Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

An 'Artificial Forest' for Solar Water-Splitting

Berkeley Lab researchers have created the first fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystem. While "artificial leaf" is the popular term for such a system, the key to this success was an "artificial forest." »

Mathematics of Popping Bubbles in a Foam

Foam. It's beautiful, yet ephemeral, as the bubbles pop one by one. Now, two Berkeley researchers have described mathematically the successive stages in the complex evolution of foamy bubbles, a feat that could help in modeling industrial processes such as those used to cushion bicycle helmets. »

Short Takes

Inspiration for the Cyclotron
Cyclotron Concept/Demonstration
Evolution of the Cyclotron
Nobel Prize

Berkeley Lab In The News

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Welcome

Launch of Antimalarial Drug a Triumph for Synthetic Biology

Twelve years ago, Berkeley Lab's Jay Keasling used synthetic biology to engineer microbes to inexpensively produce the critical chemical component of artemisinin, a drug that represents a lifesaver for the nearly 300 million people in developing nations who contract malaria each year. Now a microbial-based version of artemisinin has officially become available to patients worldwide, produced by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi using a no-profit, no-loss production model to maintain a low price for those who need it most. (Photo by Gabrielle Tenenbaum) »

Berkeley Lab Startup Brings Fuel Cells to the Developing World

Point Source Power, a startup company spun from technology developed at Berkeley Lab, has created a cheap, rugged fuel cell that can provide electricity to the 2.5 billion people in the world who don't get it reliably. More>

Tick Tock, Watch the Beamclock!

Since it was first introduced, the Advanced Light Source beamline diagram has been informally known as "the beamclock." A new video, produced as part of the ALS 20th anniversary, transforms the static image into a literal clock. It marks time, not by hours or minutes, but by the addition of beamlines to the facility from 1993 to 2013. For more about ALS science, go here.

Apollo 11's Moon Dust Reappears After 44 Years

When Apollo 11 returned from its historic flight in 1969, the moon rocks and lunar soil collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin eventually found their way to some 150 laboratories worldwide. One of those was the Space Sciences Laboratory on the UC Berkeley campus. After experiments were conducted, those samples should have been sent back to NASA. Instead they wound up in storage, where they sat collecting dust until they were discovered more than four decades later. More >