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A new mathematical framework developed at Berkeley Lab, published in the June 10 issue of Science Advances, allows researchers to capture fluid dynamics coupled to interface motion at unprecedented detail. The framework, called "interfacial gauge methods", developed by Robert Saye, a Luis W. Alvarez Fellow in the Mathematics Group at Berkeley Lab, rewrites the equations governing incompressible fluid flow in a way that is more amenable to accurate computer modeling.

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The Materials Project, a Google-like database of material properties aimed at accelerating innovation, has released an enormous trove of data to the public, giving scientists working on batteries, fuel cells, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, and a host of other advanced materials a powerful tool to explore new research avenues.

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Researchers at Berkeley Lab are developing and testing materials for a new device that can be inserted via a tiny tube into a vein and soak up cancer-fighting drugs after they deliver a dose to tumors—and before they can widely circulate in the body.

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A new study led by a Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor establishes for the first time copper’s role in fat metabolism, further burnishing the metal’s reputation as an essential nutrient for human physiology.

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Sensory perception lies at the heart of adaptation to changing conditions, and helps fungi to improve growth and recycle organic waste, and to know when and how to infect a plant or animal host. New results from a comparative fungal genome analysis conducted by a DOE JGI-led team shed light on the evolution of sensory perception in fungi.

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DoseNet, a radiation-monitoring outreach project supported by Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley, has a broad aim to inform and connect students and communities using science and data.

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Massive amounts of data require infrastructure to manage and store the information in a manner than can be easily accessed for use. In a paper published May 16, 2016 in Trends in Microbiology, DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers call for the formation of a National Microbiome Data Center to efficiently manage the datasets accumulated globally.

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Billions of gallons of water are used each day in the United States for energy production—for hydroelectric power generation, thermoelectric plant cooling, and countless other industrial processes, including oil and gas mining. And huge amounts of energy are required to pump, treat, heat, and deliver water. This interdependence of water and energy is the focus of a major new research effort at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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Two years ago, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers developed OpenMSI—the most advanced computational tool for analyzing and visualizing mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) data. Now, OpenMSI has been licensed to support ImaBiotech’s Multimaging™ technology in the field of pharmaceutical and cosmetic research and development.

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Solar power could deliver $400 billion in environmental and public health benefits throughout the United States by 2050, according to a study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab and National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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The initiative will advance the understanding of microbiome behavior and enable the protection of healthy microbiomes, which are communities of microorganisms that live on and in people, plants, soil, oceans, and the atmosphere. Microbiomes maintain the healthy function of diverse ecosystems, and they influence human health, climate change, and food security.

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A new astronomy facility, the Simons Observatory, is planned in Chile’s Atacama Desert to boost ongoing studies of the evolution of the universe, from its earliest moments to today. The observatory will probe the subtle properties of the universe’s first light, known as cosmic microwave background radiation.

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Researchers found how substantial linear defects in a new semiconductor create entirely new properties. Some of these properties indicate the defects might even mediate superconducting states.

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Scientists have devised a way to build a “quantum metamaterial”—an engineered material with exotic properties not found in nature—using ultracold atoms trapped in an artificial crystal composed of light. The theoretical work represents a step toward manipulating atoms to transmit information, perform complex simulations or function as powerful sensors.

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Berkeley Lab scientists have engineered a strain of bacteria that enables a “one-pot” method for producing advanced biofuels from a slurry of pre-treated plant material. The achievement, described in a study to be published May 10 in Green Chemistry, is a critical step in making biofuels a viable competitor to fossil fuels.

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Berkeley Lab scientists thousands of collaborators worldwide who will be sifting through loads of new data expected from this latest experimental run at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, which could reveal unexpected twists in the makeup of matter and shed more light on the known pantheon of particles including the Higgs boson.

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In 2012, the United States experienced the warmest spring on record followed by the most severe drought since the Dust Bowl. A team of scientists used a network of Ameriflux sites to map the carbon flux across the United States during the drought.

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The leading method for creating quantum bits, or qubits, currently involves exploiting the structural defects in diamonds. But using NERSC resources, University of Chicago researchers found that the same defect could be engineered in cheaper aluminum nitride. If confirmed by experiments, this could significantly reduce the cost of manufacturing quantum technologies.

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A unique rapid-fire electron source—originally built as a prototype for driving next-generation X-ray lasers—will help scientists at Berkeley Lab study ultrafast chemical processes and changes in materials at the atomic scale.

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A research team has directly measured a spiral molecular arrangement formed by liquid crystals that could help unravel its mysteries and possibly improve the performance of electronic displays.