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Berkeley Lab reports the first experimental observation of ultrafast charge transfer in photo-excited MX2 materials, the graphene-like two-dimensional semiconductors. Charge transfer time clocked in at under 50 femtoseconds, comparable to the fastest times recorded for organic photovoltaics.

A series of experiments conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory researchers is shedding new light on the photosynthetic process and also illustrates how light sources and supercomputing facilities can be linked via a 'photon science speedway' to address emerging challenges in massive data analysis.

In a study published ahead online Aug. 24, 2014 in Nature Genetics, a team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, and West Virginia University used a combination of genome-wide selection scans and analyses to understand the processes involved in shaping the genetic variation of natural poplar (Populus trichocarpa) populations. The approach applied genomics to ecological questions, and could help developing more accurate predictive climate change models.

Scientists have, for the first time, characterized so-called quantum vortices that swirl within tiny droplets of liquid helium. The research, led by scientists at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , the University of Southern California, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, confirms that helium nanodroplets are in fact the smallest possible superfluidic objects and opens new avenues to study quantum rotation.

Berkeley Lab researchers have recorded the first direct observations of how facets form and develop on platinum nanocubes in solution, pointing the way towards more sophisticated and effective nanocrystal design and revealing that a nearly 150-year-old scientific law describing crystal growth breaks down at the nanoscale.

An experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory revealed a well-organized 3-D grid of quantum 'tornadoes' inside microscopic droplets of supercooled liquid helium -- the first time this formation has been seen at such a tiny scale. The findings by an international research team provide new insight on the strange nanoscale traits of a so-called 'superfluid' state of liquid helium.