Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Press Releases

• Published on September 12, 2019 - 15:10 GMT

  

  A Single Dose for Good Measure: How an Anti-Nuclear-Contamination Pill Could Also Help MRI Patients

  Rebecca Abergel leads the BioActinide Chemistry Group in Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division. (Credit: Marilyn Chung/Berkeley Lab) When chemist Rebecca Abergel and her team at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ( …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 12, 2019 - 14:19 GMT

  A Chemical Reaction Close-Up: New Technology Gives a Glimpse of Solar Fuel Generation in Action

  Science Snapshots By Aliyah Kovner • September 12, 2019 The team’s electrochemical cell for observing solar fuel-generating catalysts (yellow device), set up at an x-ray beamline at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. (Credit: Walter Drisdell/ …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 12, 2019 - 14:19 GMT

  

  Decoding Messages in the Body’s Microscopic Metropolises

  Science Snapshots By Aliyah Kovner • September 12, 2019 The findings came from an analysis of 1,773 human-associated metagenomes sampled from four different body sites. (Credit: Tsvetkov Maxim/Shutterstock) A study aimed at identifying and examining the …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 10, 2019 - 17:36 GMT

  

  X-ray Experiments Contribute to Studies of a Drug Now Approved to Combat Tuberculosis

  A Pretomanid pill. The drug was developed by the nonprofit TB Alliance. (Credit: TB Alliance) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new antibiotic that, in combination with two existing antibiotics, can tackle one of the most formidable and …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 9, 2019 - 15:08 GMT

  

  New Investigation Cuts Through the Haze Surrounding “Smoke-Free” Tobacco Products

  (Credit: Realstock/Shutterstock) A class of alternative tobacco product called heat-not-burn is quickly gaining in popularity across the globe. The product manufacturers claim that these battery-operated devices produce a “clean,” nicotine-laden vapor that …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 5, 2019 - 15:01 GMT

  

  Q&A with Berkeley Lab Nuclear Scientist Maria Żurek

    Maria Zurek, right, speaks during a discussion panel at the Linda Nobel Laureates Meeting. Panel moderator Alaina Levine is pictured at left. (Credit: Julia Nimke/Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings) Maria Żurek, a postdoctoral researcher in the Nuclear …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 4, 2019 - 14:04 GMT

  

  How California Wildfires Can Impact Water Availability

  Berkeley Lab researchers built a numerical model of the Cosumnes River watershed, extending from the Sierra Nevada mountains to the Central Valley, to study post-wildfire changes to the hydrologic cycle. (Credit: Berkeley Lab) In recent years, wildfires in …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on September 3, 2019 - 16:14 GMT

  

  Study Reveals ‘Radical’ Wrinkle in Forming Complex Carbon Molecules in Space

  This composite image shows an illustration of a carbon-rich red giant star (middle) warming an exoplanet (bottom left) and an overlay of a newly found pathway that could enable complex carbons to form near these stars. (Credits: ESO/L. Calçada; Berkeley …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 28, 2019 - 14:59 GMT

  

  Tiny Toxins: How Algal Blooms Affect Coastal Systems Through a Complex Web of Interactions

  Think summertime and the mind usually wanders to warm thoughts of sand, sunscreen, and fireworks. But increasingly summertime fun is being interrupted by algal blooms. From the Atlantic seaboard to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Great Lakes to the Pacific …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 27, 2019 - 15:12 GMT

  

  VIDEO: Particle Accelerators Drive Decades of Discoveries at Berkeley Lab and Beyond

  This video and accompanying article highlight the decades of discoveries, achievements and progress in particle accelerator R&D at Berkeley Lab. Lab accelerators have enabled new explorations of the atomic nucleus; the production and discovery of new …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 26, 2019 - 15:13 GMT

  

  Wildfires Could Permanently Alter Alaska’s Forest Composition

  Alaskan boreal forest (Credit: Scott Rupp, University of Alaska Fairbanks) This summer, Alaska has experienced record high temperatures and devastating wildfires. If such events become more frequent, how might that impact our northernmost forests? A team …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 20, 2019 - 14:21 GMT

  

  Amazon Rainforest Absorbing Less Carbon Than Expected

  News Release By Christina Procopiou • August 20, 2019 View from the top of a measurement tower, where researchers monitor critical forest canopy processes such as photosynthesis, plant water fluxes, leaf characteristics, and growth. (Credit: Joao M. Rosa, …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 19, 2019 - 16:11 GMT

  

  Getting Teens Hooked on STEM

    It’s 1 p.m. on a sunny afternoon in July – smack dab in the middle of summer break – and a perfect 75 degrees outside; but Jonathan Park is laser-focused. Though he could be strolling down a beach, or at home browsing social media, this 16-year-old is …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 14, 2019 - 14:52 GMT

  

  Cool Roofs Can Help Shield California’s Cities Against Heat Waves

  Aerial view of white roofed homes and streets forming circular patterns; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA (Credit: Shutterstock) This summer alone, intense heat waves have been to blame for at least 11 deaths in Japan, a record-breaking 45.9-degree Celsius …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on August 12, 2019 - 16:58 GMT

  

  Report Confirms Wind Technology Advancements Continue to Drive Down the Cost of Wind Energy

  Wind energy pricing remains attractive, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Energy and prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). With prices averaging below 2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for newly built …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on July 31, 2019 - 15:12 GMT

  

  New Recipes for Taking Salt Out of Seawater

  The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant near U.S. Route 101 (the Pacific Coast Highway) in the northern portion of San Diego County; Carlsbad, California. (Credit: Art Wager/iStock) As populations boom and chronic droughts persist, coastal …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on July 31, 2019 - 15:12 GMT

  

  Moving Forward on Desalination

  As global populations grow and water scarcity becomes an increasingly pressing issue, the number of desalination plants is growing. There are now more than 20,000 worldwide, and more than 300 million people around the world rely on desalination for some or …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on July 29, 2019 - 15:15 GMT

  

  Can We Reuse Polluted Water? Yes, Add Bacteria

  (Credit: baona/iStock) Drilling a single oil or natural gas well with hydraulic fracturing requires between 1.5 to 16 million gallons of water. When the well starts flowing, the fluid that is brought back to the surface alongside the oil and gas is a …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on July 26, 2019 - 15:36 GMT

  

  Exploring Human Origins in the Uncharted Territory of Our Chromosomes

  (Credit: Sasha Langley and Charles Langley) A group of geneticists from Berkeley Lab, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Berkeley are unraveling new details about human evolution by studying the uniquely regulated portion of our chromosomes that surround the …

  Distribution channels: Technology
• Published on July 26, 2019 - 15:11 GMT

  

  Crystal With a Twist: Scientists Grow Spiraling New Material

  Credit: UC Berkeley image by Yin Liu With a simple twist of the fingers, one can create a beautiful spiral from a deck of cards. In the same way, scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have created new inorganic crystals made of stacks of atomically …

  Distribution channels: Technology