January 2019 – July 2022
As the world’s shift to electric cars continues, the need for lithium batteries grows. In a recent issue of Nature magazine, Gerbrand Ceder discusses the Lab’s battery research and its work to reduce the industry’s reliance on scarce materials such as cobalt and nickel. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02222-1
The journal Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy dedicated its May issue to Rick Russo, a former senior scientist at the Lab and founder of the Laser Technologies Group. Russo worked at the Lab for 35 years and is considered one of the most influential scientists in his field. https://eta.lbl.gov/news/article/laser-pioneer-russo-celebrated
With four Lab scientists contributing to the recent IPCC report on climate change, the Lab received wide press coverage. Climate scientist Michael Wehner spoke with the Washington Post about potential future risks due to climate change. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/09/ipcc-2021-extreme-weather-climate/
EESA faculty scientist Lara Kueppers speaks to KQED about how climate science has evolved and the significance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments. Four Lab scientists contributed to the next IPCC assessment, which is due to be released next week. https://www.kqed.org/science/1976060/the-latest-global-climate-report-is-set-to-publish-next-month-heres-what-to-expect
Discovered by scientists at the Lab and UC Berkeley, an ultrathin magnet that operates at room temperature could lead to new applications in computing and electronics – such as high-density, compact spintronic memory devices – and new tools for the study of quantum physics. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/07/20/worlds-thinnest-magnet/
In a recent news story, Lab senior scientist Michael Wehner discussed rapid attribution analysis, which aims to establish if there is a link between climate change and specific extreme events and how it was used to help link the recent Pacific Northwest heatwave to human-caused climate change. https://www.kgw.com/video/news/local/the-story/nyt-pacific-northwest-heatwave-would-have-been-virtually-impossible-without-climate-change/283-37bbcbe7-92d9-49f2-ae2c-52f3466f0e14
Just weeks after its official unveiling, the Perlmutter supercomputer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) debuted at number 5 on the Top500 List, which benchmarks the most powerful commercially available computer systems in the world. https://cs.lbl.gov/news-media/news/2021/perlmutter-debuts-in-the-top-5-of-the-top500/
The possibilities of biotechnology are staggering, with the bioprocess industry facing a surging demand for experienced people to develop and scale processes that bring bio-based products to market. Enter a new Lab program that gives UC Berkeley students critical hands-on experience. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/06/28/building-bioeconomy-workforce/
The Lab’s research towards a more sustainable energy future is part of the discussion in “The Energy Switch,” a recent book by Peter Kelly-Detwiler that looks at the transformation in the energy industry. The book includes NERSC and the Materials Project for their innovation. https://www.peterkellydetwiler.com/about-pkd
The Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA) hosted the first industry roundtable in May, highlighting QSA’s mandate to support the quantum ecosystem by working closely with diverse companies to advance practical and extensible quantum computing systems. Learn more about QSA’s impacts and goals. https://archive.quantumsystemsaccelerator.org/the-quantum-systems-accelerator-hosts-first-industry-roundtable/