Tag Archives: doe

Bright Future for Protein Nanoprobes

By Guest PostMay 2, 2014Sciencealexis ostrowski, berkeley lab, biology, brighter future, bruce cohen, building blocks, daniel gargas, doe, elektronische fussfessel, emory chan, erbium, fluorescent, free asymmetric, future, gewaltdelikte, heterocontact, james schuck, joerg kinzig, laboratory, mexican men, mexico murder rate, molecular foundry, nanocrystals, photobleach, polly myer, single molecules, sodium yttrium fluoride, ytterbium

Berkeley Lab Researchers Discover New Rules for Single-Particle Imaging with Light-Emitting Nanocrystals

The term a “brighter future” might be a cliché, but in the case of ultra-small probes for lighting up individual proteins, it is now most appropriate. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered surprising new rules for creating ultra-bright light-emitting crystals that are less than 10 nanometers in diameter. These ultra-tiny but ultra-bright nanoprobes should be a big asset for biological imaging, especially deep-tissue optical imaging of neurons in the brain.

Working at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE national nanoscience center hosted at Berkeley Lab, a multidisciplinary team of researchers led by James Schuck and Bruce Cohen, both with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division, used advanced single-particle characterization and theoretical modeling to study what are known as “upconverting nanoparticles” or UCNPs. Upconversion is the process by which a molecule absorbs two or more photons at a lower energy and emits them at higher energies. The research team determined that the rules governing the design of UCNP probes for ensembles of molecules do not apply to UCNP probes designed for single-molecules. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Metamaterials to Observe Giant Photonic Spin Hall Effect

By Guest PostApril 1, 2013Scienceantenna configurations, arm configuations, artificial nanoconstructs, berkeley lab, ccd, charge coupled device, doe, electron, future of computing, geometry parameters, gold nanoantennas, hall effect, image, junsuk rho, magnetic moment, metamaterials, optical properties, photonic spin, physical motion, physicist edwin hall, quantized angular momentum, quantum measurements, quantum mechanics, scanning electron microscopy, spin, xiang zhang, xiaobo yin, yuan wang, ziliang ye

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have once again demonstrated the incredible capabilities of metamaterials – artificial nanoconstructs whose optical properties arise from their physical structure rather than their chemical composition. Engineering a unique two-dimensional sheet of gold nanoantennas, the researchers were able to obtain the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect, an optical phenomenon of quantum mechanics that could play a prominent role in the future of computing.

“With metamaterial, we were able to greatly enhance a naturally weak effect to the point where it was directly observable with simple detection techniques,” said Xiang Zhang, a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division who led this research. “We also demonstrated that metamaterials not only allow us to control the propagation of light but also allows control of circular polarization. This could have profound consequences for information encoding and processing.” (more…)

New Opportunities for Crystal Growth

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2013Scienceberkeley lab, characterization, crystal growth, crystal growth facility, crystal is unique, crystal purification, doe, edith bourret courchesne, emit gamma, energy resolution, enriched uranium, fibers, formation of snowflake, germanium crystals, growth, luminosity, material scientist, nanocrystals, new opportunities, nnsa, nuclear materials. plutonium, polycrystalline form, scintillation properties, semiconductor germanium, single crystals, source of radiation, synthesis of crystals, thin epitaxial films, trial and error, united states, useful crystals

Berkeley Lab Facility Provides Unique Capabilities for the Synthesis of New Crystals and Materials

Talk with material scientist Edith Bourret-Courchesne about what it takes to grow and develop useful crystals and a word you will hear repeated often is “patience.” As the leader of a unique crystal growth facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) dedicated to the synthesis of crystals and new materials, patience is more than a virtue, it’s a necessity.

“The growth of every crystal is unique, like the formation of a snowflake, and since we work with compounds that have never before been crystallized the processes by which we grow our crystals are also unique,” she says. “As a result, a lot of our research is aimed at understanding why something didn’t work.” (more…)

IBM Smarter Cities Technology Helps NYC Envision Solar Energy Leadership through CUNY Ventures

By Guest PostJune 7, 2012Environment, Technologycraig hayman, cuny ventures, data system, department of energy, doe, global leader, ibm, intelligent operations center, ioc, ioc software, key indicators, matthew goldstein, new york city, nyc, nyc solar map, procemx, roadmapping, rooftop solar challenge, smart ny, smarter cities, solar, solar america, solar capacity, solar energy market, solar market analytics, solar panel installation, solar power potential, tracking ny, urban

Innovative Model Aims to Export Solar Market Analysis Tools to the World

New York – 07 Jun 2012: IBM is helping New York City (NYC) become a global leader in urban solar energy market analysis and sustainability through an innovative agreement with CUNY Ventures, a City University of New York (CUNY) Economic Development Corporation entity.

The goal of this effort is to nourish solar adoption by developing the capability to analyze and understand key solar market indicators that can make solar system development more cost competitive. Using IBM’s Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) for Smarter Cities as the backbone, this analytics-based approach will help New York City monitor and analyze solar production and capacity through a virtual control room that will provide a dashboard view of key indicators.

The collaboration is part of ‘Solar Market Analytics, Roadmapping, and Tracking NY’ (SMART NY), a groundbreaking project supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ‘Rooftop Solar Challenge’, part of the DOE SunShot Initiative which is striving to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade. (more…)

Better Organic Electronics

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2012Science5tba, allard katan, berkeley lab, conductance, crystal structure, d5tba, derivative, dh5tba, doe, electron, electron diffraction patterns, florent martin, intuition, lynn yarris, metal, miquel salmeron, molecular foundry, molecule, nanometer, nanoscience center, organic electronic device, organic film, organic semiconductor, pentathiophene butyric acid, plastic, polymer electronics, semiconductor, shaul aloni, silicon nitride membrane, tem, trial and error, virginia altoe

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Show the Way Forward for Improving Organic and Molecular Electronic Devices*

Future prospects for superior new organic electronic devices are brighter now thanks to a new study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Working at the Lab’s Molecular Foundry, a DOE nanoscience center, the team has provided the first experimental determination of the pathways by which electrical charge is transported from molecule-to-molecule in an organic thin film. Their results also show how such organic films can be chemically modified to improve conductance.

“We have shown that when the molecules in organic thin films are aligned in particular directions, there is much better conductance,” says Miquel Salmeron, a leading authority on nanoscale surface imaging who directs Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and who led this study. “Chemists already know how to fabricate organic thin films in a way that can achieve such an alignment, which means they should be able to use the information provided by our methodology to determine the molecular alignment and its role on charge transport across and along the molecules. This will help improve the performances of future organic electronic devices.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create First of Its Kind Gene Map of Sulfate-reducing Bacterium: Work Holds Implications for Future Bioremediation Efforts

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2011Environment, Scienceadam arkin, aindrila mukhopadhyay, anaerobic bacterium, bacteria, berkeley lab, biofouling, bioremediation, d vulgaris, dap chip, department of energy, desulfovibrio vulgaris, dna affinity purified chip, doe, ecological niches, Environment, environmental signals, eric luning, five senses, generate enzymes, genetic secrets of a bacterium, genomic dna, how bacteria respond to environmental changes, lara rajeev, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mapping of the genes, microbial systems, model organism, molecular signaling systems, morgan price, network of a microbe, new gene map, non hazardous forms, oil drilling, paramvir dehal, potential for removing toxic and radioactive waste, researchers, sight, smell, sound, sulfate reducing bacteria, sulfate reducing bacterium, taste, touch, toxic heavy metals and radioactive nuclides

Critical genetic secrets of a bacterium that holds potential for removing toxic and radioactive waste from the environment have been revealed in a study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The researchers have provided the first ever map of the genes that determine how these bacteria interact with their surrounding environment.

“Knowing how bacteria respond to environmental changes is crucial to our understanding of how their physiology tracks with consequences that are both good, such as bioremediation, and bad, such as biofouling,” says Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, a chemist with Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, who led this research. “We have reported the first systematic mapping of the genes in a sulfate-reducing bacterium – Desulfovibrio vulgaris – that regulate the mechanisms by which the bacteria perceive and respond to environmental signals.” (more…)

Get the Light, Beat the Heat

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2011Scienceandre anders, anna llordes, berkeley lab, breakthrough technology, carbon emissions in the united states, coloration efficiency, delia milliron, department of energy, doe, dynamic window coatings, electric charge, electrochromic materials, evan runnerstrom, guillermo garcia, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, near infrared frequency range, raffaella buonsanti, rueben mendelsberg, semiconductor nanocrystal coating material, semiconductor nanocrystals, smart window, thomas richardson

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Develop New Infrared Coating for Windows*

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have unveiled a semiconductor nanocrystal coating material capable of controlling heat from the sun while remaining transparent. Based on electrochromic materials, which use a jolt of electric charge to tint a clear window, this breakthrough technology is the first to selectively control the amount of near infrared radiation. This radiation, which leads to heating, passes through the film without affecting its visible transmittance. Such a dynamic system could add a critical energy-saving dimension to “smart window” coatings. (more…)

The Brittleness of Aging Bones – More than a Loss of Bone Mass

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2011Scienceadvanced light source, age related structural changes in human cortical bone, als, berkeley lab, biological aging, björn busse, bone strength and fracture toughness, bones, brittle, calcium, collagen molecules, concentric rings of lamellae plates, department of energy, doe, elizabeth zimmermann, eric schaible, fracturing, ha, holly barth, hrishikesh bale, human cortical or compact bone, hydroxyapatite, joel ager, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, loss of mass, macroscopic fracture testing, molecular level, nanocrystals, nanoscale, older bones fracturing, peter reichert, robert ritchie, simon tang, tamara alliston, uc, university of california, young human bone

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Show How Loss of Bone Quality Also a Major Factor*

It is a well-established fact that as we grow older our bones become more brittle and prone to fracturing. It is also well established that loss of mass is a major reason for older bones fracturing more readily than younger bones, hence medical treatments have focused on slowing down this loss. However, new research from scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) shows that at microscopic dimensions, the age-related loss of bone quality can be every bit as important as the loss of quantity in the susceptibility of bone to fracturing. (more…)