Category: Science News

The Lab-developed BISICLES model was among the tools a research collaboration used to show that the sea-level rise from melting ice could be halved this century if the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5℃ is met. https://www.nersc.gov/news-publications/nersc-news/science-news/2021/limit-global-warming-to-1-5c-and-halve-the-land-ice-contribution-to-sea-level-this-century/

Experiments at the ALS helped researchers optimize the fit between organic and inorganic ions in a solar-cell material, increasing the material’s efficiency and stability and opening up a new avenue for improving the current-carrier dynamics of a promising class of materials. https://als.lbl.gov/a-properly-tailored-tail-boosts-solar-cell-efficiency/

Cosmologists have found a way to double the accuracy of measuring distances to supernova explosions – one of their tried-and-true tools for studying the mysterious dark energy that is making the universe expand faster and faster. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/05/06/supernovae-twins/

What does innovation look like? How do you make space for innovation and encourage it? How do you practice it? IPO’s Gregg Scharfstein recently posed these and other questions to Vanessa Chan, the DOE’s Chief Commercialization Officer. Watch this video to hear her answers. https://youtu.be/KFACFEZSE1Y

A team that included Berkeley Lab researchers detected the signatures of ancient magnetic fields in a meteorite’s ferromagnetic grains at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source. The results support an extended time frame for the cooling of molten protoplanetary cores. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/04/29/meteorites-reveal-magnetic-record/

Berkeley Lab has developed a cuff-based technology to monitor both endothelial function and endothelium-independent vasodilation. Endothelial function is a powerful predictor of heart attack and stroke. It has also been linked to COVID-19 in several studies. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/04/29/cuff-based-monitors-endothelial/

A recent study found that an infant-warming device developed at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley is safe and effective at lowering newborn mortality rates associated with hypothermia. The device contains phase-change material, which can absorb and release large amounts of thermal energy or heat. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/04/29/infant-warming-device-proven-effective-and-safe-in-reducing-neonatal-mortality/

A collaboration of UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab scientists has discovered a way to simplify the removal of toxic metals, like mercury and boron, during desalination to produce clean water, while at the same time potentially capturing valuable metals, such as gold. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/04/29/desalination-removes-toxic-metals/

The soil, microbes, air, and water surrounding every individual plant is actually a bustling miniature environment that can tell us a great deal about important, large-scale ecological processes. Our scientists have developed a ground-breaking new way to study it. https://berkeleylab.exposure.co/ecopod