News By Location

News from CA

Select a state to view local articles and features

The future looks bright for infinitely recyclable plastic

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Plastics are ubiquitous, but they're not practical. Less than 10% are recycled, and the other ~8 billion tons are creating a pollution crisis. A Berkeley Lab team is determined to change that. A new analysis shows producing and recycling their game-changing new plastic could be easy and cheap enough to leave old plastics in the dust.

Journal: Science Advances

Scientists uncover structure of light-driven enzyme with potential biofuel applications

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Although many organisms capture and respond to sunlight, enzymes - proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions - are rarely driven by light. A new study captures the full cycle of complex structural changes in an enzyme called FAP as it transforms a fatty acid into alkanes or alkenes.

Journal: Science
Funder: French National Research Agency (ANR)

In calculating the social cost of methane, equity matters

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study by a team including researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley reports that the social cost of methane - a greenhouse gas that is 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat - varies by as much as an order of magnitude between industrialized and developing regions of the world.

Journal: Nature

To design truly compostable plastic, scientists take cues from nature

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have designed an enzyme-activated compostable plastic that could diminish microplastics pollution. Household tap water or soil composts break the hybrid plastic material down to reusable small molecules, called monomers, in just a few days or weeks.

Journal: Nature

Scientists glimpse signs of a puzzling state of matter in a superconductor

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

High-temperature superconductors are famous for conducting electricity with no loss, but no one knows how they do it. Now SLAC scientists have observed the signature of an exotic state of matter called "pair density waves" in a cuprate superconductor and confirmed that it intertwines with another exotic state -- a step toward understanding how these materials work.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

From smoky skies to a green horizon: Scientists convert fire-risk wood waste into biofuel

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Reliance on petroleum fuels and raging wildfires: Two separate, large-scale challenges that could be addressed by one scientific breakthrough. Researchers from two national laboratories have collaborated to develop a streamlined and efficient process for converting woody plant matter like forest overgrowth and agricultural waste - material that is currently burned either intentionally or unintentionally - into liquid biofuel.

Journal: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Experts' predictions for future wind energy costs drop significantly

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Technology and commercial advancements are expected to continue to drive down the cost of wind energy, according to a survey led by Berkeley Lab of the world's foremost wind power experts. Experts anticipate cost reductions of 17%-35% by 2035 and 37%-49% by 2050, driven by bigger and more efficient turbines, lower capital and operating costs, and other advancements.

Journal: Nature Energy

US power sector is halfway to zero carbon emissions

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory analyzes historical trends to examine how much progress the power sector has already made in reducing emissions. It found that the US cut power sector emissions by 52% below projected levels, or halfway to zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Scientists watch 2D puddles of electrons emerge in a 3D superconducting material

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The emergence of 2D puddles of superconductivity within a 3D superconductor may be an example of how 3D superconductors reorganize themselves just before undergoing an abrupt shift into an insulating state. It also suggests a novel and potentially easier way to make 2D materials.

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

X-ray study recasts role of battery material from cathode to catalyst

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international team working at Berkeley Lab used a unique X-ray instrument to learn new things about lithium-rich battery materials that have been the subject of much study for their potential to extend the range of electric vehicles and the operation of electronic devices.

Journal: Joule

35
36
37
38
39