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Graphene gives up more of its secrets

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have used beamline 12.0.1 at the Advanced Light Source to investigate theories about the electronic structure of graphene never before tested by experiment. They find that near the neutral point of undoped graphene, graphene's semimetallic behavior includes very long-range interactions among electrons and other unusual properties, confirming that graphene is every bit as strange as expected -- perhaps even more so.

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

Breaking down cellulose without blasting lignin

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dry rot due to the fungus Serpula lacrymans causes millions of dollars worth of damage to homes and buildings around the world. Published online July 14 in Science Express, a comparative analysis involving Serpula lacrymans, the second brown rot fungus to have its genome sequenced, sheds light on the mechanism by which Serpula breaks down cellulose and the role of brown rot fungi in the global carbon cycle.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Moving data at the speed of science: Berkeley Lab lays foundation for 100 Gbps prototype network

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Business Announcement

Berkeley Lab today announced a major step toward creating one of the world's fastest scientific networks to accelerate research in fields ranging from advanced energy solutions to particle physics. Known as the Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI), the effort represents a $62 million multi-year investment by the DOE Office of Science in next-generation networking technology.

A cool roof for Berkeley Lab's iconic dome

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Business Announcement

Paris may have the Eiffel Tower and London has its Big Ben, but Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has the iconic domed roof of the Advanced Light Source. Now the ALS is getting a new roof -- and not just any roof but a cool roof that will reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere, thus playing a small part in mitigating global warming.

Nanocrystal transformers

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using the TEAM 0.5 microscope, Berkeley Lab researchers have recorded the first direct observation of structural transformations within a single nanocrystal of copper sulfide. The results break new ground for the design of novel materials that will serve next-generation energy storage batteries and solar energy harvesting devices.

Journal: Science
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

A look back: Berkeley Lab scientists raced to estimate oil flow from Deepwater Horizon macondo well

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The first two weeks of June 2010 were a blur for six Berkeley Lab scientists. As the world focused on the ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout of BP's Deepwater Horizon Macondo well, the scientists dropped everything to estimate how much oil was flowing from the mangled wellhead. Their research is recounted in an article published in this week's online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Berkeley Lab researchers apply NMR/MRI to microfluidic chromatography

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By pairing an R&D 100 award-winning remote-detection version of NMR/MRI technology with a unique version of chromatography specifically designed for microfluidic chips, Berkeley Lab researchers have opened the door to a portable system for highly sensitive multi-dimensional chemical analysis that would be impractical if not impossible with conventional technologies.

Journal: Analytical Chemistry
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Breaking Kasha's rule

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers created tetrapod molecules of semiconductor nanocrystals and watched them break a fundamental principle of photoluminescence known as "Kasha's rule." The discovery holds promise for multi-color light emission technologies, including LEDs.

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

A microbiological 'template' for mitigating methane emissions

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In 2009, the US EPA calculated that 20 percent of the nation's human-related methane emissions were attributable to livestock digestive processes. An international team of scientists collaborated to sequence the microbial communities inside the Tammar wallaby, a marsupial whose digestive system has been compared to that of ruminants such as cows and sheep but which produces less methane emissions. The information could be used to reduce the methane emissions contributions of livestock.

Journal: Science
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

X-rays reveal patterns in the plumage of the first birds

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers report in Science Express that they have taken a big step in determining what the first birds looked like more than 100 million years ago, when their relatives, the dinosaurs, still ruled the Earth. At the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, they discovered chemical traces of a pigment, an important component of color, that once formed patterns in the feathers of the fossilized birds.