Berkeley Lab Media Report

Berkeley Lab In the News, Week of Jan. 22, 2012

2012-01-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Berkeley Lab “In the News” is our weekly review of Lab researchers, staff, and students who have appeared in the news media this past week. This is but a sampling of our coverage. Please note that some links may expire after some time.

The announcement of the Richmond Field Station as the Lab’s preferred site for a second campus received a significant amount of attention. A news conference on Jan. 23 was followed by dozens of stories including in the San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, New York Times, all the major TV stations in the Bay Area along with radio stations KGO-AM, KCBS-AM, NPR and KQED.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/23/MNJE1MT8S9.DTL

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/us/berkeley-lab-campus-in-richmond-may-have-profitable-ripple-effect.html

http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_19827064

http://www.dailycal.org/2012/01/23/richmond-site-selected-as-berkeley-lab%E2%80%99s-second-campus/

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19799972

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/richmond-lawrence-berkeley-lab-to-set-up-new/vFrQm/

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/6667247-uc-selects-richmond-site-for-new-berkeley-labs-campus/

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/video/#!/news/local/Richmond-to-Host-Lawrence-Berkeley-Lab/137944208

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8516171

http://cbsloc.al/zkOUTc

http://serve.castfire.com/video/849717/849717_2012-01-23-215417.html

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/24/new-richmond-lab-expected-to-create-innovative-bio-fuel/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

A Jan. 27 Science magazine story on exascale computing quoted the Lab’s Michael Wehner, Horst Simon and Charles Shank.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6067/394.full

A Jan. 27 CNET story featured hydrogen fuel cell research led by the Lab’s Jeff Long. R&D magazine also ran a story on his work.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57367339-76/hydrogen-sponge-could-extend-ev-driving-range/

http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/01/Energy-Hydrogen-Berkeley-Lab-To-Develop-Novel-Materials-For-Hydrogen-Storage/

A Jan. 26 Popular Science story highlighted 3D imaging of a protein by the Lab’s Gang Ren and Lei Zhang.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-01/video-researchers-produce-first-high-quality-3-d-images-individual-protein

A Jan. 27 Ivanhoe news story featured Alzheimer’s research led by the Lab’s Bill Jagust and Susan Landau. KGO TV Channel 7, UK’s Express, Senior Journal and several other news outlets also covered their work.

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=28847

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=8516274

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/297592/Puzzles-beat-Alzheimer-s

http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Alzheimers/2012/20120124-Keeping_Brain_Active.htm

http://www.dailygossip.org/keep-your-brain-active-to-reduce-risk-of-alzheimer-s-2330

A Jan. 23 Chemical & Engineering News story on debate over arsenic-based life cited work by the Lab’s Felisa Wolfe-Simon. Scientific American ran a similar story.

http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/web/2012/01/Arsenic-Based-Life-Aftermath.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=study-fails-to-confirm-existence

A recent Scientific American story on biofuels quoted JBEI’s James Carothers and post-doc Ryan McAndrew.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-bacteria-produce-drop-biofuels

Berkeley Lab In the News, Week of Jan. 15, 2012

2012-01-20T16:18:00.000-08:00

A Jan. 20 India West story noted that the Lab’s Ashok Gadgil had won the Zayed Future Energy Prize. The announcement also appeared in the Khaleej Times, Earth and Industry.com and several other outlets.

http://www.indiawest.com/news/2577-gadgil-among-finalists-for-zayed-future-energy-prize.html

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2012/January/theuae_January491.xml&section=theuae&col=

http://earthandindustry.com/2012/01/us-physicist-snags-zayed-future-energy-prize/

Gadgil’s work on the Darfur stove was featured in a Jan. 20 GreenBang.com story.

http://www.greenbang.com/this-fuel-saving-stove-saves-lives-too_21266.html

A Jan. 20 Nature story looked at a response to work by the Lab’s Felisa Wolfe-Simon.

http://www.nature.com/news/study-challenges-existence-of-arsenic-based-life-1.9861

A Jan. 18 Information Week story on cloud computing included research by the Lab.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/cloud-saas/232500025

A Jan. 17 Examiner story on lithium-ion battery research featured work being conducted at the Lab.

http://www.examiner.com/green-business-in-phoenix/li-based-batteries-fueling-u-s-electric-vehicles-goals

A Jan. 17 Southern California Public Radio story on energy efficiency programs quoted the Lab’s Ed Vine.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/01/17/30831/energy-efficiency-among-programs-stalled-ratepayer/

A Jan. 16 The Blaze story on geothermal energy quoted the Lab’s Ernie Majer.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/what-do-you-get-when-you-pump-24-million-gallons-of-water-into-a-volcano/

A Jan. 16 Chemical & Engineering News story on surface analysis included work being conducted at the Lab.

http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i3/Pushing-Capabilities-Surface-Analysis.html

Berkeley Lab In the News, Week of Jan. 9, 2012

2012-01-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

A Jan. 13 Los Angeles Times story on “vampire” energy quoted the Lab’s Alan Meier.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-energy-vampires-20120113,0,6391528.story

A Jan. 13 Science News story on soil’s role in the carbon cycle quoted the Lab’s Margaret Torn.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/337548/title/Soil%E2%80%99s_Hidden_Secrets

A Jan. 13 San Francisco Business Journal story noted that Lab Director Paul Alivisatos had won the Wolf Prize in Chemistry. The Associated Press, Washington Post, BBC News, CBS News, and many other news outlets ran similar stories. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/01/12/lawrence-berkeley-lab-boss-wins-prize.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16494041

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501368_162-57355947/placido-domingo-wins-israels-wolf-prize/

A Jan. 13 NeuroScience News story on alcohol addiction research cited work by the Lab’s Bill Jagust and colleagues.

http://neurosciencenews.com/endorphins-alcohol-brain-research-addiction/

A Jan. 12 Daily Mail story looked at a massive sky survey and quotes the Lab’s Shirley Ho. Several other publications ran similar stories.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2085613/Sky-Survey-creates-3D-map-universe-stretches-seven-billion-years.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/258895

A Jan. 11 Physics World story on mapping of dark matter quoted the Lab’s Eric Huff. Symmetry and Science News were some of the other outlets covering the research.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/48273

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2012/01/10/clearest-picture-yet-of-dark-matter-points-the-way-to-better-understanding-of-dark-energy/

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337478/title/New_maps_of_the_cosmic_dark

A Jan. 11 Science News story featured research on a supernova led by the Lab’s Peter Nugent.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337652/title/Diet_of_a_dying_star

A Jan. 10 CNN story on the benefits of solar lamps in developing countries quoted the Lab’s Evan Mills.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/10/tech/innovation/solar-powered-led-lamps/index.html

A Jan. 9 San Francisco Business Journal story noted the arrival to the Lab of Omar Yaghi, who will direct the Molecular Foundry. Chem.info also covered the announcement.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/01/09/lawrence-berkeley-lab-hires-ucla.html

http://www.chem.info/News/2012/01/Omar-Yaghi-to-Direct-Berkeley-Lab%E2%80%99s-Molecular-Foundry/

A Jan. 9 Grist story featured the Darfur stoves project led by the Lab’s Ashok Gadgil. Gadgil was also the subject of a profile in the Khaleej Times.

http://www.grist.org/living/2012-01-09-darfur-stoves-projects-andree-sosler-survival-sustainable

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2012/January/theuae_January148.xml&section=theuae

Berkeley Lab In the News, Week of Jan. 2, 2012

2012-01-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

A Jan. 6 Clean Energy Authority story on the year’s top solar energy stories listed the Lab’s “Tracking the Sun” report.

http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-news/solar-energy-news-recap-for-the-year-2011-010612/

A Jan. 5 Huffington Post commentary on life in space was written by the Lab’s George Smoot. The column was part of the launch for the new Huffington Post Science section.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-smoot/are-we-alone-life-in-space_b_1181932.html?ref=science

A Jan. 5 R&D magazine story featured a successful carbon sequestration demonstration that included the Lab’s Barry Freifeld and Tom Daley.

http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/01/Energy-Carbon-Sequestration-Depleted-Gas-Reservoirs-Can-Double-As-Geologic-Carbon-Sequestration/

A Jan. 4 Public Radio International story on India’s need for solar power quoted the Lab’s Ashok Gadgil. Gadgil was also featured in a Contra Costa Times story on his work with the Darfur Stove project.

http://www.theworld.org/2012/01/india-solar-power/

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_19665860

A Jan. 4 Nature story highlighted work by the Lab’s David Schlegel and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The Lab’s Saul Perlmutter was also quoted in the story.

http://www.nature.com/news/survey-tunes-in-to-dark-energy-1.9732

A Jan. 4 Music News story covered audio restoration work by the Lab’s Carl Haber and Earl Cornell.

http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?H=Restoration-specialists-revive-130-year-old-records&nItemID=47441

A Jan. 2 Sarasota Herald-Tribune profiled the parents of the Lab’s latest Nobel Laureate, Saul Perlmutter.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120102/ARTICLE/120109945

Berkeley Lab In the News, Dec. 17-31, 2011

2012-01-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

A Dec. 27 CNN story featured work on recovering old audio recordings by Alexander Graham Bell. The work was led by the Lab’s Carl Haber and also received coverage in PC World, Endgadget.com, Vintage Vinyl News and numerous TV stations around the country.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/27/living/bell-digital-imaging/index.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/247172/scientists_restore_125yearold_audio_with_3d_optical_scans.html

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/29/scientists-scan-damaged-audio-discs-resurrect-fresh-beats/

http://www.theindychannel.com/technology/30081718/detail.html

http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2012/01/130-year-old-records-revived-by.html

A Dec. 26 MedIndia story looked at work led by the Lab’s Jay Keasling using Computer Assisted Design to develop RNA devices.

http://www.medindia.net/news/CAD-Pitches-in-for-RNA-95316-1.htm

A Dec. 24 Epoch Times story featured research by the Lab’s Peidong Yang and his creation of a nanowire endoscope. BioOpticsWorld also covered his work.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/nanotechnology-shines-a-light-inside-cells-163986.html

http://www.bioopticsworld.com/articles/2011/12/single-cell-endoscope-enables-optical-look-inside-living-cells.html

A Dec. 21 ThomasNet News story noted that the Lab’s Jeff Long received a grant to research hydrogen fuel cell possibilities. Earth Techling also covered the news. http://news.thomasnet.com/green_clean/2011/12/21/with-doe-grants-four-labs-try-to-help-win-the-race-toward-fuel-cell-vehicles-in-our-future/

http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/12/doe-puts-7-million-into-hydrogen-storage/

A Dec. 20 Examiner story on DNA repair and low-dose radiation cited work by the Lab’s Mina Bissell and Sylvain Costes. Health Canal also covered their work.

http://www.examiner.com/science-in-south-bend/dna-repair-centers-fix-low-dose-radiation-damage

http://www.healthcanal.com/public-health-safety/24865-New-Take-Impacts-Low-Dose-Radiation.html

A Dec. 19 Forbes magazine story featured its selection of this year’s top “30 Under 30,” which included the Lab’s Rizia Bardhan.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkg45giif/rizia-bardhan-postdoctoral-candidate-lawrence-berkeley-national-laboratory-29/

A Dec. 19 Nature story on permafrost science quoted the Lab’s Susan Hubbard. http://www.nature.com/news/permafrost-science-heats-up-in-the-united-states-1.9681

Berkeley Lab In the News, Week of Dec. 12, 2011

2011-12-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

The latest issue of Physics World includes its list of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2011. Number six on the list is research led by the Lab’s Nu Xu.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/48126

A Dec. 16 IEEE Spectrum magazine story highlighted work on flexible materials led by the Lab’s Ali Javey. EndGadget and EE Times also covered the work.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/carbon-nanotubeenabled-flexible-backplanes-promise-smart-device-ubiquity

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/cheap-electronic-skin-edges-us-closer-to-cyberpunk-future/

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4233208/Flexible-substrates-harness-carbon

A Dec. 15 London Daily Mail story featured the discovery of a supernova by the Lab’s Peter Nugent. The London Register, Canadian Broadcasting, Nature, AFP news, and The Epoch Times were just some of the many news outlets that also covered the research.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2074145/Supernova-SN-2011fe-spotted-just-11-hours-exploded.html?ITO=1490

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/15/supernova_captured/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/12/15/science-supernova-beginning.html

http://www.nature.com/news/early-observations-identify-star-at-heart-of-nearby-supernova-1.9646

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ja7Z4jhnw4ZbBqYNrZNGjZMQ8nVg?docId=CNG.409326a7a960e6419497c9b6fd1f6faf.51

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/closest-type-ia-supernova-traced-to-white-dwarf-progenitor-159185.html

A Dec. 13 NPR story featured work by the Lab’s Carl Haber in retrieving audio from records made by Alexander Graham Bell. The joint-Smithsonian announcement led to significant news coverage including the Washington Post, Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor, Canadian Broadcasting, and dozens of other outlets.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11851842

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/smithsonian-unpacks-early-sound-recordings/2011/12/14/gIQAricSuO_gallery.html

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/12/from-the-collections-sound-recordings-heard-for-the-first-time/

http://articles.boston.com/2011-12-13/business/30512721_1_disc-berkeley-lab-early-recordings

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1214/Alexander-Graham-Bell-recordings-discovered-after-130-years

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/12/what-100-year-old-recordings-would-you-listen-to.html

A Dec. 13 Berkeleyside story featured photography by the Lab’s Daniel Parks.

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2011/12/13/misconceptions-about-scientists-this-one-at-berkeley-lab/

A Dec. 13 PBS Newshour story on the hunt for the Higgs boson quoted the Lab’s Michael Barnett.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/12/hunt-for-higgs-continues-scientists-struggle-to-separate-the-signal-from-the-noise.html

Berkeley Lab In the News, week of Dec. 4, 2011

2011-12-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

A Dec. 8 CNN story advocated for cool roofs and quoted the Lab’s Art Rosenfeld.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/08/why-we-should-all-paint-our-roofs-white/

A Dec. 8 Space.com story on this year’s Nobel prize winners quoted the Lab’s Saul Perlmutter.

http://www.space.com/13866-nobel-prize-physics-accelerating-universe-dark-energy.html

A Dec. 7 San Diego Union-Tribune story on new efforts to measure greenhouse gases quoted the Lab’s Marc Fischer. EcoSeed and several other websites ran similar stories.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/07/greenhouse-gas-network-expands-ca/

http://www.ecoseed.org/component/resource/article/138-news-briefs/12034-california-to-link-up-with-global-g-h-g-monitoring-network

A Dec. 7 R&D magazine story highlighted an industrial partnership helping to provide new tools to the ALS. The story quoted the Lab’s Horst Simon, Roger Falcone and Patrick Naulleau. Nanowerk and several other websites also ran the story.

http://www.rdmag.com/News/2011/12/Policy-And-Industry-Lab-And-Industry-Partner-In-New-Lithography-Tools-At-The-ALS/

http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=23640.php

A Dec. 6 Scientific American story on technology transfer highlighted a Berkeley Lab success story.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2011/12/06/technology-transfer-from-lab-to-marketplace/

A Dec. 5, USA Today story quoted the Lab’s Felisa Wolfe-Simon and mentions John Tainer in a story about Wolfe-Simon’s microbial research. Stories also ran in Science magazine, MSNBC, and in The Scientist.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2011/12/arsenic-microbe-anniversary-picks-up-steam/1
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/12/genome-of-controversial-arsenic.html?ref=hp
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9168255-arsenic-life-debate-still-percolates

http://the-scientist.com/2011/12/07/arsenic-bugs-genome-sequenced/

Berkeley Lab In the News for the Week of Nov. 28, 2011

2011-12-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

A Dec. 2 Ecoseed story featured work led by the Lab’s Jay Keasling showing how E. coli can be used to create biofuels. Cleantechnica, the Examiner, and other outlets ran similar stories.

http://www.ecoseed.org/technology-article-list/article/2-technology/11987-engineered-e-coli-transforms-switchgrass-to-fuels

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2011/2011-12-01-091.html

http://cleantechnica.com/2011/11/29/e-coli-bacteria-what-doesnt-kill-us-makes-us-biofuel/

http://www.examiner.com/science-in-south-bend/bacteria-devour-switchgrass-producing-gas-diesel-jet-fuels

A Dec. 2 KQED story on the recent high winds quoted the Lab’s Norm Miller.

http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/12/01/santa-ana-wind-season-may-be-stretched-by-climate-change/

A Dec. 2 MSNBC.com story looked at work by the Lab’s Felisa Wolfe-Simon.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9168255-arsenic-life-debate-still-percolates

A Nov. 29 New York Times story on greenhouse gas emissions touched on a recent study led by the Lab’s Margaret Torn. Ars Technica, KXTV Channel 10 in Sacramento, California Watch, and Resource Investing News also covered her work.

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/real-world-paths-to-climate-progress-in-california-and-beyond/

http://www.news10.net/news/article/165630/2/Journal-Calif-can-cut-greenhouse-emissions-by-80-percent

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/report-offers-carbon-neutral-road-map-california-13786

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/11/how-california-can-hit-its-mid-century-emissions-reduction-goals.ars

http://resourceinvestingnews.com/27345-electric-vehicles-critical-to-the-reduction-of-greenhouse-gas.html

A Nov. 29 Fast Company story featured the Lab’s Blake Simmons in a discussion about JBEI.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1797794/blake-simmons-department-of-energy

A Nov. 28 segment on NPR’s All Things Considered featured work on smart windows and included the Lab’s Steve Selkowitz, Delia Milliron, and Howdy Goudey.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/28/142848063/tenergy-saving-possibilities-of-smart-windows

Berkeley Lab In the News for Nov. 18-28, 2011

2011-11-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

A Nov. 28 Huffington Post story on California’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions featured research by the Lab’s Margaret Torn. Her work was also covered in a front-page Contra Costa Times story, KQED-FM and KCBS-AM radio, ClimateWire, the International Business Times, Woodland Daily Democrat, and several other websites and publications.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/28/dramatic-carbon-emission-reduction-goals-koch-brothers-study_n_1115867.html

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/11/26/scientist-calls-states-greenhouse-emission-ambitions-attainable/

http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/11/25/huge-transformation-required-to-meet-california-climate-goals/

http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/11/28/archive/8?terms=kahn

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_19413362?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/255798/20111125/greener-california-making-difference-2050.htm

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_19420497

http://cleantechnica.com/2011/11/25/only-way-to-stop-greenhouse-gas-emissions-is-to-use-clean-electricity-study-finds/

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/24/4078161/electricity-is-key-to-solving.html

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/11/how-california-can-hit-its-mid-century-emissions-reduction-goals.ars

http://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=15879

A Nov. 23 HealthCanal story highlighted obesity research by the Lab’s Paul Williams. The Times of India and several other publications also covered his work.

http://www.healthcanal.com/metabolic-problems/23794-Obesity-Vicious-Circle.html

http://www.healthjockey.com/2011/11/25/obese-people-more-vulnerable-to-further-weight-gain-study/

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-24/health/30436887_1_excess-body-weight-higher-body-mass-index-obese-people

A Nov. 23 KQED radio story noted the impending start of construction for the Lab’s CRT building and included an interview with the Lab’s Horst Simon. The Daily Cal also covered the story.
http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201111230705

http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/20/berkeley-labs-supercomputing-facility-moves-forward-despite-environmental-concerns/

A Nov. 23 BioFuelsDigest story about that publication’s photo contest noted that Lab photographer Roy Kaltschmidt received a first place award for a photograph taken at JBEI.

http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/11/23/a-day-in-the-life-of-biofuels-2011/

http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/11/23/a-day-in-the-life-of-biofuels-2011-2/

A Nov. 22 announcement that the Lab’s selection of a preferred second campus site has been delayed until early 2012 received a fair amount of news coverage including in the San Francisco Chronicle, Richmond Confidential, Contra Costa Times, Daily Cal, and San Francisco Business Journal, among others.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/22/BAPQ1M2PPG.DTL

http://richmondconfidential.org/2011/11/22/lbnl-delays-decision-on-second-campus-until-early-2012/

http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-lab-delays-second-campus-decision

http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/22/berkeley-lab-postpones-announcement-for-second-campus/

http://alameda.patch.com/articles/berkeley-lab-decision-delayed-to-2012-caf12f03

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19391434

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2011/11/22/berkeley-lab-second-campus-decision-delayed-into-2012/comment-page-1/

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2011/11/lbnl-to-pick-second-campus-early-2012.html

http://berkeley.patch.com/articles/berkeley-lab-decision-delayed-to-2012

A Nov. 22 AOL Energy story on renewable energy projects quoted the Lab’s Ryan Wiser.

http://energy.aol.com/2011/11/22/states-pass-fed-in-gov-encouragement-of-renewables/

A Nov. 20 Associated Press story on fuel cells quoted the Lab’s Adam Weber.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/11/20/national/a092623S27.DTL

A Nov. 18 UPI news story featured new research on the use of switch grass as a biofuel led by the Lab’s Blake Simmons.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/11/18/Corn-gene-can-increase-biofuel-yield/UPI-11291321658214/?spt=hs&or=sn

http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/8366/researchers-boost-switchgrass-potential-with-corn-gene

Berkeley Lab In the News, Nov. 13-18, 2011

2011-11-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

A Nov. 18 TG Daily story featured work on the creation of a genome-scale network of rice genes.

http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/59733-biofuel-hopes-rise-with-rice-genome-model

A Nov. 17 Johns Hopkins News-Letter story looked at research into melting permafrost by the Lab’s Janet Jansson.

http://www.jhunewsletter.com/science-technology/global-warming-contributes-to-melting-permafrost-1.2705093#.TsajWHNW6OE

A Nov. 17 Wired magazine story on the shrinking size of supercomputers quoted the Lab’s Erich Strohmaier.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/11/supercomputer-han/

A Nov. 17 Government Computer News story featured the launch of a 100Gbps network led by ESNet and quoted the Lab’s Steve Cotter.

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/11/17/doe-launches-100-gigabit-data-network.aspx

A Nov. 16 Court House News story noted that a lawsuit against the Lab’s proposed CRT building has been dismissed by a trial court judge. http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/17/41544.htm

A Nov. 15 Wired magazine story covered the annual list of the world’s fastest computers; a list compiled in part by the Lab’s Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon. Information Week, Tech Radar, HPC Wire, and ZDNet were some of the other news outlets covering the report.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/11/top500/

http://informationweek.com/news/government/enterprise-architecture/231903060

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/top-500-supercomputers-named-1041101

http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-11-14/japan%E2%80%99s_k_computer_retains_top500_crown.html

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/top-10-supercomputers-hold-position-intel-ibm-nvidia-shine/63342

A Nov. 14 Semiconductor Today story featured research on solar cells by the Lab’s Eli Yablonovitch.

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2011/NOV/BERKELEY_141111.html

The Nov. 14 episode of NPR’s Fresh Air included an extensive interview with the Lab’s most recent Nobel Prize winner, Saul Perlmutter.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/14/142248148/exploring-supernovas-leads-to-physics-nobel-prize

A Nov. 14 KQED radio story featured work on smart windows by the Lab’s Delia Milliron, Howdy Goudey and Steve Selkowitz.

http://www.kqed.org/a/quest/R201111140833

A Nov. 13 episode of KQED radio's “California Report” included a story on the Lab’s recent Open House and an interview with the Lab’s David Knowles, among others.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201111111630/e

Runners Can Relax About Holiday Feasting: Study

2011-11-08T12:11:00.001-08:00

Good news for high-mileage runners: They may be able to help themselves to an extra serving at holiday meals because variations in diet are less likely to affect them, researcher say.

The new study included nearly 107,000 runners who were grouped according to the distance they run each day: less than 1.2 miles (under 2 kilometers [km]); 1.2 to 2.4 miles (2 to 4 km); 2.4 to 3.7 miles (4 to 6 km); 3.7 to nearly 5 miles (6 to 8 km); and about 5 miles (8 km) or more.

The researchers found that body mass index and waist circumference increased significantly among the least active runners when they ate more meat and less fruit. But the effects of this diet change were reduced by 50 percent or more in the most active runners. The effects in runners who covered more than 1.2 miles a day were also reduced, but not to the same extent as the highest-mileage runners.

The study is published in the November issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

"Generally, body mass index and waist circumference increase as a person eats more meat and less fruit," study author Paul Williams, a researcher at the U.S. government's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said in news release from the American College of Sports Medicine. More>

Congressman Believes Federal Labs Key to Job Creation

2011-11-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) and related agencies subcommittee, commends the Administration on its new efforts to speed up the commercial application of federally funded research. The plan supports two Fattah initiatives that improve the way federally funded research is transferred to the private sector. Fattah has a longtime commitment to improving the transfer of research from Federal laboratories. He met this week with Dr. Paul Alivisatos; Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, which is a cornerstone of the nation's science and technology infrastructure. Additionally, over the last six months Fattah has visited four of the nation's leading laboratories. More>

One last chance to view spectacular supernova

2011-09-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

If you've got a pair of binoculars, this will be your last chance to view a new supernova that was recently discovered near the Big Dipper, about 21 million light-years away from Earth. Astronomers describe this as the supernova of a generation, adding it is the closest and brightest supernova of this type detected in the last 30 years. When the discovery was reported by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California in late August, scientists excitedly announced that the supernova, dubbed PTF 11kly, was getting brighter by the minute. Although 21 million light-years covers an enormous chunk of space, it's still considered to be a relatively small distance (by astronomical standards.) So don't miss the opportunity. If you've been dilatory, you have one more good chance to check it out as the supernova will reach its brightest display on Sept. 8. More>

A Stellar Explosion in the Big Dipper's Handle

2011-09-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

Horst Scott Simon talk with Berkeley Lab's Peter Nugent about the biggest, brightest supernova in a generation and how people can see it from their backyards this week.

Power Plants

2011-09-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

It’s been suggested before, but Adam Arkin, head of the synthetic biology and physical biosciences division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, believes advances in plant synthetic biology are “turning a corner that will be transformative” for the energy industry. Synthetic biologists engineer part or a whole cell to create different functions. In this case, scientists have created plant-eating microbes that produce biofuels. More>

Home solar system prices have just modest drop

2011-09-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

The price of solar panels has plunged in the last four years. But the price of a complete home solar system hasn't kept pace. "There is a lag," said Galen Barbose, principal scientific engineering associate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who studies solar prices. "You've got these upstream cost reductions that take months to ripple down to the consumer." More>

Marijuana: High on Megawatts

2011-09-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

When it comes to wasting megawatts, marijuana is the greatest offender. According to a 2011 study of indoor pot-growing operations, growers in the United States use about $5 billion worth of electricity to power lightbulbs, ventilation fans, dehumidifiers, and other appliances to mimic outdoor growing conditions. That's the output of seven large electrical power plants, or one percent of national electricity consumption, wrote Evan Mills, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who performed the study independently. Smoking a single joint, Mills wrote, is worth two pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. More>

Oh, to Be Warm in Summer’s Heat

2011-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Why are airports, shops, offices and homes in the United States and elsewhere chilled to sweater-weather temperatures in summer when the temperature outside rises? “Everyone asks the question, but no one has a good answer,” said Fergus Nicol, a cooling expert and professor emeritus of architecture at London Metropolitan University. “I think it’s because air-conditioners are supposed to produce cool, so it has become an expectation.” Maybe, he said, there’s also a bit of “conspicuous consumption.” ALAN MEIER, A SENIOR SCIENTIST AT LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY, said there was debate about whether people could acclimate to a new “comfort regime.” He noted that, just as in lighting, the attitude was “the more the better.” But lighting designers backed off that predilection; he said the same trend might follow in cooling. More>

Internet Could Run Ten Times Faster With Graphene

2011-08-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Internet connections could run ten times faster than current speeds, according to research published in the journal Nature Communication. University of Manchester and Cambridge scientists have discovered a key step in improving characteristics of graphene for use as photodetectors in high-speed optical communications. Graphene is a form of carbon just one atom thick and yet 100 times stronger than steel. Earlier this year, researchers discovered the new use for graphene. They suggested that a one-atom-thick layer of crystallised carbon could be used as a possible replacement for traditional transistors in the next generation of computer chips. Berkeley Lab's Ziang Zhang said: "Graphene enables us to make modulators that are incredibly compact and that potentially perform at speeds up to ten times faster than current technology allows. This new technology will significantly enhance our capabilities in ultrafast optical communication and computing." More>

New supernova is closest one to Earth in 25 years

2011-08-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Astronomy buffs, hold onto your telescopes. Scientists have discovered a new supernova, or exploding star, in the Pinwheel Galaxy. And, in a few weeks, you might be able to see it for yourself with nothing but a good pair of binoculars. Astronomers are especially excited about this newly discovered supernova -- although it's been given the decidedly unjazzy name SN 2011fe -- because it's a mere 21 million light-years away. In the language of astronomy, that puts it right in our backyard. Peter Nugent, the senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who originally spotted the exploding star, told the Los Angeles Times it has been 25 years since a supernova has occurred so close to Earth and that the last one was visible only in the southern hemisphere. More>

Microbes' role in oil spills investigated

2011-08-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

A report by researchers at a California lab has highlighted the critical role microbes played in mitigating the two worst oil spill incidents in U.S. history. Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studying last year's BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska two decades ago say oil-degrading micro-organisms played a significant role in reducing the overall environmental impact of both spills. More>

RichmondBUILD Awarded $115,000 for Green Workforce Training

2011-08-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom spoke to the graduates of RichmondBuild at the recent graduation of "Cohort Fifteen" about how profoundly important choice is in shaping the future. "Fundamentally, it's decisions, not conditions that shape our future," said Newsom. He talked about the importance of building green jobs, about personal accountability and scaling successful programs that embody best practices at the August 19th, 2011 graduation held at RichmondBuild's training facility at 23rd Street. Chevron, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) contributed a combined $115,000 with Chevron handing out the largest check of $100,000 at the event. More>

Radiation From Japan Reached California Coast in Just Days

2011-08-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

New research finds that radiation from the nuclear plant accident in Japan in March reached California within days, showing how quickly air pollution can travel, but scientists say the radiation will not hurt people. "It's not harmful at all," said study author Antra Priyadarshi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at San Diego. The value of the study, Priyadarshi said, is understanding how fast the tiny particles of radiation traveled and how many particles made it to the United States. So, is the radiation in the air harmful? Not in this case, since the amount is small and the spike in radiation didn't last long, said Eleanor Blakely, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. More>

Leon Schipper, Physicist and Iconoclast, Dies at 64

2011-08-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Leon J. Schipper, a physicist whose passion for data led him to question the value of popular energy policies, like government subsidies for ethanol and for electric cars and the “cash for clunkers” program, died Tuesday in Berkeley, Calif. He was 64. The cause was pancreatic cancer, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he had worked for more than 20 years. More>

Boxer: Climate-Change Legislation Still DOA

2011-08-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sen. Barbara Boxer would like to see Congress take another stab at legislation to fight global warming. Just don't expect it to happen anytime soon. After touring part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Wednesday morning, Boxer said federal climate-change legislation remains dead. Such legislation would be a big boost to many of the technologies under development at the lab, including advanced biofuels and artificial photosynthesis. But the current gridlocked Congress won't touch it. And she won't introduce such legislation herself until that changes. "Climate change doesn't have the votes," said Boxer, a Democrat. "I'm a pragmatic legislator. I'm not going to waste time on something that's not going to work." More>

Semen quality drops after age 35 in Chinese men

2011-08-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

A new study of age-related changes in semen in Chinese men shows sperm health can start declining as early as age 30, with notable changes after age 35, although the research stops short of determining the effects on fertility. "The motility -- the ability of the sperm to move -- does change with age, and that probably will translate into a likelihood that, as a group, older men are going to have a harder time to fertilize," said Andrew Wyrobek, a sperm specialist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, who was not involved in this research. More>

Lab programs gives teens a jump on science

2011-08-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

EMERYVILLE -- Deep within the Joint BioEnergy Institute, eight researchers are hard at work trying to find solutions to the growing global energy crisis. The team diligently researches renewable, carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil fuels in the hopes of finding a resource abundant enough to meet the world's demand. Eight sophomores and juniors are participating in the Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology, or iCLEM, a summer science education program sponsored by the Joint BioEnergy Institute and the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center. The program provides opportunities to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and who come from families with little or no history of college attendance. More

Cooking up some chemistry inside a cell

2011-08-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

There are, however, some brave chemists who are actively eschewing the comfort of simplicity. These scientists are developing chemical tools to craft new chemistry inside of cells. The cell is teeming with chemicals. The cell is the most complex collection of chemistry found anywhere on earth all bundled up in a teeny tiny little package. And these chemists are using the cell as their own personal test tube. A cell is like a bowl of vegetable soup. When you or I add salt to our soup it flavors the entire dish. The goal of bio-orthogonal chemists would be to salt only the peas in the soup. Likely, the chemist most responsible for popularizing the use of these bio-orthogonal techniques is Berkeley Lab's Carolyn Bertozzi. More>

Lawrence Berkeley Lab courted by East Bay cities

2011-08-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

If the East Bay were a giant high school, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory would be, this summer anyway, the homecoming queen. Cities up and down the waterfront are ardently courting the federal research institution in hopes of winning the lab's nod for a sprawling second campus. "We love LBL" lawn signs and billboards have sprung up from Alameda to Richmond, and thousands have turned out for community meetings to woo lab officials. More>

Curbing Supercomputers' Growing Drain On Energy

2011-08-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

Supercomputers have become a critical tool for scientists. Each year, they get bigger and faster — and use a lot more power. Soon, each one will need as much energy as a small city. That has researchers — like Berkeley Lab computing scientist John Shalf — looking to reinvent the supercomputer by using the technology inside cellphones. More>

Richmond puts on charm offensive to woo Berkeley Lab

2011-07-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

"Renaissance" was the watchword Thursday at a packed reception for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. About 700 residents packed into the Richmond Auditorium to help convince lab representatives that this city is in the midst of a turnaround, and urge them to build their planned second campus here. The new campus, which is expected to accommodate more than 800 workers and generate more than $200 million in spending impacts, is the first project in recent memory to unite all corners of the city in support. Richmond leaders took advantage of its town hall meeting, a requirement for each of the six finalists, to tout the city's successes in luring green industry and restoring local landmarks such as the Richmond Plunge. More>

Pull the Plug on Home 'Energy Vampire' Appliances and Electronics to Stop Standby Power Use

2011-07-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

How high is your monthly electricity bill? With the kind of summer we've had, your power consumption has probably gone through the roof if you've kept the fan and air conditioner on to keep you cool during the ongoing wave of oppressive heat. There are ways that you can cut back, though. Did you know that certain appliances and electronics will continue to use power even when they're switched off? It's estimated that 10 percent of the average home electricity bill comes from the energy used by these products, which are popularly called energy vampires." But an aggressive campaign, armed with knowledge about which products draw standby, can cut total standby by as much as a third, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. More>

A sand box for low energy building tech

2011-07-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

For most people, the images below look like just another building on the UC Berkeley campus. But for tech firms, construction companies, architects and utilities that are interested in low energy building design, Building 90, and its accompanying structures, look like a little slice of heaven. The planned building, which will go under construction in the Spring of 2012 with a $15.9 million grant from the stimulus program, is a comprehensive test bed for low energy building tech, like electrochromic windows, smart lighting systems or connected efficient HVAC systems. In conjunction with the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, researchers and partners can test out building technology in real world conditions at the site, and with the ability to control the settings and study the results. More>

Indoor or out, heat hurts work productivity

2011-07-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Productivity suffers in the heat, whether you are working outside or indoors, experts say. It’s brutal to work outdoors during a heat wave, but even workers in air conditioned offices lose their edge. Office workers’ productivity peaks at 71 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit, said William Fisk, a senior scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In a study published recently in “Indoor Air,” a journal about indoor health and environment, Fisk and two colleagues found that office buildings often have poorly controlled temperatures. More>

Alameda Maneuvers for Coveted Lab

2011-07-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

When the Naval Air Station closed here in 1997, the city predicted the sprawling waterfront base would become a budding community, filled with housing, businesses and open space. Fourteen years and a handful of developers later, some of the most prime real estate in the Bay Area remains mostly undeveloped and underused. Twice, Alameda worked closely with outside developers to craft plans aimed at rebuilding the entire 918 acres in one go. Each time, the plans faltered. This time, a new city staff is working on a plan, and at least one big-name potential tenant has shown interest. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a federally funded lab run by the University of California, is searching for a site to build a second campus. It has named Alameda Point, as the former air base is now dubbed, one of six finalists. More>

The Shelters That Clinton Built

2011-07-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

When Demosthene Lubert heard that Bill Clinton 's foundation was going to rebuild his collapsed school at the epicenter of Haiti's January 12, 2010, earthquake, in the coastal city of Léogâne, the academic director thought he was "in paradise." The project was announced by Clinton as his foundation's first contribution to the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which the former president co-chairs. The foundation described the project as "hurricane-proof...emergency shelters that can also serve as schools...to ensure the safety of vulnerable populations in high risk areas during the hurricane season," while also providing Haitian schoolchildren "a decent place to learn" and creating local jobs. However, when Nation reporters visited the "hurricane-proof" shelters in June, six to eight months after they'd been installed, we found them to consist of twenty imported prefab trailers beset by a host of problems, from mold to sweltering heat to shoddy construction. Most disturbing, they were manufactured by the same company, Clayton Homes, that is being sued in the United States for providing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with formaldehyde-laced trailers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Randy Maddalena, a scientist specializing in indoor pollutants at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, characterized the 250 parts per billion finding as "a very high level" of formaldehyde and warned that "it's of concern," particularly given the small sample size. More>

No Eureka Moments in Long U.S. Campaign to Crack Cellulosic Code

2011-07-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

From a series of low-slung buildings in Walnut Creek, Calif., east of Oakland and nestled at the base of Mount Diablo, the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI), fresh from sequencing the human genome, has pursued for the past half-decade the DNA of microbes known to unwind these barbed wires. Marshaling these genetic resources is one of the institute's top priorities, on parallel with its cancer research. It may sound strange, but the cellulose work is like Lewis Caroll's "Through the Looking-Glass," said Eddy Rubin, JGI's director and Hess' former boss. At one point, Alice hustles after the Red Queen, but she never gains any ground. Likewise, plants have kept their lead over all comers, Rubin said. More>

Edison’s 123-year-old talking doll recording could be oldest surviving commercial audio

2011-07-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Scientists using advanced imaging technology have recovered a 123-year-old recording made by Thomas Edison that is believed to be the world’s first attempt at a talking doll and may mark the dawn of the American recording industry. Yet almost 80 years after the mystery woman lent her voice to Edison, the recording showed up in 1967 in the archives of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, having been recovered from a secretary’s desk drawer in Edison’s laboratory. More than four decades later, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., used image analysis in May to create a digital model of the record’s surface. That model was then used to reproduce the recording as a digital file, not unlike the modern technology behind the voice that emerges from today’s talking dolls. More>

Berkeley Labs announce public meetings in Bay Area

2011-07-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

A schedule of public meetings for the proposed sites of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's second campus were announced Monday. The meetings will include presentations from lab representatives and recommendations from community members. They will also examine the potential each site has for the development. The finalists in the running for the second campus are Alameda Point in Alameda; Berkeley Aquatic Park West in West Berkeley; Brooklyn Basin in Oakland; Emeryville/Berkeley, on property occupied by the Berkeley Lab; Golden Gate Fields, spanning Berkeley and Albany; and Richmond Field Station, a site owned by the University of California, which runs the Berkeley Lab. The second campus is intended to consolidate existing laboratory programs around the East Bay. More>

Future of Electric Cars Hinges on Better Batteries

2011-07-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Electric cars are a game-changing technology with an Achilles’ heel — the battery. Current batteries are expensive and have limited range, making it hard to drive from San Jose to San Francisco and back without stopping to recharge. Experts agree consumers will never fully embrace electric vehicles until they can travel as far as a gas-powered car on a single charge. The Bay Area — home to Tesla Motors, Berkeley Lab and two-dozen battery startups — has emerged as one of the nation’s leading hubs of battery innovation. More>

Magnetic Microprocessors Could Enable Most Efficient Computers Possible

2011-07-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

Electron-free magnetic microprocessors would use 1 million times less energy per flop than today’s computers, according to researchers. They would be so efficient they would consume the least amount of energy allowed by the second law of thermodynamics. For now, computers run on electricity, which means electrons moving around and generating waste heat. But a magnetic microprocessor would not need any electrons. Berkeley Lab materials scientist Jeffrey Bokor and his UC Berkeley grad students are trying to develop these magnetic computers. Their goal is a computer that operates at the Landauer limit, which at room temperature equates to a loss of 18 millielectron volts of energy per operation. More>

Wrinkles Rankle Graphene

2011-07-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, a team of researchers led by the University at Buffalo (part of the State University of New York) have found that folds and ripples in a graphene sheet and/or chance contaminants from processing—possibly hiding in those wrinkles—disrupt and slow electron flow across the sheet, impairing its conductive properties. This means simple processing flaws can seriously degrade graphene, according to a study published June 28 in Nature Communications. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) Under ideal conditions, an electron "cloud" lines the surface of graphene samples that enables the high-speed transit of electrons. Wrinkles and imperfections in these samples, however, distort the cloud and create bottlenecks, according to the team, which also included scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the SEMATECH research consortium. More>

123 year-old talking doll record speaks again

2011-07-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

You can now listen to the oldest known American recording of a woman's voice that time and technology had left mute. The recording of the first stanza from the nursery rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, believed to have been produced for a talking doll sold by Thomas Edison, was rediscovered in 1967. But age had taken its toll. The ring-shaped cylinder phonograph record, which was made in 1888, was bent to the point where it no longer worked with a conventional stylus that required physical contact. However, a group of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used a new imaging technique to play the 12-second clip without needing to actually touch the record. More>

Microbe could make biofuels hot

2011-07-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

A record-breaking microbe that thrives while munching plant material at near boiling temperatures has been discovered in a Nevada hot spring, researchers announced in a study published today. Scientists are eyeing the microbe's enzyme responsible for breaking down cellulose — called a cellulase — as a potential workhouse in the production of biofuels and other industrial processes. Cellulose is a chain of linked sugar molecules that makes up the woody fiber of plants. To produce biofuels, enzymes are required to breakdown cellulose into its constituent sugars so that yeasts can then ferment them into the type of alcohol that makes cars (not people) go vroom. At the industrial scale, this process is done most efficiently at high temperatures that kill other microbes that could otherwise contaminate the reaction, Berkeley Lab's Douglas Clark told me today. More>

What Went Wrong In Fukushima: The Human Factor

2011-07-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

Japanese officials are still trying to understand all the factors that contributed to the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Officials already have concluded that the plant was not designed to withstand the 40-foot tsunami that hit it on March 11. But it is also likely that workers at the plant could have reduced the severity of the accident if they had made different decisions during the crisis. One critical decision was whether to pump seawater into the reactors. That would certainly ruin them, but it could also keep them cool and prevent meltdowns. It appears that the engineers on site hesitated for some hours before they went ahead and did that. Berkeley Lab's Per Peterson says that was a questionable decision. More>

Gene 'Map' of Ovarian Cancer Yields New Clues to Treatment

2011-06-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

In the largest such study of any tumor type to date, scientists say they've gleaned an in-depth look at genes that may help drive aggressive ovarian cancer. The achievement, which could lead to a better understanding of this "silent killer" and ways to treat it, comes as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network. That project was launched in 2006 by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute. "We have now a map that is telling the cancer research community where to look and what to work on in the future," explained study lead author Paul T. Spellman, who conducted his research while a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. More>

E.coli seen spawning biofuel in five years

2011-06-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

The bacteria behind food poisoning worldwide, the mighty E.coli, could be turned into a commercially available biofuel in five years, a U.S. scientist told technology industry and government leaders on Tuesday. Several companies are working on the technology, which has been proven in laboratories but is not yet yielding enough fuel to be commercially viable, scientist Jay Keasling told the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday. Keasling, chief executive officer of the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute, has pioneered research in biofuels based on substances ranging from yeast to E.coli and expects E.coli fuel production to improve. More>

Matter melts — if it's 125,000 times hotter than sun

2011-06-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

By creating a soup of subatomic particles similar to what the Big Bang produced, scientists have discovered the temperature boundary where ordinary matter dissolves. "Normal matter like we are, nuclear matter, is called hadronic matter. If you excite the system to a very high temperature, normal matter will transform into a different type of matter called quark-gluon plasma," said physicist Nu Xu of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. More>

Rob Bonta: Show Your Support For Bringing Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory To Alameda

2011-06-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, on May 9, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced that Alameda Point was a finalist for location of LBNL's second campus. Over the next few weeks, Alameda will "roll out the red carpet" in welcoming LBNL, and I hope that all of you will join many other Alamedans in personally participating in this process. More>

City of Richmond Gains Momentum as a Top Finalist for Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's (LBNL) New Research Institute

2011-06-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

Anticipation is growing in the City of Richmond as the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) continues to move forward with the site selection process for its second campus. The University of California, Berkeley-owned Richmond Field Station, one of LBNL's remaining candidate sites, is being recognized as a shoreline campus location that would inspire researchers to continue to develop innovative energy solutions for the 21st century and beyond. More>

Atop TV Sets, a Power Drain That Runs Nonstop

2011-06-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Those little boxes that usher cable signals and digital recording capacity into televisions have become the single largest electricity drain in many American homes, with some typical home entertainment configurations eating more power than a new refrigerator and even some central air-conditioning systems. But energy efficiency experts say that technical fixes could eliminate or minimize the waiting time and inconvenience, some at little expense. Low-energy European systems reboot from deep sleep in one to two minutes. Alan Meier, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said of the industry in the United States, “I don’t want to use the word ‘lazy,’ but they have had different priorities, and saving energy is not one of them.” More>

Routine Weather Costs U.S. $485 billion

2011-06-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Forget about the price tags for tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, heat-waves and other extremes -- just the routine variations of daily weather cost the U.S. economy some $485 billion a year, a new study says. This "initial estimate" -- 3.4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product -- is the first study of its kind to apply hard-number economic analysis to the weather sensitivity of the U.S. economy as a whole. Earlier estimates apply only to one economic sector or another. "It's clear the economy isn't weatherproof," economist Jeffrey Lazo, at the National Center For Atmospheric Research said in a statement issued by the Boulder-based facility. The study, by Lazo and colleagues at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, is being published in this month's issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. More>

Medical photo sharing app could change the world

2011-06-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, a photo sharing service of an altogether different sort is emerging from the labs at UC Berkeley. A team led by Bioengineering Professor Daniel Fletcher has developed a small, inexpensive microscope called CellScope that attaches to mobile phone cameras to snap magnified pictures of blood and phlegm slides. The images can then be "shared" as texts or e-mails with modern medical facilities miles or continents away, which can accurately identify diseases and even spot early warning signs of pandemics. "There are doctors who can diagnose this, they just aren't where the patients are," said Fletcher, also a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Put simply: CellScope can erase the distance and delays that cost lives. More>

CERN Group Traps Antihydrogen

2011-06-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Trapping antihydrogen atoms at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has become so routine that physicists are confident that they can soon begin experiments on this rare antimatter equivalent of the hydrogen atom, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. “We’ve trapped antihydrogen atoms for as long as 1,000 seconds, which is forever” in the world of high-energy particle physics, said Joel Fajans, UC Berkeley professor of physics, faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a member of the ALPHA (Antihydrogen Laser PHysics Apparatus) experiment at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. More>

Breakthrough could skyrocket Internet speeds

2011-06-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

A team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory led by Chinese-American professor Zhang Xiang has developed a broadband technology so fast it would enable the download of an entire 3D movie in only a few seconds. The breakthrough, which could be available to consumers in three to five years, was made possible by the team's invention of a graphene-based optical modulator. With one-atom-thick sheets of carbon densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice, the modulator is 100 times faster than conventional optical devices in use today. More>

The problem with anti-matter

2011-06-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

The problem with anti-matter, put simply, is that it doesn't hang about. As soon as an anti-matter particle comes into contact with a particle of matter, both annihilate in a burst of energy. How then do we explain the existence of so much matter? Everywhere we look in the universe (and as far back in time as we can go by looking out across the lightyears of deep space), we see only matter. Scientists working on the Alpha project at Cern are trying to find out by isolating and studying particles of anti-hydrogen. They managed to trap 38 anti-atoms for just 172 milliseconds. Now, by leaving their trap running, the same team report they have managed to hold on to 19 antihydrogen atoms for 1,000 seconds. The length of time antimatter atoms hang around is important because it gives scientists the opportunity to study them in greater detail. "A thousand seconds is more than enough time to perform measurements on a confined anti-atom" says Berkeley Lab's Joel Fajans. "It's enough time for the anti-atoms to interact with laser beams or microwaves. It's even enough time to go for coffee." More>

New Dean for Natural Sciences Appointed at UC Merced

2011-06-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Juan C. Meza has been appointed the new dean of the UC Merced School of Natural Sciences. Meza will take over for Mike Colvin, who has served as interim dean since February. Colvin replaced founding Dean Maria Pallavicini, who resigned to become provost at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Meza studied at Rice University -- earning bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in computational and applied mathematics -- and now works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as head of the High Performance Computing Research Department and acting director of the Computational Research Division, where he manages a staff of 272 employees and a $50 million budget. More>

California Renewable Energy: Can The Golden State Retake Its Lead?

2011-06-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

When it comes to wind power, California lags behind some unlikely competitors: Texas and Iowa. Both of those states, despite their less "green friendly" images, use more megawatts of wind power to generate electricity. That could soon change, however, with California's new renewables portfolio standard (RPS), signed into law on April 12 by Governor Jerry Brown. The Golden State's goal is possible, according to Ryan Wiser, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. But it's ambitious. "It's definitely a tough target," Wiser told HuffPost. All the same, Wiser said, "I'm quite confident that we'll make very good progress towards the 33 percent standard, and we may even achieve it." More>

Biofuels Future That U.S. Covets Takes Shape — in Brazil

2011-06-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Oil is one of the world's cheapest commodities. Even if diesel biofuels are more efficiently created, they will be pressed to compete on an even playing field, given the costs of agriculture, said Harvey Blanch, the chief scientific officer at the Energy Department's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). The institute, which shares a building with Amyris in Emeryville, is a leader in biofuel research. "When you come down to look at all of the economics of this, of course, then you realize where the issues really are," Blanch said. "Basically, it's the price of the sugar. Nothing else matters. The science, whatever -- doesn't matter." More>

Astronomer shares $500,000 prize for dark matter work

2011-06-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

A UC BERKELEY ASTRONOMER will split a $500,000 prize with three other astronomers for research that eliminated doubt over the existence of "dark matter," a foundation announced Wednesday. Most of the research that won the 2010 Cosmology Prize of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation was conducted at UC Berkeley, in the lab of Marc Davis, professor and astronomy and physics and guest in Berkeley Lab's Physics Division. The astronomers' findings "galvanized support for 'cold dark matter' as the dominant form of matter in the universe," the foundation said in a statement. More>

Parallel bars

2011-06-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

Have computers stopped getting faster? If you looked only at the clock speeds of microprocessor chips, you might well think so. ... Instead, extra oomph has been added in recent years by packaging multiple processing engines, or “cores”, inside a single chip. Modern PCs and laptops typically have dual-core processors (such as the Intel Core i3) and some have quad-core or even six-core chips. You might expect a six-core machine to be six times faster than a machine with a single-core microprocessor. Yet for most tasks it is not. That is because nearly all software is still designed to run on a single-core chip; in other words, it is designed to do only one thing at a time. “We’re not going to have faster processors,” says Katherine Yelick, a computer scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Instead, making software run faster in the future will mean using parallel-programming techniques. More>

Asphalt Going Green With 'Cool Pavement' in Phoenix

2011-05-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Phoenicians will return from the Memorial Day weekend to witness installation of the first "Cool Pavement" parking lot in central downtown Phoenix. This 90,000-square-foot temporary parking lot located between First, Second, Taylor and Polk Streets will now help cool the city this summer. The 100 Cities "Cool Pavement" Initiative was developed by Emerald Cities™ working in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under a signed agreement dated January 2011, incorporating the DOE-LBNL "Cool Communities" Seminar Series with EC "Cool Pavement" demonstrations. More>

U.S. Coal Companies See Huge Market In China

2011-05-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

David Fridley of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division was interviewed for this story.

State's energy system will need major overhaul

2011-05-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

California can meet its mandate to slash greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels within the next 40 years - but only with a virtual revolution in energy production and use, said a report released Tuesday. Fossil fuel use must drop dramatically in California, and reliance on renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power will have to rise significantly, according to the report by the independent California Council on Science and Technology. "The grid as it currently stands is entirely unsustainable," said Jeffery Greenblatt, an energy analyst at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, one of the report's authors. "We're going to see a very different grid in 2050 than we have now." More>

Gamma-ray burst is most distant yet seen

2011-05-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

A record has been set for the most distant gamma-ray burst, astronomers announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Boston today. The result pushes back the time by which stars and galaxies must have formed to just 500 million years after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. “This tells us there was already huge star formation activity going on,” says astronomer Antonio Cucchiara of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, who is first author on a paper about the result that is due to be posted on the arxiv preprint archive later today. More>

3-D Space Map

2011-05-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Scientists have created the most extensive map yet made of the distant universe, ten billion light years away. They’ve done so by measuring the shadows left by quasars, the brightest objects in the universe, according to astrophysicist David Schlegel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He says that after the universe formed about 13.7 billion years ago, it started expanding. The force of gravity pulled galaxies together, which slowed it down. But 6 or 7 billion years ago, the expansion started accellerating again, possibly due to dark energy. More>

This research was also featured on the Department of Energy website.

Bay Area Recruiters Say Job Seekers Often Overlook Opportunities

2011-05-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Job seekers who restrict the hunt to a particular industry often overlook organizations that could use their skills, according to recruiters at several large companies. “We don’t just hire scientists and engineers,” said Jeff Todd, a senior recruiter at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, one of 50 companies with the help wanted sign out at Laney College on Friday. Airlines, telecommunications companies and scientific research organizations rely on a full range of support staff to carry out their missions. Todd said the biofuel and cancer research at the lab run by the University of California is no different. “We’re an organization about science,” Todd said, but the 200 openings include positions in finance, human resources, employee health and safety and facilities management. “We hire all across the lab,” he said, particularly as they expand to a second campus. More>

State Clean Energy Mandates Have Little Effect on Electricity Rates So Far

2011-05-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

While there's room for more study, the estimated impact on electricity rates is a fraction of a percent in most cases and just over 1 percent in two states. One of the larger reviews of renewable portfolio standards was a 2008 report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The study looked at data on a dozen state renewable policies enacted before 2007. The estimated impact on electricity rates varied by state, but it was a fraction of a percent in most cases and just over 1 percent in two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts. "There is little evidence of a sizable impact on average retail electricity rates so far," the report concluded. One of the report's co-authors, Galen Barbose, said in an interview that they are collecting data for an updated version of the report. So far he said he hasn't seen any new information to suggest their conclusion about rate impacts will change significantly in the next edition. More>

Why Your Smartphone Battery Sucks

2011-05-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

If you're hoping your next smartphone will run faster, shine brighter, connect at 4G speed and last longer on one battery charge, you may be in for a rude surprise. The thirst for battery power in new smartphones and tablets is far outpacing new advancements in battery technology. Venkat Srinivasan, a battery technology researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, notes that, “the physics that dictates evolution in batteries is different from the physics that dictates evolution in smartphone electronics.” It seems that batteries are doomed to drag along behind the wagon train until a Eureka moment happens occurs with a better material. More>

Maurice Goldhaber, Brother of Berkeley Lab's Gerson Goldhaber, Is Dead at 100

2011-05-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Maurice Goldhaber, a physicist who delved into the intricacies of atoms and headed the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island for more than a decade, died last Wednesday at his home in East Setauket, N.Y. He was 100. Physics runs through the Goldhaber lineage. His younger brother, Gerson, who died last year, was part of a team at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California that confirmed the antiproton discovery. More>

Chinchilla promotes Costa Rica investment during tour of U.S.

2011-05-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla wrapped up the first half of her week-long U.S. tour by promoting Costa Rica as a foreign direct investment destination for U.S. companies. On Tuesday, Chinchilla began the third day of her trip to the United States by visiting to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. She attended the prestigious school in northern California to emphasize Costa Rica’s commitment to the development of renewable energies. More>

Chu Calls NSF's Decision to Abandon DUSEL 'Disappointing'

2011-05-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that he's "very disappointed" with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for pulling out of a planned $875-million underground science lab in South Dakota. In his most extensive public comments since NSF's oversight body decided in December to walk away from the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) project, Chu told a congressional spending panel yesterday that the decision was especially hard to fathom "since [NSF] started it." Chu said he feels "personally" the anguish of the DUSEL team, led by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the DOE lab that Chu directed before coming to DOE in January 2009. More>

Bringing clean water to the world’s poorest people

2011-05-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

What Ashok Gadgil learnt when working on a low-cost water purification device is that successful innovation is about more than science and technology — particularly when designing products for some of the world’s poorest people. “It requires going outside your comfort zone and area of expertise, and takes a lot of collaboration,” says Mr Gadgil, director of the environmental energy technologies division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California. More>

Hole in Reactor May Be Cause of Water Level Drop, Officials Say

2011-05-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

A hole in reactor one of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant may be behind a dramatic drop in water levels inside the pressure vessel, operator Tokyo Electric Power Company said Thursday. TEPCO officials said the amount of water inside the vessel was much lower than previously thought, fully exposing the fuel rods and melting them. The pressure and temperature inside held steady, an indication that the fuel rods were now being cooled in water at the bottom of the vessel, TEPCO said. "The important point is that this is news that TEPCO has found that a measurement they have been making for several weeks was incorrect," said Per Peterson of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley. "It does not mean that anything new is happening in the unit one reactor now." Peterson said that steady pressure and temperatures indicated the fuel was being adequately cooled in its current configuration. More>

A Sea of Magma Feeds Hundreds of Volcanoes on Jupiter's Moon

2011-05-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

New data confirms that an ocean of magma under the surface of Jupiter's moon, Io, feeds the moon's many active volcanoes. The finding is not surprising given the number of volcanoes and the amount of volcanic activity on Io, said UC Berkeley professor and Berkeley Lab earth scientist Michael Manga. "It would be a great shock and surprise if there wasn't a magma ocean on Io," he said. "But confirming things that you suspect to be true is not a bad thing to do." More>

East Bay cities vie for Lawrence Lab expansion

2011-05-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Six East Bay cities are finalists for a sprawling new campus of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which potentially could transform its host city into a hub of energy research and innovation. The six sites, all along the waterfront and within a short drive of the lab's main campus in the Berkeley hills, are the UC Field Station in Richmond, Golden Gate Fields on the Berkeley-Albany border, Aquatic Park in Berkeley, an industrial site bisected by Berkeley and Emeryville, the former Naval Air Station in Alameda and Brooklyn Basin along Oakland Estuary. More>

Lawrence Berkeley Lab scientists tinker with microbes to battle climate change

2011-05-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Microbes will take center stage next week as the unusual protagonists in a free talk with local scientists tackling climate change. The one-celled creatures are now part of a major research initiative at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to explore ways to recapture more of the 6 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide human activities generate annually. The researchers, who will speak Monday evening at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, are working with the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, a federal facility for genetic sequencing of microbes and other life-forms. More>

Three Berkeley sites on Berkeley Lab's shortlist for second campus

2011-05-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has selected six sites in six East Bay cities as the possible location of a second campus, Berkeleyside has learned. Three of the six sites are either in Berkeley or partly in Berkeley, according to knowledgeable sources who asked not to be named.

They are:

--The Richmond Field Station. The University of California already owns this land, and it is presumed to be the front runner for the second campus.

--Golden Gate Fields -- This 30-acre parcel sits mainly in Albany, although a section also sits in Berkeley.

--The Goldin brothers/Jones family parcel off of Bolivar Drive near Aquatic Park in Berkeley. This 12.5 acre parcel is the site of the old American Soils property.

--A 64 acre parcel known as the Brooklyn Basin along Oakland's waterfront.

--A portion of the old Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda. The city has offered this land for free to the lab as a way to quick-start development of the old base.

--Wareham Development's sites straddling Berkeley and Emeryville.

More>

Since crash, nothing flashy

2011-05-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

A year ago Friday, Wall Street endured one of the most turbulent trading days in history, with the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting nearly 1,000 points, close to a tenth of its value, in about 20 minutes. The Dow regained all but a third of the loss before the market closed, but the so-called flash crash spooked investors, who were already beset with worries that debt troubles in Europe would undermine the slow economic recovery in the United States. A measure of the inadequacy of regulatory technology is how long it took for the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to issue their final report on the May 6 trading debacle, according to David Leinweber, head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Computational Research Division's Center for Innovative Financial Technology. "Taking nearly five months to analyze the wildest-ever five minutes of market data is unacceptable," Leinweber wrote in an editorial this spring for the Journal of Portfolio Management, a trade journal of institutional money managers. More>

Largest 3-D Map Ever Opens Window to the Ancient Universe

2011-05-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

The largest-ever three-dimensional map of the distant universe has been created using the light of the brightest objects in the cosmos. Since this distant light took eons to reach Earth, the map is essentially a window back in time, providing an unprecedented view of what the universe looked like 11 billion years ago. Normally, researchers make maps of the universe by looking at galaxies. By the time BOSS ends, "we will be able to measure how fast the universe was expanding 11 billion years ago with an accuracy of a couple of percent," said researcher Patrick McDonald of Lawrence Berkeley and Brookhaven National Laboratories, who pioneered techniques for measuring the universe with the Lyman-alpha forest and helped design the BOSS quasar survey. More>

Solar PV Boosts the Sales Price of California Homes

2011-04-29T13:22:00.001-07:00

There's strong evidence that homes with solar PV systems sell for a higher sales price in California, according to a Department of Energy (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Lab report."Average sales price premiums appear to be comparable with the average investment homeowners made to install PV systems," says Ben Hoen, lead researcher on the study and a Principal Research Associate at Berkeley Lab. More>

Keasling Featured in NOVA’s ‘Power Surge’ Program

2011-04-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.

Can emerging technology defeat global warming? The United States has invested tens of billions of dollars in clean energy projects as our leaders try to save our crumbling economy and our poisoned planet in one bold, green stroke. Are we finally on the brink of a green-energy “power surge,” or is it all a case of too little, too late? NOVA focuses on the latest and greatest innovations, including the biofuels work of Jay Keasling and the Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI), featured in chapter five of the program.

DOE Expert Sees Growth in China's GHG Emissions Stopping in 2 Decades -- if Everything Goes Right

2011-04-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

China's energy use should flatten out sometime around 2030, with a similar leveling off of its greenhouse gas emissions, a federal researcher said yesterday. Mark Levine, director of the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said his research bucks the mainstream view that China's energy appetite is swelling indefinitely. Instead, as Levine and others argue in a report released yesterday, China will reach "saturation" around 2030 -- it simply won't have to make appliances, roads and raw materials at the pace it needs to right now. More>

Arthur Rosenfeld wins energy prize

2011-04-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

Arthur H. Rosenfeld, a UC Berkeley physicist whose passion for energy efficiency led him to take a leading role in developing tough new building standards and other green technologies, has won half of a million-dollar Russian award called the Global Energy International Prize. As a physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Rosenfeld, now 84, was an early member of a lab team headed by UC Berkeley physicist Luis Alvarez that investigated subnuclear particles. The team's work earned Alvarez the 1968 Nobel Prize for physics. By 1973, however, the oil crisis impelled Rosenfeld to switch his research to the exploration of new technologies that could reduce America's increasing dependence on oil. More>

'Sleeping' red-eyed thieves stealing your energy

2011-04-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Many unused televisions and video game consoles sit quietly in American homes with a red-eyed glare similar to that of the homicidal computer HAL in the science fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Despite being turned off, their collective energy vampirism drains the equivalent of entire power plants in the United States. Electronics on standby make up 5 percent to 10 percent of energy consumption in U.S. homes, according to the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. That translates into the energy equivalent of 43 to 86 power plants, if each plant produces 300 megawatts, based on Nadel's calculations. More>

IBM Takes Pi to the Billionth Decimal Digit

2011-04-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Blue Gene/P, an IBM supercomputer designed to continuously run at 1petaFLOPS, has found the billionth decimal digit in pi, according to a report by The Australian IT. The calculation has long been considered impossible to complete; some have estimated that it would have taken a single CPU 1,500 years. But IBM's Blue Gene/P solved to the billionth decimal digit in just a few months, working with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and IBM Australia. More>

The dark matter of disease

2011-04-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

In the early 2000s, geneticist Len Pennacchio was at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California studying coronary artery disease (CAD) and was faced with a conundrum: Despite the fact that CAD was a known heritable disorder, he and his colleagues could not identify any gene that significantly contributed to CAD risk. "It's the number one killer in Western society, yet the genetic explanations have largely remained elusive," he said. More>

Biotech firm looks to clean oil out of laundry detergent

2011-04-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

The year anniversary of the BP oil spill this week reminds us of a couple of uncomfortable realities. Drilling for oil is an inherently dirty business. It's hard to do and getting harder. It's expensive. You throw in the squeeze the global economy feels when prices do what they're doing right now, and that's plenty reason to go looking for alternatives. And not just alternatives to oil as fuel. If a product hasn't been made with oil, it was certainly transported with oil. And without petroleum lubricants, the entire country would simply grind to a halt from friction, said David Fridley of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. More>

Study Finds Solar Panels Increase Home Values

2011-04-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

All those homeowners who have been installing residential solar panels over the last decade may find it was a more practical decision than they thought. The electricity generated may have cost more than that coming from the local power company (half of which, nationwide, comes from burning coal), but if they choose to sell their homes, the price premium they will get for the solar system should let them recoup much of their original capital investment. That is the conclusion of three researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who looked at home sales — both homes with photovoltaic systems and homes without — in California over an eight-and-a-half-year period ending in mid-2009. The abstract of their study states, “the analysis finds strong evidence that California homes with PV systems have sold for a premium over comparable homes without PV systems.” More>

UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley Lab Start Synthetic Biology Institute

2011-04-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

A new institute formed by UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will work to engineer cells and biological systems to tap discoveries in health, energy and new materials, among other targets. Agilent Technologies Inc. is the first corporate partner of the Synthetic Biology Institute. UC Berkeley did not say how much Santa Clara-based Agilent (NYSE: A) will pay, but it said the company made a multiyear, multimillion-dollar commitment. Led by UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering and College of Chemistry, the instititute will work to develop inexpensive drugs for treating diseases, methods for producing transportation biofuels from plants, microbes that target tumors, water purification, environmental cleanup and functional new materials. More>

A year after BP oil spill, fate of gulf ecosystem remains murky

2011-04-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

The 86-day Deepwater Horizon gusher sent nearly 200 million gallons of oil, tens of millions of gallons of natural gas and 1.8 million gallons of poorly studied chemical dispersants into the northern Gulf of Mexico. And the fate of much of it remains murky. Natural oil-munching bacteria then swarmed the plumes, according to research published in the journal Science in August by Terry Hazen of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Three weeks after the well was capped in July, Hazen and his crew no longer found signs of deep oil or gas as they crisscrossed the gulf. More>

One year after spill, where's the oil?

2011-04-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

One year ago this week, an oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico touched off a deep-sea leak amounting to 2.5 million gallons of Louisiana light crude every day for months. In all, nearly 207 million gallons (4.9 million barrels) of oil are thought to have gushed from the leak, along with huge volumes of methane. So what's happened to all those petrochemicals over the past year? The answer is surprisingly complex and contentious. Most researchers also agree that the spill was a catastrophe, no matter how the percentages for those various categories add up. "This was an ecological disaster, no doubt about it," Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told me. More>

Berkeley Lab Researcher Reflects on Gulf Oil Spill

2011-04-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Gulf’s Complexity and Resilience Seen in Studies of Oil Spill

2011-04-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

In the year since the wellhead beneath the Deepwater Horizon rig began spewing rust-colored crude into the northern Gulf of Mexico, scientists have been working frantically to figure out what environmental harm really came of the largest oil spill in American history. Still, there has been some independent scientific work done in the gulf, and it has produced some good news. Because the spill occurred at very high pressure a mile beneath the ocean’s surface, some of the oil was reduced to tiny droplets that remained suspended thousands of feet deep in a fine mist. Terry C. Hazen, who leads the ecology department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, took 170 samples from around the Deepwater Horizon between July 27 and Aug. 26 last year, just weeks after the wellhead was capped. More>

Body's Immune Protein Fights Breast Cancer

2011-04-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

The body’s cancer-fighting defenses include an immune protein that seems able to distinguish between normal and malignant breast cells. When confronted with a malignant cell, the protein instructs it to self-destruct, but leaves normal cells unaffected, scientists find. This quality suggests that the protein, interleukin-25, has potential as a breast cancer treatment, says study coauthor Saori Furuta, a molecular biologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California. The report appears in the April 13 Science Translational Medicine. More>

Marijuana Growing Gobbles Electricity, Study Finds

2011-04-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

A new study estimates that indoor pot-growing operations in the United States burn about $5 billion worth of electricity annually, or roughly 1 percent of national power consumption. That’s enough electricity to power two million average homes. The electricity use of the typical grow operation approaches 200 watts per square foot, on par with the power usage of a modern computer data center, Evan Mills, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and author of the study, said in a statement. (The study was completed in his free time and without federal funds, Dr. Mills added.) More>

Smart Thermostats Outwit Users

2011-04-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

Programmable thermostats, which now make up about half the U.S. sales of all thermostats, could be more trouble for some than they're worth. A study led by Alan Meier, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, concluded that in many cases, these Energy Star-labeled thermostats are making it hard to save energy. The reason is many people don't know how to use them. Programmable thermostats allow users to automatically set them at lower temperatures when they're asleep or not at home. But many people aren't taking the extra step required to make the energy savings possible, according to the study. More>

Building Energy Efficiency Is a Hard Market to Crack

2011-04-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Energy efficiency retrofits are considered the “low-hanging fruit” of cleantech, but not low enough because the market hasn’t exactly taken off. Until now, the bulk of energy retrofit projects in the commercial sector take place in public facilities, Peter Larsen of Berkeley Lab said. Public agencies tend to have buildings with outdated wiring and other equipment that could use modernization, and they have the money to do it. Private businesses, however, are more tight-fisted with their money and tend to carry out smaller retrofit projects and expect a much quicker payback to please their shareholders, Larsen said. More>

Q&A With Richard Muller: A Physicist and His Surprising Climate Data

2011-04-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Richard Muller of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California has gained a solid scientific reputation for his work in astrophysics and particle physics. He's waded into policy debates over nuclear weapons and terrorism as a member of the secretive JASON panel. And his introductory course, Physics for Future Presidents, is popular among undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley. More>

'No Home Run Yet' for ARPA-E, but Chief Says 'Motivated' Team's on Track

2011-04-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

In February, Chu made Majumdar the acting undersecretary for energy, giving him oversight of some of DOE's most prominent programs and perhaps hinting at Chu's plans for the wider agency. But it is still unclear whether Majumdar will take the position permanently; DOE has been silent on the issue, and Majumdar will only say that he leaves the decision to Chu and President Obama. In the meantime, Majumdar has taken on both jobs with enthusiasm, joking that he sometimes sleeps four or five hours a night. He also manages to fit in trips every few weeks to Berkeley, where his wife and two teenage daughters still live. That kind of cheerful dedication suited him well at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was the director for the Environmental Energy and Technologies Division for about three years. Ashok Gadgil, who was Majumdar's deputy and now heads the division, said Majumdar could often be seen talking with employees next to a whiteboard filled with formulas. More>