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Dark Energy Fills The Cosmos

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In an article in the journal Science, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Princeton University scientists report that a wide range of evidence "is forcing us to consider the possibility that some cosmic dark energy exists that opposes the self-attraction of matter and causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate."

Journal: Science
Funder: US Department of Energy

New Carbon Monoxide Sensor Developed For Occupational Use

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new inexpensive, accurate carbon monoxide (CO) sensor and monitoring system has been developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Quantum Group Incorporated. With some 19,000 deaths a year from CO poisoning, the device provides a simple method to assess workplace risk.

Journal: Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology
Funder: US Department of Energy

Tapping And Managing Natural Light To Reduce Building Energy Usage

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Window and lighting systems in buildings are not integrated. As a result, windows that bring natural light into a building rarely reduce energy use as much as they could. A six-year research effort shows how natural lighting can reduce commercial building energy usage by between 20 and 40 percent.

Funder: US Department of Energy

NERSC Selects IBM RS/6000 SP For Next-Generation Supercomputer

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has selected an IBM RS/6000 SP system as the center's next-generation supercomputer. NERSC is used by about 2,500 scientists at national laboratories, universities and industry to conduct research on combustion, climate, fusion, materials science, and biology.

Funder: US Department of Energy

Finer Copper Wires For Faster Integrated Circuits

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has devised a new way to inlay copper wires in the semiconductor wafers used to create integrated circuits. The method, termed "ion-assisted trench filling," may open the way to ever more densely packed chips beyond the year 2000.

Funder: US Department of Energy

Berkeley Lab Website Computes Residential Energy Savings Possibilities For Consumers

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Coupling decades of research on energy efficiency with the interactivity of the Web, Berkeley Lab has created a website that can help homeowners save hundreds of dollars annually on energy bills. The Home Energy Saver website allows consumers to identify which technologies will save them the most energy and money.

Funder: Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Energy

Glenn Seaborg Dies

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

BERKELEY, CA. -- Glenn Theodore Seaborg, Nobel Laureate chemist, discoverer of 10 atomic elements including plutonium and one that now bears his name, Associate Director-at-Large of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University Professor of Chemistry for the University of California, and co-founder and chairman of the Lawrence Hall of Science, died last night. He was 86.

Model Polymers Reveal New Clues to Protein Folding

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

No one knows how proteins fold themselves so quickly into the same shapes virtually every time. Now, computer models devised by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists have revealed unexpected regularities in the pathways of protein-like structures.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Dept. of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office

Science Magazine Announces Breakthrough Of The Year: Berkeley Lab's Supernova Cosmology Project A Winner

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By observing distant, ancient exploding stars, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and elsewhere have determined that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate -- an observation that implies the existence of a mysterious, self-repelling property of space. This finding has been named Science magazine's "Breakthrough of the Year."

Funder: Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, NASA

Global Climate Change: Ill Wind For California Wildfires

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have released the first-ever analysis of the potential effect of global climate change on wildfires in California. In most cases, climate change would lead to dramatic increases in both the annual area burned by California wildfires and the number of potentially catastrophic fires -- doubling these losses in some regions.

Funder: Environmental Protection Agency