New Recipes for Taking Salt Out of Seawater
July 31st, 2019As populations boom and chronic droughts persist, coastal cities like Carlsbad in Southern California have increasingly turned to ocean desalination to supplement a dwindling fresh water supply. Now Berkeley Lab scientists investigating how to make desalination less expensive have hit on promising design rules for making so-called “thermally responsive” ionic liquids to separate water from salt.
Can We Reuse Polluted Water? Yes, Add Bacteria
July 29th, 2019Every year, hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells generates billions of gallons of contaminated water. Scientists at Berkeley Lab and the CO School of Mines believe microbes could be the key to turning this waste into a resource.
Berkeley Lab Appoints Polly Arnold as Chemical Sciences Division Director
July 23rd, 2019Renowned heavy-element chemist Polly Arnold has been appointed Chemical Sciences Division Director within Berkeley Lab’s Energy Sciences Area. Arnold will join Berkeley Lab in late September this year. Concurrent with her role at Berkeley Lab, she will also join the Chemistry Department faculty at UC Berkeley in January 2020.
Making the Invisible Visible: New Sensor Network Reveals Telltale Patterns in Neighborhood Air Quality
July 22nd, 2019Black carbon, commonly known as soot, is a significant contributor to global warming and is strongly linked to adverse health outcomes. Produced by the incomplete combustion of fuels – emitted from large trucks, trains, and marine vessels – it is an air pollutant of particular concern to residents in urban areas. Sensors available on the market today are expensive, making black carbon difficult to track.
New Laws of Attraction: Scientists Print Magnetic Liquid Droplets
July 18th, 2019Using a modified 3D printer, a team of scientists at Berkeley Lab have fabricated a magnetic device out of liquids. Their findings could lead to a revolutionary class of printable liquid devices for a variety of applications from artificial cells that deliver targeted cancer therapies to flexible liquid robots that can change their shape to adapt to their surroundings.
A Graphene Superconductor That Plays More Than One Tune
July 17th, 2019Researchers at Berkeley Lab have developed a graphene device that’s thinner than a human hair but has a depth of special traits. It easily switches from a superconducting material that conducts electricity without losing any energy, to an insulator that resists the flow of electric current, and back again to a superconductor – all with a simple flip of a switch.
Some Assembly Required: Scientists Piece Together the Largest U.S.-Based Dark Matter Experiment
July 16th, 2019Most of the remaining components needed to fully assemble an underground dark matter-search experiment called LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) arrived at the project’s South Dakota home during a rush of deliveries in June. When complete, LZ will be the largest, most sensitive U.S.-based experiment yet that is designed to directly detect dark matter particles.