The Lab was founded in 1931 by Ernest Orlando Lawrence, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics. It was Lawrence’s belief that scientific research is best done through teams of individuals with different fields of expertise, working together. His teamwork concept is a Berkeley Lab legacy that has yielded rich dividends in basic knowledge and applied technology, and a profusion of awards, including nine Nobel Prizes -- five in physics and four in chemistry.

Groundbreaking marks Berkeley Lab's leap into Nano-Revolution

23 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab The term 'Molecular Foundry' suggests a place where objects are forged and new materials are molded. Like the foundries of the industrial revolution, this new concept, on a nanoscale, promises to revolutionize the way the world works. It began at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

New technology will help prevent blackouts and electrical grid overloads

23 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have completed the first successful test to evaluate automated demand response at five large building facilities. Demand-response technology manages electrical use in the buildings over the internet, whenever high prices, blackouts, or overloaded electrical demand threaten the power grid.

Berkeley Scientists find DNA gold in genetic desert

22 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Vast regions of the human genome thought to be genetic 'deserts' harboring DNA sequences of no value may actually contain heretofore hidden nuggets of DNA gold. A team of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute compared DNA sequences from gene deserts in the genomes of humans, mice, frogs and fish and discovered sequences that regulate the 'expression' or activation of genes over surprisingly long distances.

Researchers tune the electronic properties of individual C60 molecules

22 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A team led by Michael Crommie, a staff scientist in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Materials Sciences Division and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, has used a scanning tunneling microscope to attach individual potassium atoms to isolated carbon-60 molecules.

New results change estimate of Higgs Boson Mass

21 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab In a case of the plot thickening as the mystery unfolds, the Higgs boson has just gotten heavier, even though the subatomic particle has yet to be found. In a letter to the scientific journal Nature, an international collaboration of scientists working at the Tevatron accelerator of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), report the most precise measurements yet for the mass of the top quark, a subatomic particle that has been found, and this requires an upward revision for the long-postulated but still undetected Higgs boson.

Computer simulations point way to new finding about the immune system

21 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Computer simulations, or experiments in silico, paved the way for subsequent genetic and biochemical experiments that yielded new information on how the body's immune system gets sent into action. This new information has resolved a scientific controversy and holds therapetuic implications for autoimmunity.

First direct shape measurement of an exploding white dwarf

21 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working with colleagues at the European Southern Observatory and the University of Texas at Austin, have established that the extraordinarily bright and remarkably similar astronomical 'standard candles' known as Type Ia supernovae do not explode in a perfectly spherical manner.

New methods for constructing nanostructures and calculating their electronic states

20 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found new ways of combining quantum dots and segmented nanorods into multiply branching forms and have applied new ways to calculate the electronic properties of these nanostructures, whose dimensions are measured in billionths of a meter.

A new advance in Gallium Nitride Nanowires

19 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A significant breakthrough in the development of the highly prized semiconductor gallium nitride as a building block for nanotechnology has been achieved by a team of scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.

Berkeley Lab researchers invent an aerosol duct sealing system to reduce energy loss in large commercial buildings

19 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have invented an aerosol-based system called MASIS for sealing the ducts of large commercial buildings. The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

JGI to decode DNA of destructive plant pathogen

18 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Backed by nearly $4 million in funding from three Federal agencies, researchers in California and Virginia are joining forces to learn the genetic secrets of a notorious plant pathogen that causes billions of dollars a year in damage to forests and soybean crops.

New light on how metals change shape at the Nanoscale

18 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A nanocrystalline metal is one whose average grain size is measured in billionths of a meter, much smaller than in most ordinary metals. As the grain size of a metal shrinks, it can become many times stronger, but it also usually loses ductility. To take advantage of increasing strength with decreasing grain size, researchers must first understand a fundamental problem: by what processes do nanosized crystals of metal stretch, bend, or otherwise deform under strain?

Promising families of drugs combat the spread of tumors in different ways

17 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Pharmaceutical companies seeking to design more effective cancer chemotherapy agents may have an easier road ahead than was previously believed. A team of researchers, led by a scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has shown that two of the most promising anticancer drug families, the taxanes, which include Taxol, and the epothilones, have their own unique and independent mechanisms for combating the spread of tumors. This revelation provides drug designers with a great deal more flexibility in synthesizing new and improved forms of each.

DNA of Xenopus tropicalis will provide new clues to vertebrate development

17 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab In their continuing search for new clues to how human genes function and how vertebrates develop and evolve, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute are gearing up to map the DNA of a diminutive, fast-growing African frog named Xenopus tropicalis.

A few steps closer to nanoscale photonic technology

16 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab One day our electronic technology, which is based on the manipulation of electrons, could be supplanted by photonics, which is based on the manipulation of light waves (photons). If the promise of photonic technology is realized, the high-speed processing and movement of data today will seem so sludgelike, people of the future will wonder how we ever got anything done. Photonic technology is still a long way down the road but the goal is a few steps closer now.

Berkeley Lab technology dramatically speeds up searches of large databases

16 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab In the world of physics, one of the most elusive events is the creation and detection of 'quark-gluon plasma,' the theorized atomic outcome of the 'Big Bang' which could provide insight into the origins of the universe. By using experiments that involve millions of particle collisions, researchers hope to find unambiguous evidence of quark-gluon plasma.

New technique enables Scientists to track molecular energy transfer in photosynthesis

15 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists have been able to follow the flow of excitation energy in both time and space in a molecular complex using a new technique called two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy. While holding great promise for a broad range of applications, this technique has already been used to make a surprise finding about the process of photosynthesis. The technique was developed by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.

Berkeley Lab Scientist proposes solution to reduce developing World's expensive, polluting fuel-based lighting

15 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab The use of highly-efficient, cost-effective white light-emitting diodes as a replacement for inefficient, polluting kerosene lamps common in the developing world, could potentially save tens of billions of dollars per year worldwide, according to a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Discovering pathways by which same factors that disrupt structure of breast tissue cause cancers to develop

14 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researchers in the Life Sciences Division of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a key molecular pathway by which an enzyme that normally helps remodel tissues initiates the pathway to breast cancer. The same molecular pathway, the researchers found, links both the loss of tissue organization in cancerous organs and the loss of genomic stability in individual cancer cells.

New neutrino telescope for South Pole

14 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Construction is now underway for a most unusual telescope, one whose light collecting 'mirror' will be buried more than a mile beneath the South Pole ice cap. Dubbed IceCube, because its array of detectors covers a cubic kilometer of ice, this telescope is designed not to capture starlight, but to study the high-energy variety of the ghostlike subatomic particles known as neutrinos.

Berkeley Lab develops energy-efficient building operation

13 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are teaming with educators at the Peralta Community College District in Oakland, California to train community college students in the latest techniques of managing buildings for maximum energy efficiency.

Groundbreaking combustion research by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

13 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Computational and combustion scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have earned national recognition in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with a cover article about unparalleled computer simulations of turbulent flames.

Finding new ways to test for dark energy

12 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab What is the mysterious dark energy that's causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate? Is it some form of Einstein's famous cosmological constant, or is it an exotic repulsive force, dubbed 'quintessence,' that could make up as much as three-quarters of the cosmos? Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Dartmouth College believe there is a way to find out.

New results from anti-neutrino studies at KamLAND

12 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab First they were seen to go away, now, for the first time, they've been seen coming back. An international team of researchers at KamLAND, an underground neutrino detector in central Japan, has shown that not only do anti-neutrinos emanating from nearby nuclear reactors 'disappear,' they also 'reappear.' This is further evidence that the three known types or 'flavors' of neutrinos, electron, muon and tau, all have mass and can oscillate or change from one type to another.

Carving new frontiers for ion-beam technology

11 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab An ion-beam system that simultaneously combines focused beams of electrons and positive ions promises to improve the versatility, efficiency, and economy of this important technology. The new system was developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who report its principles and applications in the Applied Physics Letters.

Remote detection makes NMR compatible with Microfluidics

11 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A breakthrough in the technology of nuclear magnetic resonance, one of the most powerful analytic tools known to science, is opening the door to new applications in microfluidic chips, devices for studying super-tiny amounts of fluids. A team of scientists with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, has demonstrated a means by which NMR can be made compatible with microfluidic 'lab-on-a-chip' devices.

Discovering the first steps in transcription-coupled repair

10 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A team of scientists led by Priscilla Cooper, a senior staff scientist in the Life Sciences Division of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has discovered new players in the first steps of transcription-coupled repair, an essential but still mysterious mechanism of DNA repair.

New insights into hydrated electrons will aid biologists, chemists

10 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Sometimes, it pays to think small. By observing how a single electron behaves amid a cluster of water molecules, a team of scientists has gained a better understanding of a fundamental process that drives a myriad of biological and chemical phenomena, such as the formation of reactive molecules in the body that can cause disease.

The first engineering of cell surfaces in living animals

09 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Four years ago Carolyn Bertozzi, a member of the Materials Sciences Division at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, introduced a new way of engineering the surfaces of cells, by arming cell-surface sugars to take part in a modified chemical reaction known as the Staudinger ligation.

Scientists create a new way to study T cell signaling

09 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab An experiment that began as a 'fantasy pipe dream' just three years ago is now a reality. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley, combining nanotechnology with biochemistry, have created unique synthetic membranes that, for the first time ever, enable them to directly control signaling activity in living T cells from the immune system. Already their experiments have yielded surprising results.

New insights into protein synthesis and hepatitis C infections

08 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists have uncovered key new information towards understanding the crucial first step in protein synthesis, the process by which the genetic code, harbored within DNA and copied into RNA, is translated into the production of proteins. This new information also helps to explain how viruses, such as Hepatitis C, are able to highjack protein synthesis machinery in humans for their own purposes.

Secrets of the sea yield stronger artificial bone

07 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab The next generation of artificial bone may rely on a few secrets from the sea. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have harnessed the way seawater freezes to develop a porous, scaffolding-like material that is four times stronger than material currently used in synthetic bone.

New technique developed for attaching biological cells to non-biological surfaces

06 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A new technique in which single strands of synthetic DNA are used to firmly fasten biological cells to non-biological surfaces has been developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley. This technique holds promise for a wide variety of applications, including biosensors, drug-screening technologies, the growing of artificial tissues and the design of neural networks.

Cell surface profiling technique could yield cancer blood test

05 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A chemical profiling technique that has potential for detecting the onset of cancer at the cellular level has been developed by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.

The unique protein responsible for Werner's Syndrome Aids Research in cancer and aging

04 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute has determined the crystal structure and molecular mechanisms of a key part of WRN, a protein that protects humans from premature aging and cancer.

Some genetic research is best done close to the evolutionary home

03 July 2006 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Some aspects of evolution are like the real estate business in that it's all about location, location, location! Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the DOE Joint Genome Institute have shown that when it comes to comparing evolutionarily conserved DNA sequences that regulate the expression of genes, more closely related species are best.

Scientists find atomic clues to tougher ceramics

09 December 2004 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A collaboration of scientists led by researchers with the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has uncovered clues at the atomic level that could lead to a new generation of much tougher advanced ceramics to be used in applications like gas turbine engines.

Nanocrystals show a quick route to change

11 November 2004 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Just as the Microtechnology Age was built upon the introduction of impurities into crystals of semiconductor materials, so, too, will crystalline doping be the bedrock upon which the Nanotechnology Age is built.

A guiding light on the nano-scale

01 September 2004 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Another important step towards realizing the promise of lightning fast photonic technology has been taken by scientists with the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley.

New light on how metals change shape at the nanoscale

02 August 2004 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A team of researchers headed by Scott X. Mao of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Pittsburgh, working at the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and using high-quality samples of nickel prepared at DOE's Sandia National Laboratories, has now identified a prominent way in which nanocrystalline metals deform.

New three-year public-private research initiative

24 August 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A new three-year public-private research initiative, which will target substantial reductions in the $100 billion spent annually in energy costs for commercial buildings, has been launched under the leadership of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. More than $13 million in research funding has been committed by the California Energy Commission, the DOE, private sector partners and Pacific Gas & Electric.

Study makes direct images of alignment of magnetic domains on both sides of an interface

14 June 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab For the first time, researchers have made direct images of the alignment of magnetic domains on both sides of an interface between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic films, an example of 'pinning' in the kind of layered magnetic structure vital to today's advanced computer recording heads and to the memory devices of the future. Their accomplishment is reported in the June 15, 2000, issue of the journal Nature.

New studies first observations of what happens when message of a gene is being read during actual transcription

03 April 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at Berkeley have reported the first direct observations of what happens when the message of a gene is being read during the actual transcription of single DNA molecules. Using a unique experimental setup they designed themselves, the researchers followed transcription by single molecules of RNA polymerase, the enzyme responsible for reading the genetic message in humans and other higher organisms as well as bacteria. Their observations provide new insights into how genetic expression in cells may be regulated.

New Hybrid solar cells combine nanotech with plastics

29 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A new generation of solar cells that combines nanotechnology with plastic electronics has been launched with the development of a semiconductor-polymer photovoltaic device by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley. Such hybrid solar cells will be cheaper and easier to make than their semiconductor counterparts, and could be made in the same nearly infinite variety of shapes as pure polymers.

New IBM RS/6000 SP system has met a demanding set of performance benchmarks

28 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab The U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory today announced that the first phase of its new IBM RS/6000 SP system has met a demanding set of performance benchmarks and is now ready for full use by researchers across the nation.

Diminutive fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has yielded many of the most fundamental discoveries in genetics

23 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab In 90 years of study, the diminutive fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has yielded many of the most fundamental discoveries in genetics, beginning with proof, in 1916, that the genes are located on the chromosomes. Only during the last year has the fly's whole genome been sequenced, however, and its 13,601 individual genes enumerated.

New chemical reaction in a growing arsenal of cell engineering techniques developed

16 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab No, the 'Staudinger ligation' isn't the latest Robert Ludlum thriller; it's a new chemical reaction in a growing arsenal of cell engineering techniques developed by Carolyn Bertozzi of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a pioneer in modifying the surfaces of living cells.

New nanotechnology where devices may be a thousand times smaller than the microchips

06 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Size matters a lot in the world of electronics and will matter even more in the upcoming age of nanotechnology where devices may be a thousand times smaller than the microchips of today. But shape matters too. To date, experimental nanocrystals fashioned from semiconductors have all been shaped like dots or spheres. No longer. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have learned to make semiconductor nanocrystals that are shaped like rods.

New high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy

06 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy in homes and offices while greatly increasing lighting quality and visibility.

Study finds genes that play a role in the development of breast cancer can now be added the name ZNF217

03 March 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab To the small list of genes that play a role in the development of breast cancer can now be added the name ZNF217. Multiple copies of this gene were found to remove natural restrictions on cell growth and thereby increase the chances for malignancy in a study jointly conducted by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at San Francisco.

Laser ultrasonic sensor streamlines papermaking process

25 February 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Hoping to save the paper manufacturing industry millions of dollars in energy costs, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Institute of Paper Science & Technology engineers have developed a laser ultrasonic sensor that measures paper's flexibility as it courses through a production web at up to 65 miles per hour. The project's principal investigators are Rick Russo and Chuck Habeger.

New space telescope will catch nearby supernovae in the act of exploding at prescheduled times

10 January 2002 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will catch nearby supernovae in the act of exploding at prescheduled times, the targets to be supplied 'on demand' for the first time. Spectra from these nearby supernovae will be used to calibrate measurements of the accelerating expansion of the universe.

New risk factor in heart disease identified

05 October 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists, using information from the Human Genome Project, have identified a new apolipoprotein that appears to play a significant role in controlling triglyceride levels in the blood. Triglycerides are one of the two major blood fats, along with cholesterol, that are important risk factors in the development of heart disease.

Scientists will lead in the development of a new generation of tools and technologies for scientific computing

15 August 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will help lead the development of a new generation of tools and technologies for scientific computing under a new $57 million program announced August 14 by the DOE. Under the program, called Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, Berkeley Lab scientists will lead six of the projects and are key partners in another six projects.

Major step toward answering the age-old question of whether the digits of pi and other math constants are random

24 July 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab David H. Bailey, chief technologist of the Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and his colleague Richard Crandall, director of the Center for Advanced Computation at Reed College, Portland, Oregon, have taken a major step toward answering the age-old question of whether the digits of pi and other math constants are 'random.' Their results are reported in the Summer 2001 issue of Experimental Mathematics.

Researchers have recovered high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy data

06 July 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researchers in the laboratory of Alexander Pines, a member of the Materials Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, have recovered high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy data from experimental samples in a grossly nonuniform field.

Researchers have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy

06 March 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy in homes and offices while greatly increasing lighting quality and visibility.

Researchers have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy

06 March 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy in homes and offices while greatly increasing lighting quality and visibility.

Genes that play a role in the development of breast cancer can now be added the name ZNF217

03 March 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab To the small list of genes that play a role in the development of breast cancer can now be added the name ZNF217. Multiple copies of this gene were found to remove natural restrictions on cell growth and thereby increase the chances for malignancy in a study jointly conducted by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at San Francisco.

Genes that play a role in the development of breast cancer can now be added the name ZNF217

03 March 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab To the small list of genes that play a role in the development of breast cancer can now be added the name ZNF217. Multiple copies of this gene were found to remove natural restrictions on cell growth and thereby increase the chances for malignancy in a study jointly conducted by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at San Francisco.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will catch nearby supernovae in the act of exploding at prescheduled times

10 January 2001 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab In the spring of 2001, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will catch nearby supernovae in the act of exploding at prescheduled times, the targets to be supplied 'on demand' for the first time. Spectra from these nearby supernovae will be used to calibrate measurements of the accelerating expansion of the universe.

A new three-year public-private research initiative

24 August 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A new three-year public-private research initiative, which will target substantial reductions in the $100 billion spent annually in energy costs for commercial buildings, has been launched under the leadership of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. More than $13 million in research funding has been committed by the California Energy Commission, the DOE, private sector partners and Pacific Gas & Electric.

A new three-year public-private research initiative

24 August 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab A new three-year public-private research initiative, which will target substantial reductions in the $100 billion spent annually in energy costs for commercial buildings, has been launched under the leadership of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. More than $13 million in research funding has been committed by the California Energy Commission, the DOE, private sector partners and Pacific Gas & Electric.

Researchers make direct images of alignment of magnetic domains on both sides of an interface

14 June 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab For the first time, researchers have made direct images of the alignment of magnetic domains on both sides of an interface between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic films, an example of 'pinning' in the kind of layered magnetic structure vital to today's advanced computer recording heads and to the memory devices of the future. Their accomplishment is reported in the June 15, 2000, issue of the journal Nature.

Researchers make direct images of alignment of magnetic domains on both sides of an interface

14 June 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab For the first time, researchers have made direct images of the alignment of magnetic domains on both sides of an interface between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic films, an example of 'pinning' in the kind of layered magnetic structure vital to today's advanced computer recording heads and to the memory devices of the future. Their accomplishment is reported in the June 15, 2000, issue of the journal Nature.

Scientists have reported first observations of what happens when message of a gene is being read during actual transcription

03 April 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Scientists at Berkeley have reported the first direct observations of what happens when the message of a gene is being read during the actual transcription of single DNA molecules. Using a unique experimental setup they designed themselves, the researchers followed transcription by single molecules of RNA polymerase, the enzyme responsible for reading the genetic message in humans and other higher organisms as well as bacteria. Their observations provide new insights into how genetic expression in cells may be regulated.

First phase of its new IBM RS/6000 SP system has met a demanding set of performance benchmarks

28 March 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab The U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory today announced that the first phase of its new IBM RS/6000 SP system has met a demanding set of performance benchmarks and is now ready for full use by researchers across the nation.

In new study - diminutive fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has yielded many of most fundamental discoveries in genetics

23 March 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab In 90 years of study, the diminutive fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has yielded many of the most fundamental discoveries in genetics, beginning with proof, in 1916, that the genes are located on the chromosomes. Only during the last year has the fly's whole genome been sequenced, however, and its 13,601 individual genes enumerated.

New avenue for engineering cell chemistry

16 March 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab No, the 'Staudinger ligation' isn't the latest Robert Ludlum thriller; it's a new chemical reaction in a growing arsenal of cell engineering techniques developed by Carolyn Bertozzi of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a pioneer in modifying the surfaces of living cells.

Size matters a lot in the world of electronics

06 March 2000 - DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Size matters a lot in the world of electronics and will matter even more in the upcoming age of nanotechnology where devices may be a thousand times smaller than the microchips of today. But shape matters too. To date, experimental nanocrystals fashioned from semiconductors have all been shaped like dots or spheres. No longer. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have learned to make semiconductor nanocrystals that are shaped like rods.