January 2019 – July 2022
The Physics Division hosted its 13th “Physics In and Through Cosmology” workshop for high school physics teachers and students, June 24-28 at Berkeley Lab. Thirty-eight students and 12 teachers participated in the workshop, which included presentations on particle physics and cosmology. https://sites.google.com/lbl.gov/quarknet-workshop/home
Jim Ciston and Jacklyn Gates are among researchers to receive the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on early-career researchers. Faculty scientists Lin Lin and Wenjun Zhang also received the honor. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/07/08/four-early-career-award/
Berkeley Lab has received federal approval to proceed with preliminary design work for a state-of-the-art building that would revolutionize investigations into how interactions among microbes, water, soil, and plants shape entire ecosystems. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/07/03/bioepic-receives-doe-support/
Lead poisoning through corroded pipes has been linked to cancer, reduced IQ, and even death. Researchers at UC Berkeley — including Berkeley Lab’s Ashok Gadgil — found a way to use electricity to solve this issue. https://youtu.be/QHC4fAAwT4I
On Sept. 11 and 12, the Lab will host one of four DOE “AI for Science” town hall meetings. The goal is to gather input on the opportunities and challenges facing the scientific community as the areas of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence technologies converge. https://web.cvent.com/event/b03cf98d-d350-4f66-805a-1a19f03bdcf8/summary
New research at the Advanced Light Source has opened up new possibilities for designing novel liquid-crystal molecules that allow greater control of nanoscale behavior for technological applications. https://als.lbl.gov/linking-structure-to-behavior-in-twisted-liquid-crystals/
Exascale computing can take computationally intensive astrophysics research to the next level. To harness the power of exascale, new code specifically for exascale computing is needed. The ExaStar project has DOE researchers collaborating to develop new exascale-level code. https://cs.lbl.gov/news-media/news/2019/exastar-takes-astrophysical-research-to-the-exascale/?utm_source=CS+Newsletter&utm_campaign=16536d43a4-CS_NEWS_2019_JUNE&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b0bc35ce5d-16536d43a4-57925061
A newly discovered bacterial gene could be manipulated to promote tolerance to growth-limiting chemicals used in biofuel production, thereby paving the way to more efficient production processes. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/06/26/switch-for-better-biofuels/
A team led by Berkeley Lab scientists has discovered how a protein produced by bullfrogs binds to and inhibits the action of saxitoxin, the deadly neurotoxin made by cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/06/26/a-frog-worth-kissing/
DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions celebrates the success stories of the national labs through an “Advancing America through Technology Transfer” poster series. Berkeley Lab’s poster features quantum dot technology now used in super high-definition displays. https://www.energy.gov/technologytransitions/downloads/advancing-america-through-technology-transfer