Becker believed that the currents flowing in the neural-based biocybernetic control system were electronic not ionic, and since the system involved instantaneous communications between distant points within the nervous system, he reasoned that the flow must occur by means of semiconduction. He confirmed that bone responded electrically to mechanical stress, and hypothesized that regeneration of bone occurred as a result of internal electrical forces and electron currents, much as other healing and growth was controlled. These ideas served as the rationale for detailed studies of how semiconduction, electromechanical forces, and bone growth were related, and as the basis for his proposed negative-feedback system for controlling bone growth.

The existence of an electron conduction band was supported by studies using the techniques of electron paramagnetic resonance and photoconductivity, which allowed demonstration of mobile electrons in bone; flame spectroscopy, which allowed detection of trace elements in bone that could account for the origin of the mobile charge carriers; and dielectric dispersion, which allowed detection of the water molecules that could account for the ability of charge carriers to enter the conduction band. Becker showed that electromechanical signals in bone originated as a result of the piezoelectric effect manifested by the collagen matrix of bone, and that the signals were probably directly related to bone growth.

An important implication of Becker’s work on semiconduction is the suggestion that the origin of life might have been in a solid rather than in water.