Cuts in diesel emissions have drastically reduced the amount of pollutants in the air that cause global warming in California, potentially valuable information in the fight to save the world’s climate from a predicted catastrophe, a study led by EETD’s Tom Kirchstetter found. His team analyzed measurements of black carbon taken from aircraft, satellites and ground monitors dating back to the 1980s, and used a computer model to compare them with emission-reduction regulations that the state issued over the years. More>
Posts Tagged ‘Science/Research’
Lab-Led Study Shows Emission Cuts Lead to Cleaner California Air
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013Lab Team Uncovers Secrets of Biological Soil Crusts
Monday, June 17th, 2013
Aindrila Mukhopadhyay of the Physical Biosciences Division and Trent Northen of Life Sciences led a cross-divisional research team that performed molecular level analysis of desert biological soil crusts – living ground cover formed by microbial communities. Their study revealed how long-dormant cyanobacteria become activated by rainfall then resume dormancy when the precipitation stops. Also working on this study, which was funded through the LDRD program, were Lara Rajeev, Ulisses Nunes da Rocha, Niels Klitgord, Eric Luning, Julian Fortney, Seth Axen, Patrick Shih, Nicholas Bouskill, Benjamin Bowen, Cheryl Kerfeld, Ferran Garcia-Pichel and Eoin Brodie. More>
Planning for Future Research in Magnetism and Spintronics at the ALS
Friday, June 14th, 2013
The Advanced Light Source excels at ARPES — angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy — which directly maps a material’s electronic structure using electrons emitted when x-rays strike its surface. When it comes to magnetism and spintronics, progress in both these fast-rising fields demands new experimental tools, however. Electron spin determines magnetic properties and can control how charged currents flow. Alexei Fedorov, Chris Jozwiak, and Zahid Hussain of the ALS and Peter Fischer of the Materials Sciences Division have proposed an instrument that would be unique in the United States for a deeper understanding of the role of spin: spin-resolved ARPES. More>
New Imaging Technique Captures Ever-Changing World of Metabolites
Thursday, June 13th, 2013
What would you do with a camera that can take a picture of something and tell you how new it is? If you’re Katherine Louie, Ben Bowen, Jian-Hua Mao, and Trent Northen of the Life Sciences Division, you use it to gain a better understanding of the ever-changing world of metabolites, the molecules that drive life-sustaining chemical transformations within cells. They’re part of a team of researchers that developed a mass spectrometry imaging technique that not only maps the whereabouts of individual metabolites in a biological sample, but how new the metabolites are too. More>
Could Alkaline-Springs Bacteria Make Biofuel Processing More Efficient?
Wednesday, June 12th, 2013
Biofuel production requires breaking down feedstock lignin, then fermenting the sugary cellulosic remains. “Each additional step in the process adds to the cost,” says Michael Cohen, a visiting professor of biology at Sonoma State University who works with Tamas Torok and Hoi-Ying Holman of the Earth Sciences Division studying bacteria that could someday increase efficiency and reduce the cost of biofuel processing. “The species of bacteria we’re testing may be able to combine two important steps into one.” The bacteria, Cellulomonas FA1, reside in high-alkaline springs in The Cedars, a remote region of the California Coast Range. More>
Moving Select Computer Services to the Cloud Promises Significant Energy Savings
Wednesday, June 12th, 2013
A six-month study led by the Computational Research and Environmental Energy Technologies Divisions with funding from Google has found that moving common software applications used by 86 million U.S. workers to the cloud could save enough electricity annually to power Los Angeles for a year. The study, conducted with Northwestern University, is summarized in a report issued yesterday. More>
Test Bed to Aid Conversion of Solar Into Electrochemical Energy
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013
Joel Ager and Rachel Segalman of the Materials Sciences Division, working at the at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), led the development of the first fully integrated microfluidic test-bed for evaluating and optimizing solar-driven electrochemical energy conversion systems. This test-bed system has already been used to study schemes for photovoltaic electrolysis of water, and can be readily adapted to study proposed artificial photosynthesis and fuel cell technologies. Also working on this project were Miguel Modestino, Camilo Diaz-Botia, Sophia Haussener and Rafael Gomez-Sjoberg. More>
Participants Sought for Residential Hot Water Field Study
Monday, June 10th, 2013
Are you a homeowner who has to wait for hot water to reach your kitchen or bathroom faucets? Researchers with the Environmental Energy Technologies Division are conducting a study to explore the efficiency of hot water distribution systems and looking for participants who experience this problem. Participants must be 18 years of age or older, own and live in a Bay Area or Sacramento Area home with a single residential water heater, speak English in your home, and have internet access. Participants who complete the study will receive $100. Go here for more information and to register. Deadline is June 30.
More Fresh Air in Classrooms Means Fewer Absences
Thursday, June 6th, 2013
If you suspect that opening windows to let in fresh air might be good for you, a new study by Lab scientists has confirmed your hunch. Analyzing extensive data on ventilation rates collected from more than 150 classrooms in California over two years, the researchers found that bringing classroom ventilation rates up to the state-mandated standard may reduce student absences due to illness by approximately 3.4 percent. With this reduction in student absence, California’s school districts would gain $33 million annually in attendance-linked funding and families would avoid an estimated $80 million in caregiver costs due to having a sick child at home. More>
Increasing NMR/MRI Sensitivity Via Hyperpolarized Diamond Nuclei
Thursday, June 6th, 2013
As part of a collaboration between the research groups of Alex Pines and Dmitry Budker of the Materials Sciences Division, Vikram Bajaj led the first demonstration of a technique that enables magnetically-controlled nearly complete hyperpolarization of the spins of carbon-13 nuclei located near synthetic defects in diamond crystals. This spin hyperpolarization, which can be carried out with refrigerator-style magnets at room temperature, holds implications for enhancing NMR/MRI sensitivity in applications related to molecular and biomolecular detection, diamond-based quantum information processing, and nuclear spintronics. Also collaborating on this work were Hai-Jing Wang, Chang Shin, Claudia Avalos and Scott Seltzer. More>
