January 2019 – July 2022
The Advanced Quantum Testbed held a small “fireside” chat for trade and industry media via Zoom. Writers joined AQT director Irfan Siddiqi and researchers for a lively discussion about quantum computing. The Quantum Daily and HPC Wire featured AQT’s fireside chat on their headlines this week. https://aqt.lbl.gov/all-news/
Engineered microbes can make chemicals cheaply and more sustainably, but microbes can only make molecules using chemical reactions seen in nature. Scientists at the Lab and UC Berkeley have engineered a microbe to produce a molecule that, until now, could only be synthesized in a laboratory. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/10/21/a-new-way-to-make-chemicals-not-found-in-nature/
Mountain snowpacks are on the decline, with climate models forecasting a low-to-no-snow future in the next century. A new study led by Lab researchers analyzes the likely timing of that future and opportunities for investments now that could stave off catastrophic consequences. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/10/26/managing-water-resources-in-a-low-to-no-snow-future/
Ever wonder how big research data moves around the globe? ESnet carries exabytes of data to support great scientific conversations, collaborations, and experiments, wherever and whenever they occur. https://www.es.net/scienceconversation
Lab researchers recently traveled to Caldor fire burn sites to gather water and ash samples in an effort to understand fire’s impacts on important mountain ecosystems. Their work will improve models that help scientists better understand how mountain ecosystems respond to fires. https://photostories.lbl.gov/caldorfire
Every Friday in Elements we will feature one of the 12 early-career scientists who competed in the 2021 Research SLAM. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s SUPERcomputers! Lisa Claus in Computational Research creates new mathematical models to solve SUPER problems with SUPER-sized data sets! https://slam.lbl.gov/2021-slam/2021-slam-finalists/lisa-claus
Scientists at the Lab and UC Berkeley have developed an inexpensive and efficient way to produce pure titanium metal. As reported in the cover story for the journal Science, their approach is scalable for commercial production and produces an easily recycled product. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/10/20/nanotwinned-titanium-sustainable/
Two new publicly available web-based software tools developed at the Lab help researchers and companies quickly test different scenarios and explore viable bio-based fuels and products without ever stepping foot in the lab. https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/articles/lab-jet-engines-new-software-tools-will-speed-biojet-fuel-development
Maurice Garcia-Sciveres and Adrian Lee of the Physics Division are co-PIs of a UC Berkeley-based satellite office of the International Center for Quantum-field Measurement Systems for Studies of the Universe and Particles, a research center recently launched by the Japanese particle physics lab KEK. https://www.kek.jp/en/press-en/202110081335/
Scientists at Berkeley Lab and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new technique that allows researchers to synthesize a perovskite solar material and test its performance at the same time. Perovskite is a next-generation solar material one thousand times thinner than silicon. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/10/19/technique-for-perfect-perovskites/