene. Nature, 459(7248), 820-3. PMID: 19516337
- October 4, 2010
- 04:47 AM
- 496 views
Jump out of your skin and into your e-skin
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Last time, I wrote about the reverse-engineering of natural processes to develop more efficient solar cells. It turns out that photovoltaics research is not the only field being guided by nature. This month, the journal Nature Materials published two reports describing a pair of successful attempts to fabricate artificial skin – flexible, stretchable arrays of highly sensitive pressure sensors that produce electrical signals in response to contact. The so-called "e-skin" can be used in applications such as robotics and manufacturing to provide a softer touch during manipulation delicate objects.
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Takei K, Takahashi T, Ho JC, Ko H, Gillies AG, Leu PW, Fearing RS, & Javey A. (2010) Nanowire active-matrix circuitry for low-voltage macroscale artificial skin. Nature materials, 9(10), 821-6. PMID: 20835235
Mannsfeld SC, Tee BC, Stoltenberg RM, Chen CV, Barman S, Muir BV, Sokolov AN, Reese C, & Bao Z. (2010) Highly sensitive flexible pressure sensors with microstructured rubber dielectric layers. Nature materials, 9(10), 859-64. PMID: 20835231
- December 7, 2010
- 02:21 PM
- 451 views
Redefining the structure of life
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Last Thursday, I was stuck at a conference, furiously refreshing my phone to try and get the latest scoop on the "big announcement" from NASA. Now that I'm back, I thought I'd look into exactly what has been found and what this implies for our understanding of life in the universe. First, we didn't find extraterrestrial life. I emphasize this because people were speculating rampantly about this possibility. However, you could say that we've accomplished the next best thing.
On Thursday, a group of researchers from the US Geological Survey, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and a host of other groups published a paper detailing a strain of bacteria taken from Mono Lake, California that has the ability to live off of arsenic rather than phosphorous. They took samples of the bacteria and placed them into an environment that was devoid of phosphorous, but had plenty of arsenic. Such an environment should be fatal to life as we know it, but these bacteria were able to grow and proliferate, incorporating the arsenic into their biological makeup.
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Wolfe-Simon F, Blum JS, Kulp TR, Gordon GW, Hoeft SE, Pett-Ridge J, Stolz JF, Webb SM, Weber PK, Davies PC.... (2010) A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus. Science (New York, N.Y.). PMID: 21127214
- February 6, 2011
- 10:33 AM
- 445 views
Ultra-tough glass: bending without breaking
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Many years ago, my parents and brother were driving home late at night, full speed on a highway, when a large rock thrown off an overpass struck their car's windshield. There was a time when an impact like that would have shattered the windshield glass, likely leading to a tragic accident and - for me - a painful childhood. But, thanks to the modern miracle of laminated safety glass, the windshield did not shatter; it only cracked. The rock rolled away, my dad maintained control of the car, and the three of them got home safe and sound.
One of the lessons of that night is that in many applications, the mechanical strength of glass is every bit as important as its transparency. However, there's a reason we don't often see literal glass ceilings. The problem is that glass breaks before it bends – even the tiniest fracture spreads rapidly in all directions until the entire pane shatters. In engineering terms, glass is strong (it can withstand a lot of stress before cracking) but not tough (it has little damage tolerance after the onset of cracking). This is in contrast to sheets of metal or plastic that can deform to accommodate small defects, making them generally tougher materials.
To a group of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Caltech, this begged the question: is it possible to engineer tougher glass by making it behave more like metal? The answer, it turns out, is yes.
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Demetriou MD, Launey ME, Garrett G, Schramm JP, Hofmann DC, Johnson WL, & Ritchie RO. (2011) A damage-tolerant glass. Nature materials, 10(2), 123-8. PMID: 21217693
- January 22, 2011
- 06:26 PM
- 442 views
Surprises found in the “Science Hall of Fame”
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Breaking news from the world of culturomics! The most famous scientist of the past two centuries is Bertrand Russell, whose fame clocks in at a stunning 1500 milliDarwins. If you’re like me and have never heard the word “culturomics” before … Continue reading →... Read more »
Michel JB, Shen YK, Aiden AP, Veres A, Gray MK, Google Books Team, Pickett JP, Hoiberg D, Clancy D, Norvig P.... (2011) Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books. Science (New York, N.Y.), 331(6014), 176-82. PMID: 21163965
- May 9, 2011
- 02:11 PM
- 192 views
Scientifically proven: You can’t buy happiness
by Guest in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Well-being has been one of the most important concerns for humans since we evolved big enough brains to contemplate more than mere survival. Researchers measure well-being as feeling satisfied with your life and experiencing more positive than negative affect, but colloquially, most of us just refer to it as happiness. We spend much of our time pursuing what we think will make us happy. We surround ourselves with friends, find hobbies like stamp collecting, and seek out pleasures like good food.
One of the most controversial debates in the well-being literature is about money. While it seems obvious that money can buy us many of the things that make life more enjoyable, most of us (myself included) shudder to think that a material object can have such a strong influence on our well-being. So, how important is wealth to happiness?
In an effort to understand how economic hardships could affect well-being, Gallup Polls—one of the largest polling agencies in the country—collected one million responses assessing Americans happiness, well-being, and how much individuals felt they were thriving, struggling, or suffering. They looked at the period from 2008 until 2010, with a particular focus on the effect of the 2009 economic recession.
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Diener, E. (2000) Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34-43. DOI: 10.1037//0003-066X.55.1.34
Turner, R. (1981) Social Support as a Contingency in Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22(4), 357. DOI: 10.2307/2136677
- April 24, 2011
- 01:32 AM
- 146 views
I think, therefore I move
by Brian Lambson in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Mind reading has come a long way from its ignominious origins alongside the likes of fortune telling and witchcraft. Scientists and medical doctors have made great strides in their ability to extract and interpret electromagnetic signals from the brain, and unlike mind readers of the past, they have very real practical gains to show for it. One notable success story is the cochlear implant, which is currently in use by nearly a quarter of a million deaf or hard-of-hearing patients. (For a look at more state-of-the-art applications in the field, consider attending the upcoming California Cognitive Science Conference, featured on our blog last week by Chris Holdgraf).
The so-called brain-machine interface (BMI) technology has not yet been perfected to the point that we need to worry about hackers stealing our secrets or erasing our memories. But it has come far enough that researchers may soon be able to restore physical and sensory functionality to patients with immobilizing conditions such as paralysis and Parkinson’s Disease. Scientists at UC Berkeley and UCSF’s Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses (CNEP) are among the pioneers in developing this sort of brain repair technology.
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Carmena JM, Lebedev MA, Crist RE, O'Doherty JE, Santucci DM, Dimitrov DF, Patil PG, Henriquez CS, & Nicolelis MA. (2003) Learning to control a brain-machine interface for reaching and grasping by primates. PLoS biology, 1(2). PMID: 14624244
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