January 2019 – July 2022
Alan “Al” Smith, a pioneering researcher who joined Berkeley Lab in 1953, passed away at his home in El Cerrito on May 8. He helped create the low-background counting lab in Building 72, which has performed gamma-ray assays of materials used in revolutionary neutrino and dark matter experiments. https://www.sanfordlab.org/article/life-low-background
On May 20, Berkeley Lab physicist and Nobel Prize winner Saul Perlmutter received an honorary doctorate from the Universitat de Barcelona in Spain. His doctorate was sponsored by professor Pilar Ruiz Lapuente, who was a member of the Supernova Cosmology Project, which Perlmutter formerly led. https://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2019/05/023.html
A new label on window attachments such as blinds and shades will give consumers the information needed to compare these products and select the most energy-efficient styles. The labeling standard was based on a rating and certification program developed by the ETA’s Windows group. https://buildings.lbl.gov/news/article/clear-view-window-energy-savings
A Berkeley Lab-led research team is using a deep-learning network to produce high-resolution maps that can show the distribution of dark matter in the universe while sparing the need for a large amount of supercomputing resources. https://cs.lbl.gov/news-media/news/2019/cosmogan-training-a-neural-network-to-study-dark-matter/
An open-source RNA analysis platform has been successfully used on plant cells for the first time – an advance that could herald a new era of fundamental research and bolster efforts to engineer more efficient food and biofuel crop plants. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/05/16/new-technique-plant-rna/
Berkeley Lab researchers Dan Arnold and Sean Peisert have discovered a relatively simple and effective solution that fights cyber threats to smart inverters — using other, uncompromised smart inverters to neutralize cyberattacks. https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2019/04/cyberattacks-threaten-smart-inverters-but-scientists-have-solutions/
EESA’s Bill Collins was interviewed as part of the first episode of a new Marketplace Tech series on using tech to adapt to climate change. The radio program airs on NPR stations nationwide. https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/climate-change-technology-adaptation-how-we-survive/
The Molecular Foundry’s Annual User Meeting will be held August 21-22, 2019, featuring keynote talks by Cherry Murray and John Rogers and eight breakout symposia covering leading-edge topics in nanoscience. Submit an abstract to give a symposium talk or to present a poster by May 29. https://usermeeting2019.foundry.lbl.gov/
The 13th annual Physics In and Through Cosmology workshop for high school students and teachers will be held June 25-28. The workshop is presented by the Physics Division and QuarkNet, with support from Nobel Prize winners George Smoot and Saul Perlmutter. Applications are now available. https://k12education.lbl.gov/programs