Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos Wins Wolf Prize in Chemistry

Paul Alivisatos, Berkeley Lab director and UC Berkeley professor, has won the prestigious Wolf Foundation Prize in Chemistry for 2012. Alivisatos is an internationally recognized authority on nanochemistry and a pioneer in the synthesis of semiconductor quantum dots and multi-shaped artificial nanostructures.

Biofuels, land and ethics

Growing dedicated energy crops on lands that won’t support food crops is one of the promises of emerging cellulosic fuels.Bioenergy Connection looks at how much land is available, its energy-producing potential and which plants are the most promising alternatives.

The Next Big Step Toward Atom-Specific Dynamical Chemistry

Chemists hope to understand precisely how electrical charges flow and different forms of energy move within molecules and across molecular boundaries. Berkeley Lab scientists are using powerful lasers to devise future light sources that can do the most demanding experiments

Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design

Undergraduate and graduate students teamed up with biologist Robert Full to study how lizards use their tails when leaping. What they found can help design robots that are more stable on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls, which is critical to successful search and rescue operations.

Stellar discovery

It takes more than luck to find a supernova. California magazine offers a behind-the-scenes look at the organized search for these astronomical objects, and the role played by scientists at Berkeley.