New Technique Looks for Dark Matter Traces in Dark Places
March 26th, 2020A new study by scientists at Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, and the University of Michigan – published online this week in the journal Science – concludes that a possible dark matter-related explanation for a mysterious light signature in space is largely ruled out.
Looking Up From the Mountaintop: Q&A With a Telescope Instrument’s Lead Observer
March 26th, 2020In this Q&A Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, a lead observer for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, shares her experiences at the DESI site near Tucson, Arizona, including evening observing stints to run through detailed checklists and probe how the instrument’s components are working.
Berkeley Lab Cosmologists Are Top Contenders in Machine Learning Challenge
March 20th, 2020In a machine learning challenge dubbed the 2020 Large Hadron Collider Olympics, a team of cosmologists from Berkeley Lab developed a code that best identified a mock signal hidden in simulated particle-collision data.
Nature-Inspired Green Energy Technology Clears Major Development Hurdle
March 19th, 2020A new material design has put the long-sought idea of artificial photosynthesis within reach.
3 National Labs Achieve Record Magnetic Field for Accelerator Focusing Magnet
March 18th, 2020In a multiyear effort involving three U.S. national laboratories, researchers have successfully built and tested a powerful new focusing magnet that represents a new use for niobium-tin, a superconducting material. The eight-ton device – about as long as a semitruck trailer – set a record for the highest field strength ever recorded for an accelerator focusing magnet, and raises the standard for magnets operating in high-energy particle colliders.
How We Choose: Applying ‘Decision Science’ to Transportation Behaviors
March 12th, 2020Can scientists understand human behavior enough to figure out what drives the choices you make? In fact, it’s called “decision science,” and it’s something that Anna Spurlock, a behavioral economist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, specializes in.
A Graphene Innovation That Is Music to Your Ears
March 11th, 2020A California-based company called GraphAudio is moving toward commercializing graphene-based audio technology developed by researchers at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley in an effort to stimulate an audio revolution.