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Berkeley Lab researchers have demonstrated the first magnetically-controlled nearly complete hyperpolarization of the spins of carbon-13 nuclei located near synthetic defects in diamond crystals. This spin hyperpolarization, which can be carried out with refrigerator-style magnets at room temperature, enhances NMR/MRI sensitivity by many orders of magnitude.

At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source, scientists analyzed samples from a Roman breakwater submerged in the Bay of Naples for over two millennia, revealing the secrets of crystal chemistry that allow Roman seawater concrete to resist chemical attack and wave action for centuries. Materials and processes for manufacturing extraordinarily durable Roman maritime concrete released much less carbon than most modern concrete, presenting important opportunities for better quality and reduction of atmospheric carbon.

Berkeley Lab researchers have identified the microenvironment surrounding microvasculature as a niche where dormant cancer cells may reside, and the sprouting of microvasculature blood vessels as the event that transforms dormant cancer cells into metastatic tumors.

SLAC and Stanford researchers have developed a new, printing process for organic thin-film electronics that results in films of strikingly higher quality.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have produced remarkable images of carbon atoms and the bonds among them. Resembling glowing textbook diagrams, hydrocarbon molecules are shown in high resolution for the first time before and after bond-breaking, rearrangement, and reforming of bonds during a complex chemical reaction.

The structures of most of the two million proteins in the human body are still unknown, even at low resolution. A new algorithm developed by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and their colleagues solves the convoluted shapes of large molecules by using images of numerous individual samples, all caught simultaneously in a split-second flash of x-rays from a free-electron laser. The technique promises efficient information about the shapes of many more large biological molecules in their native, fluid state.