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MRI zooms in on microscopic flow

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Through a combination of remote instrumentation, JPEG-style image compression and other key enhancements, Berkeley Lab researchers have been able to apply Magnetic Resonance Imaging to materials flowing through microfluidic "lab-on-a-chip" devices with unprecedented spatial and time resolutions.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Agilent Foundation

Fuel cells in operation: A closer look

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Measuring individual components of a fuel cell under heat and pressure is a challenge. The best technique, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, could only be used in a vacuum -- until now, that is. A working solid oxide electrochemical device operating at 750 degrees Celsius has been studied in detail for the first time by a team from the University of Maryland, Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source.

Journal: Nature Materials
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, US Office of Naval Research

LLNL contributes computational technologies for building energy efficiency to Philadelphia Innovation Cluster

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Business Announcement

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's expertise in integrated multiphysics modeling will be an integral part of a new national effort in energy efficient building research. The goal of the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy Efficiency Buildings is to establish the Navy Yard in Philadelphia and the surrounding area as the national center for energy efficient buildings research, education, policy and commercialization.

2 Berkeley Lab mathematicians awarded prestigious math prizes

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Berkeley Lab's Alexandre Chorin and James Sethian won prestigious prizes from the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics for groundbreaking work in applied math, with impacts ranging from fluid mechanics and aerodynamics to medical imaging and semiconductor manufacturing. Chorin won the Lagrange Prize and Sethian won the Pioneer Prize. The awards bring to Berkeley Lab two of the five math prizes the ICIAM awards every four years.

Putting a spin on light and atoms

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Alkali-vapor magnetometers use light to put a spin on atoms and then measure that spin to detect magnetic fields. A team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Vavilov State Optical Institute in Russia have achieved a remarkable technical advance with this kind of magnetometer, with potential for improving atomic clocks, quantum memory devices, and a range of other scientific gadgets that depend on measuring spinning atoms with light.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: US Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation

Magical BEANs: New nano-sized particles could provide mega-sized data storage

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered an entire new class of phase-change materials that could be applied to PCM and optical data storage technologies. The new materials, alloys of a metal and semiconductor, are called "BEANs," for binary eutectic-alloy nanostructures.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

CRISPR critters: Scientists identify key enzyme in microbial immune system

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using protein crystallography beamlines at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source, a team of researchers has resolved the atomic-scale crystal structure of an enzyme called "Csy4" that plays a key role in a microbial immune system. The research provides important new clues to the fundamental role of RNA in the evolution of life.

Journal: Science
Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health

LLNL part of US centers for US-China clean energy research

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Business Announcement

Two consortia -- one led one led by the West Virginia University that includes as a partner Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and one led by the University of Michigan -- will receive a total of $25 million during the next five years under the US-China Clean Energy Research Center.

Large CO2 release speeds up ice age melting

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Radiocarbon dating is used to determine the age of everything from ancient artifacts to prehistoric corals on the ocean bottom. But in a recent study appearing in the Aug. 26 edition of the journal, Nature, a Lawrence Livermore scientist and his colleagues used the method to trace the pathway of carbon dioxide released from the deep ocean to the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age.

Journal: Nature

Study shows deepwater oil plume in Gulf degraded by microbes

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by Berkeley Lab researchers of a deepwater dispersed oil plume formed in the aftermath of the damaged BP wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico shows that microbial activity, spearheaded by a new and unclassified species, degrades oil much faster than anticipated.

Journal: Science