Blockchain—a technology used for verifying and recording digital transactions—blasted into public consciousness with the rise of Bitcoin. But this tool could also transform the way governments, global industries and even science research operate. In fact, several banks, corporations, governments and scientists have already implemented some form of blockchain to inexpensively, securely and expediently store and share information. In…
Berkeley Lab Aims To Strengthen The Cybersecurity Of The Grid
As the U.S. electricity grid continues to modernize, it will mean things like better reliability and resilience, lower environmental impacts, greater integration of renewable energy, as well as new computing and communications technologies to monitor and manage the increasing number of devices that connect to the grid. However, that enhanced connectivity for grid operators and…
New Discovery Could Better Predict How Semiconductors Weather Abuse
Mimicking nature is not easy, but new insights by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could help create a viable artificial system of photosynthesis. One of the major challenges for scientists working to create systems that efficiently convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into fuel is finding materials that…
Researchers Gear Up Galaxy-Seeking Robots for Test Run
A prototype system, designed as a test for a planned array of 5,000 galaxy-seeking robots, is taking shape at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Dubbed ProtoDESI, the scaled-down, 10-robot system will help scientists achieve the pinpoint accuracy needed to home in on millions of galaxies, quasars and stars with the…
What Screens Are Made of: New Twists (and Bends) in LCD Research
Liquid crystals, discovered more than 125 years ago, are at work behind the screens of TV and computer monitors, clocks, watches and most other electronics displays, and scientists are still discovering new twists—and bends—in their molecular makeup. Liquid crystals are an exotic state of matter that flows like a fluid but in which the molecules…
Scientists Push Valleytronics One Step Closer to Reality
Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have taken a big step toward the practical application of “valleytronics,” which is a new type of electronics that could lead to faster and more efficient computer logic systems and data storage chips in next-generation devices. As reported online April 4 in…
New Results From World’s Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment, which operates nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, has already proven itself to be the most sensitive detector in the hunt for dark matter, the unseen stuff believed to account for most of the matter…
A Nonlinear Light-Generating Zero-Index MetaMaterial
The Information Age will get a major upgrade with the arrival of quantum processors many times faster and more powerful than today’s supercomputers. For the benefits of this new Information Age 2.0 to be fully realized, however, quantum computers will need fast and efficient multi-directional light sources. While quantum technologies remain grist for science fiction,…
State-of-the-Art Beams From Table-Top Accelerators
The rapidly evolving technology of laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) – called “table-top accelerators” because their length can be measured in centimeters instead of kilometers – promises a new breed of machines, far less expensive and with far less impact on the land and the environment than today’s conventional accelerators. Future LPAs offer not only compact…