Soft matter encompasses a broad swath of materials, including liquids, polymers, gels, foam and – most importantly – biomolecules. At the heart of soft materials, governing their overall properties and capabilities, are the interactions of nano-sized components. Observing the dynamics behind these interactions is critical to understanding key biological processes, such as protein crystallization and metabolism, and could help accelerate the development of important new technologies, such as artificial photosynthesis or high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. Observing these dynamics at...
To the list of potential applications of graphene – a two-dimensional semiconductor of pure carbon that is stronger and much faster than silicon – we can now add valleytronics, the coding of data in the wavelike motion of electrons as they speed through a conductor. Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered topologically protected one-dimensional electron conducting channels at the domain walls of bilayer graphene. These conducting channels are “valley polarized,” which means they can serve as filters for electron valley polarization in future devices such as quantum computers.
Six UC Berkeley faculty have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy has announced. The 197 new academy members include “the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists and civic, business and philanthropic leaders,” among them winners of the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships; and Grammy, Emmy, Oscar and Tony awards.
The new UC Berkeley members are:
Carlos Bustamante, professor of molecular and cell biology, physics and chemistry; Raymond and Beverly Sackler professor in biophysics...
From inside our bodies to under the ocean floor, microbiomes — communities of bacteria and other one-celled organisms — thrive everywhere in nature. Emerging at least 3.8 billion years ago, they molded our planet and created its...
A potentially game-changing breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis has been achieved with the development of a system that can capture carbon dioxide emissions before they are vented into the atmosphere and then, powered by solar energy, convert that carbon dioxide into valuable chemical products, including biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs and even liquid fuels.
Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created a hybrid system of semiconducting...
Sprawled across a vast site on the river Rhine in Germany is a small city built from glittering steel: the headquarters of chemical giant BASF. Boasting a daytime population of about 50,000 people, it is criss-crossed by a grid of streets bearing names that commemorate the company's stock in trade: Methanolstrasse, Ammoniakstrasse, Gasstrasse.
Over the past two years, a small fleet of delivery vans and cars has clocked up thousands of kilometres on these streets while carrying a big secret: fuel tanks packed with an unusual crystalline material that is riddled with pores roughly a...
The Lab along with the Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute hosted members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Ministry of Education and Research last week. The guests toured the Molecular Foundry and the Advanced Light Source, followed by a meeting with Director Alivisatos.
Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos today announced his intention to leave his position once a successor can be recruited to lead the Lab. Alivisatos will return to his research and teaching activities as a senior scientist in the Materials Sciences Division and as a faculty member on the UC Berkeley campus.
During his six-year tenure as Laboratory Director, Alivisatos oversaw substantial infrastructure renewal and growth in programs that are advancing research in global energy and environmental needs, as well as developing new instruments to deepen our understanding of the...
Alan Brown, writer and editor for the Kavli Foundation, edited this roundtable for Live Science'sExpert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Microbiomes — communities of microorganisms — exist nearly everywhere, from the soil and the sediment under oceans, rivers and lakes to the landscapes of the human body. They are ubiquitous, mediating the interactions of plants and animals with their environments, and yet we know very little about them.
Metamaterials – artificial nanostructures engineered with electromagnetic properties not found in nature – offer tantalizing future prospects such as high resolution optical microscopes and superfast optical computers. To realize the vast potential of metamaterials, however, scientists will need to hone their understanding of the fundamental physics behind them. This will require accurately predicting nonlinear optical properties – meaning that interaction with light changes a material’s properties, for example, light emerges from the material with a different frequency than when it...