Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have produced a material they say can selectively capture specific heavy metals from wastewater, and do so with unmatched speed and precision down to the atomic level.

Scientists are reporting a new breakthrough in lithium metal battery research, demonstrating how an electrolyte made of soft and solid materials can prevent the formation of tree-like growths that normally prove fatal to the battery’s performance.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is an extremely powerful X-ray laser – and now it's about to get even more powerful. The second generation of the instrument has now achieved first light, with scientists demonstrating fine control of the beam.

Radiation is famously damaging to materials, but now engineers at MIT have been surprised to discover that radiation may actually help certain alloys to self-heal, extending their useful lifetime. This could help inform future power plant designs.

Whenever you try to improve steel, there are usually tradeoffs involved. It’s a balancing act between different properties. Now, engineers have developed a new type of “super steel” that defies this, staying strong while still resisting fractures.

The body protects itself from invading viruses and bacteria using antibodies, but when a new threat emerges it takes time for the body to produce new ones. A new system from Berkeley Lab should speed up the discovery of new artificial antibodies.

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a sort of “solar umbrella” which could radically reduce the amount of land needed for industrial evaporation ponds.

A promising new cancer drug will soon enter phase 2 clinical trials, after finding success in animal models and preliminary human studies. Known as AMG 510, the drug targets a gene mutation that’s one of the most common causes of cancer.

The closest thing we have to magnetic liquids are ferrofluids. But now, Berkeley Lab has managed to create the first permanently magnetic liquids, which could open up new avenues for electronics and robotics.

​How safe would you feel, going back into a multi-story building that had just been through an earthquake? A new sensor system could allay your fears, as it optically measures how much a building has swayed, and thus how damaged it may be.

​​Tiny glassy particles that litter the beaches near Hiroshima in Japan are likely the resolidified remains of the city destroyed by a US atomic bomb on the morning of August 6, 1945, according to the results of a newly published study.

The vast majority of plastic waste can’t be recycled, meaning it ends up in landfills or the ocean. To help curb the problem, researchers at Berkeley Lab have now designed a new type of plastic that can apparently be reduced right back to its molecular parts, before being remade over and over.