Latest UC Berkeley Stories
Prospecting for new and unusual cellulose-digesting enzymes for biofuels productionBy Robert Sanders, UC BerkeleyBioprospectors from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine have found a microbe in a Nevada hot spring that happily eats plant material "“ cellulose "“ at temperatures near the boiling point of water.In fact, the microbe's cellulose-digesting enzyme, called a cellulase, is most active at a record 109 degrees Celsius (228...
Anyone with Internet access can generate online content and influence public opinion, according to popular belief. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the social Web is becoming more of a playground for the affluent than a digital democracy.Despite the proliferation of social media "“ with Twitter and Facebook touted as playing pivotal roles in such pro-democracy movements as the Arab Spring "“ the bulk of today's blogs, websites and...
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated a new technology for graphene that could break the current speed limits in digital communications.The team of researchers, led by UC Berkeley engineering professor Xiang Zhang, built a tiny optical device that uses graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of crystallized carbon, to switch light on and off. This switching ability is the fundamental characteristic of a network modulator, which controls the speed at which data...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Moms-to-be who consume certain foods sprayed with pesticides may put their child at risk for having a lower IQ. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health found that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides (used widely on food crops) is linked to lower intelligence scores at age 7.Organophosphates (OP) are a class of pesticides that are well-known neurotoxicants. Chlorpyrifos and diazinon, two commonly used OP pesticides, have...
Online calculator allows households around the country to track -- and try to reduce -- carbon footprintTips to reduce your carbon footprint frequently include buying compact florescent light bulbs, taking your own bag to the grocery store or buying local produce. But how much difference do these actions make?A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that who you are and where you live make a big difference in which activities have the largest...
Attempt to measure biomagnetism in plants sets upper limit for what they generateSearching for magnetic fields produced by plants may sound as wacky as trying to prove the existence of telekinesis or extrasensory perception, but physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, are seriously looking for biomagnetism in plants using some of the most sensitive magnetic detectors available.In an article that appeared this week in the Journal of Applied Physics, the UC Berkeley scientists...
By Yasmin Anwar, University of California, BerkeleyA sleepless night can make us cranky and moody. But a lesser known side effect of sleep deprivation is short-term euphoria, which can potentially lead to poor judgment and addictive behavior, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.Researchers at UC Berkeley and Harvard Medical School studied the brains of healthy young adults and found that their pleasure circuitry got a big boost after a missed night's sleep....
A major milestone in microfluidics could soon lead to stand-alone, self-powered chips that can diagnose diseases within minutes. The device, developed by an international team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Dublin City University in Ireland and Universidad de ValparaÃso Chile, is able to process whole blood samples without the use of external tubing and extra components.The researchers have dubbed the device SIMBAS, which stands for Self-powered Integrated...
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have learned to control the quantum pathways determining how light scatters in graphene. Controlled scattering provides a new tool for the study of this unique material "“ graphene is a single sheet of carbon just one atom thick "“ and may point to practical applications for controlling light and electronic states in graphene nanodevices.The...
Carbon footprint calculator provides new awareness of global climate change, encourages "living green" and invites individuals and organizations to protect endangered resources and combat climate change by reducing CO2 emissions. Los Angeles, CA (Vocus/PRWEB) March 14, 2011 Like it or not, climate change is everyone's problem. That's why Cuipo has just launched an advanced online carbon footprint calculator in partnership with UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab. It...
Latest UC Berkeley Reference Libraries
Einsteinium is a metallic synthetic element with the symbol Es and atomic number 99. It became the seventh transuranic (atomic number higher than 99) element produced. It was named for Albert Einstein. It is an element found within the actinoid series which includes Actinium. Though it has only been produced in small amounts, it has been accurately determined to be silver in coloration. Like all synthetic elements, einsteinium isotopes are highly radioactive and are extremely toxic. Besides...
