News By Location

News from CA

Select a state to view local articles and features

New leaf study sheds light on 'shady' past

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study led by a Berkeley Lab research scientist highlights a literally shady practice in plant science that has in some cases underestimated plants' rate of growth and photosynthesis, among other traits.

Journal: Nature Plants

New graphene-based system could help us see electrical signaling in heart and nerve cells

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have enlisted the exotic properties of graphene to function like the film of an incredibly sensitive camera system in visually mapping tiny electric fields. They hope to enlist the new method to image electrical signaling networks in our hearts and brains.

Journal: Nature Communications

Supercomputer simulations confirm observations of 2015 India/Pakistan heat waves

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A paper released Dec.15 during the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco points to new evidence of human influence on extreme weather events. After examining observational and simulated temperature and heat indexes, the research team -- which included three scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory--concluded that two separate deadly heat waves that occurred in India and Pakistan in the summer of 2015 'were exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change.'

Meeting: American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting

Study: Warming could slow upslope migration of trees

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists expect trees will advance upslope as global temperatures increase, shifting the tree line -- the mountain zone where trees become smaller and eventually stop growing -- to higher elevations. Subalpine forests will follow their climate up the mountain, in other words. But new research published Dec. 15 in the journal Global Change Biology suggests this may not hold true for two subalpine tree species of western North America.

Journal: Global Change Biology

Scientists measure pulse of CO2 emissions during spring thaw in the Arctic

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory documented a spring pulse in northern Alaska in 2014 that included CO2 emissions equivalent to 46 percent of the net CO2 that is absorbed in the summer months and methane emissions that added 6 percent to summer fluxes. What's more, recent climate trends may make such emissions more frequent, the scientists conclude.

Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Laser R&D focuses on next-gen particle collider

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Business Announcement

A set of new laser systems and proposed upgrades at Berkeley Lab's BELLA Center will propel long-term plans for a more compact and affordable ultrahigh-energy particle collider.

Berkeley Lab researchers at AGU: Impacts of climate change, subsurface energy, understanding drought and monitoring permafrost among many talks

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab scientists will present on a number of topics including climate modeling challenges, projects on Arctic permafrost, induced seismicity, cloud physics, Amazon forests, hydraulic fracturing, melting ice sheets, cool roofs, and more. And meet some of our scientists who will be in the exhibit hall all week at booth #705.

Meeting: 2016 AGU Fall Meeting

East Greenland ice sheet has responded to climate change over the last 7.5 million

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using marine sediment cores containing isotopes of aluminum and beryllium, a group of international researchers has discovered that East Greenland experienced deep, ongoing glacial erosion over the past 7.5 million years.

Journal: Nature

Q&A: Simon Bare catalyzes new chemistry effort at SLAC

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Simon Bare, who joined the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in April, spent 30 years as an industrial chemist investigating how catalysts work. Now, as co-director of the Chemistry and Catalysis Division at the lab's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), his goal is to build on research strengths at SLAC and Stanford University to create a West Coast center for catalyst research and define new research directions.

Glowing crystals can detect, cleanse contaminated drinking water

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Motivated by public hazards associated with contaminated sources of drinking water, a team of scientists has successfully developed and tested tiny, glowing crystals that can detect and trap heavy-metal toxins like mercury and lead.

Journal: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces