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20-Dec-2011

New take on impacts of low dose radiation

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Working with a special line of human breast cells, Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that for low dose levels of ionizing radiation cancer risks may not be directly proportional to dose. This contradicts the standard model for predicting biological damage from ionizing radiation, which holds that risk is directly proportional to dose at all levels of irradiation.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

14-Dec-2011

Closest Type Ia supernova in decades solves a cosmic mystery

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Even as the "supernova of a generation" came into view in backyards across the northern hemisphere last August, physicists and astronomers who had caught its earliest moments were developing a surprising and much clearer picture of what happens during a titanic Type Ia explosion. Now they have announced the closest, most detailed look ever at one of the universe's brightest "standard candles," the celestial mileposts that led to the discovery of dark energy.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, others

14-Dec-2011

Lawrence Livermore ramps up wind energy research

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As the percentage of wind energy contributing to the power grid continues to increase, the variable nature of wind can make it difficult to keep the generation and the load balanced. Recent work by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in conjunction with AWS Truepower, may help this balance.

13-Dec-2011

New path to flex and stretch electronics

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a promising new inexpensive technique for fabricating large-scale flexible and stretchable backplanes using semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotube solutions. To demonstrate the utility of their carbon nanotube backplanes, the researchers constructed an artificial electronic skin device capable of detecting and responding to touch.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

12-Dec-2011

Diamonds and dust for better cement

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

At the Department of Energy's Advanced Light Source, located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, scientists seeking ways to use cement more efficiently and reduce the carbon emissions associated with its manufacture have revealed new properties of the mineral tobermorite. Using X-ray-diffraction to probe its crystalline structure, which corresponds to Portland cement's most important component, they squeezed the mineral in a diamond anvil cell to pressures equivalent to 100 miles deep in the Earth.

Journal: Cement and Concrete Research
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Institute of Science and Technology, King Abdullah Institute of Science and Technology

5-Dec-2011

Proton beam experiments open new areas of research

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By focusing proton beams using high-intensity lasers, a team of scientists have discovered a new way to heat material and create new states of matter in the laboratory. Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Hemoltz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf of Germany; Technische Universitat Darmstadt of Germany, and General Atomics of San Diego unveiled new findings about how proton beams can be used in myriad applications.

Journal: Nature Physics

1-Dec-2011

Livermore and Russian scientists propose new names for elements 114 and 116

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry today recommended new proposed names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table. Scientists of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-Dubna collaboration proposed the names are Flerovium for element 114 and Livermorium for element 116.

30-Nov-2011

Supercomputers take a cue from microwave ovens

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As sophisticated as modern climate models are, one critical component continues to elude their precision -- clouds. Clouds modulate the climate. Experts agree that getting their effect on the climate system correct is critical to increasing confidence in projections of future climate change. To build the break-through supercomputers that these researchers need, computer scientists at Berkeley Lab are taking a cue from the world of consumer electronics.

Journal: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems

29-Nov-2011

E. coli bacteria engineered to eat switchgrass and make transportation fuels

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Strains of E. coli bacteria were engineered to digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The switchgrass, which is among the most highly touted of the potential feedstocks for advanced biofuels, was pre-treated with ionic liquid, a key to the success of this study.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Joint BioEnergy Institute

28-Nov-2011

Geochemist Tom Guilderson wins E.O. Lawrence Award for radiocarbon work

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory geochemist Tom Guilderson has been named a winner of the Department of Energy's prestigious Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today.