Erosion is bad, no question about it, but where erosion has already occurred there may be a silver lining: new studies show that soil erosion and deposition form a significant carbon sink, which potentially offsets as much as 10 percent of global fossil-fuel emissions of carbon dioxide.

Treatment that benefits one patient with breast cancer may be useless or even harmful to another. In a major advance toward individualizing treatment, newly identified biomarkers predict a given patient's response to two leading breast cancer drugs; similar biomarkers may be found for other cancer drugs.

These days, when Berkeley Lab astronomers go supernova hunting with the Keck Telescope, only one of them needs to be in Hawaii. Soon none may need to go there. Observers can control where the 300-ton telescope points, what it sees, and how its instruments respond using the Lab's Keck Remote Observing Facility.

How do particles of "good cholesterol" sweep "bad cholesterol" out of the arteries? Scientists now know the answer, and they aim to mimic nature's way of keeping arteries clear by creating new therapies for people suffering from atherosclerosis.

A special report on what it takes to monitor greenhouse-gas emissions in the real world. California is the first state to impose an economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions, requiring a 25-percent reduction by the year 2020. With CALGEM, the California Greenhouse Gas Emissions project, Berkeley Lab scientists have pioneered the techniques needed to measure progress toward these challenging goals.

Listen to Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu's recent talk at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, on the energy problem and what the Lab's Helios project can do about it. Download the talk here.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics will feature an Olympic Village that uses almost no energy. The world's fastest-growing economy is no newcomer to efficient buildings. Berkeley Lab scientists have helped plan some of the greenest buildings in China.

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