Albany High School Students 'Shadow' Lab Staff

Juniors from Albany High School "shadowed" Lab staff last Wednesday and on Feb. 25 as part of the school's annual Job Shadow Day. Students were mentored by employees in Computing Sciences and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing center (NERSC). Said one student after a tour of NERSC’s giant supercomputer room: “I hope one day I can work in this field.” The Earth Sciences Division, Health Services, and the Creative Services Office also sponsored shadow students. More>

Cleaning up Underground Contaminants, the Smart Way

Using state-of-the-art tools, Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division is tackling the challenges that inhibit the long-term remediation of subsurface metals and radionuclides. Their approach takes into account everything from the interactions of microscopic proteins to the characteristics of kilometer-scale field sites. More>

Turning Sunlight Into Liquid Fuels

Through photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars they use for fuel. Berkeley Lab scientists want to create an artificial version of photosynthesis to produce liquid fuels for transportation. Chemists Heinz Frei and Feng Jiao have taken an important step towards this goal with the discovery that cobalt oxide nanocrystals can effectively carry out the critical photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules. To read more and see a video of the reaction, go here>.

Chu Discusses Restoring Science to its Proper Role on 'Charlie Rose'

Energy Secretary Steve Chu was interviewed on PBS this past Monday by the acclaimed broadcast journalist Charlie Rose who asked him about the proper role of science. Declaring “scientists want to find out the truth as best they can," Chu said, "Truth can be used for good or bad but in the past, scientific truth has greatly benefited society.” Chu also spoke of the virtues of energy conservation as “fruit that is on the ground,” and called for increased federal investments in the national labs and universities to develop advanced battery, solar, wind and biofuel technologies. He also called for improved new strategies for carbon sequestration and the safer use of coal and nuclear power.