The high cost of producing photovoltaic cells has been cited as the main obstacle in expanding solar energy’s reach. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Nanocrystal Solar Cell technology, funded by the DOE Office of Science, has the potential to bring solar energy to the marketplace at fossil fuel prices. In 2010, Solexant (www.solexant.com), the San Jose start-up with … [Read more...] about Rolling Out Affordable Solar Energy
Low Swirl Injector Stands Combustion Theory on Its Head
Combustion is one of the earliest chemical processes studied by humans. Yet just a few years ago a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) stood combustion theory on its head by developing an ultralow-emissions combustion technology for gas turbines that significantly reduces greenhouse emissions and pollution from electricity production. LBNL’s low NOx … [Read more...] about Low Swirl Injector Stands Combustion Theory on Its Head
Berkeley Lab’s PhyloChip Enables Tracking of Bacterial Dangers
In 1675 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek asked, “what’s out there?,” before he discovered the existence of microorganisms. Now, over 300 years later, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) are able to accurately and quickly test for over 8,000 bacterial species with a device that fits into a person’s hand – a microbial detection power previously … [Read more...] about Berkeley Lab’s PhyloChip Enables Tracking of Bacterial Dangers
Quantum Dots Outshine the Competition for Biomedical Assays
Quantum Dots (Qdots), nano-scale semiconductor crystals that emit a range of bright colors when excited by a light source such as a laser, are shining brightly these days. The Berkeley Lab developed technology has been licensed by Quantum Dot Corporation and is being used as fluorescence probes for biomedical assays. The technology just won an R & D 100 Award and Quantum … [Read more...] about Quantum Dots Outshine the Competition for Biomedical Assays
Berkeley Lab and CBI Collaborate on CCDs for Neurotoxin Detection
In the future, biological/electronic chip implants may be able to restore mental function, the use of limbs, and eyesight. In the near future, in vitro neural networks consisting of millions of living, interconnected nerve cells, will be used to test drugs and sense neurotoxins. Before any of this can happen, however, scientists must learn how neurons in the human system … [Read more...] about Berkeley Lab and CBI Collaborate on CCDs for Neurotoxin Detection