Berkeley Lab researchers have developed metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) that feature flexible gas-adsorbing pores, giving them a high capacity for storing methane. This capability has the potential to help make the driving range of adsorbed-natural-gas (ANG) cars comparable to that of a typical gasoline-powered car.

The discovery by Berkeley Lab researchers of the structural basis by which bacteria are able to capture genetic information from viruses and other foreign invaders for use in their own immunological system holds promise for studying or correcting problems in human genomes.

Berkeley Lab scientists have set out to help build the world’s first total-body positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, a medical imaging device that could change the way cancers and other diseases are diagnosed and treated.

An important step towards next-generation ultra-compact photonic and optoelectronic devices has been taken with the realization of a two-dimensional excitonic laser. Berkeley Lab researchers have embedded a monolayer of tungsten disulfide into a microdisk resonator to achieve bright excitonic lasing at visible light wavelengths.

Berkeley Lab researchers have confirmed that single-crystal black phosphorous nanoribbons display a strong in-plane anisotropy in thermal conductivity, an experimental revelation that should facilitate the future application of this highly promising material to electronic, optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices.

Berkeley Lab scientists and engineers played important roles in the design and construction of SNO – the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory – as well as subsequent data analysis that contributed to the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Canada’s Arthur McDonald.

It’s easy to form the mental image of a hacker hunched over a computer, probing a way to get your personal information, whether to sell it, acquire credit cards in your name or use your health insurance. It does happen, but University of New Mexico researchers, working with Steven Hofmeyr from Berkeley Lab, say it is not happening more frequently than it did a decade ago. Data breaches, in general, are not growing in size.

With commitments from leading car manufacturers to hydrogen technologies and the first ever fuel cell electric vehicle to go on sale later this year, interest is once again swelling in this carbon-free technology. Now, Berkeley Lab has been awarded $8 million for two new multi-lab research projects, one to find new materials for hydrogen storage, led by Jeff Urban, and another for optimizing fuel-cell performance and durability, led by Adam Weber.

Researchers led by a scientist from Berkeley Lab have developed a simple model of permafrost carbon based on direct observations. Their approach could help climate scientists evaluate how well permafrost dynamics are represented in the Earth system models used to predict climate change.

With support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Cyclotron Road, a new technology-to-market program launched by Berkeley Lab last year, is now entering its second year and seeking applications for a second cohort of scientist-entrepreneurs. The six Cyclotron Road teams in the first cohort have so far brought in more than $2 million in new funding from government grants and private investors.