News By Location

Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that deficiencies in vitamin D -- the sunshine vitamin -- accelerates the aging of bone, reducing the quality and making it more susceptible to fracturing.

Berkeley Lab scientists have created an atomic-scale structure of a bacterial ribosome attached to a molecule that controls its motion. The image is also a possible roadmap to better antibiotics. Somewhere in its twists and turns could be a weakness that a new antibiotic can target.

A study led by researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found for the first time that thirdhand smoke -- the noxious residue that clings to virtually all surfaces long after the secondhand smoke from a cigarette has cleared out -- causes significant genetic damage in human cells.

A new Berkeley Lab study challenges the orthodoxy of microbiology, which holds that in response to environmental changes, bacterial genes will boost production of needed proteins and decrease production of those that aren't. The study found that for bacteria in the laboratory there was little evidence of adaptive genetic response.

Type Ia supernovae are indispensable milestones for measuring the expansion of the universe. With definitive measures of Supernova 2011fe, the "Backyard Supernova" that thrilled amateur and professional astronomers alike in the summer of 2011, the Nearby Supernova Factory led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory demonstrates that this unusually close-by Type Ia is such a perfect example of its kind that future Type Ia's -- and models meant to explain their physics -- must be measured against it.

A team of Berkeley Lab researchers has performed molecular level analysis of desert biological soil crusts -- living ground cover formed by microbial communities -- to reveal how long-dormant cyanobacteria become activated by rainfall then resume dormancy when the precipitation stops.

Carbon dioxide is released when the calcium carbonate "armor" of the photosynthetic alga Emiliania huxleyi forms, but Ehux can trap as much as 20 percent of organic carbon derived from CO2 in some marine ecosystems. Its versatility in either contributing to primary production or adding to CO2 emissions makes Ehux a critical player in the marine carbon cycle. The Ehux genome sequence was compared with other algal sequences in the June 12, 2013 edition of Nature.

The first complete chemical analysis of feathers from Archaeopteryx, a famous fossil linking dinosaurs and birds, reveals that the feathers were patterned--light in color, with a dark edge and tip--rather than all black, as previously thought. The X-ray study took place at SLAC's SSRL.

Berkeley Lab researchers, working at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, have developed the first fully integrated microfluidic test-bed for evaluating and optimizing solar-driven electrochemical energy conversion systems. This test-bed system has already been used to study schemes for photovoltaic electrolysis of water, and can be readily adapted to study proposed artificial photosynthesis and fuel cell technologies.