Supercomputing and the search for supernovae

Berkeley Lab's Peter Nugent discusses "Supercomputing and the search for supernovae" in this Oct. 28, 2013 talk, which is part of a Science at the Theater event entitled Eight Big Ideas.

 

The Higgs and all that. How the universe works and why we should care

Berkeley Lab's Ian Hinchliffe discusses "The Higgs and all that. How the universe works and why we should care" in this Oct. 28, 2013 talk, which is part of a Science at the Theater event entitled Eight Big Ideas.

 

Imaging atoms in 3-D

Berkeley Lab's Peter Ercius discusses "Imaging atoms in 3-D" in this Oct. 28, 2013 talk, which is part of a Science at the Theater event entitled Eight Big Ideas.

 

Coming to a hospital near you: mass spectrometry imaging

Berkeley Lab's Ben Bowen discusses "Coming to a hospital near you: mass spectrometry imaging" in this Oct. 28, 2013 talk, which is part of a Science at the Theater event entitled Eight Big Ideas.

 

Generating electricity from viruses

Berkeley Lab's Seung-Wuk Lee discusses "Generating electricity from viruses" in this Oct. 28, 2013 talk, which is part of a Science at the Theater event entitled Eight Big Ideas.

 

Rare Type 1a Supernova Progenitor System Observed

The multi-institutional Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) team has released the first-ever direct observations of a Type 1a supernova progenitor system. Astronomers have collected evidence indicating that the progenitor system of a Type 1a supernova, called PTF 11kx, contains a red giant star. This artist's conception shows a binary star system that produces recurrent novae, and ultimately, the supernova PTF 11kx. A red giant star (foreground) loses some of its outer layers though a stellar wind, and some of it forms a disk around a companion white dwarf star. This material falls onto the white dwarf, causing it to experience periodic nova eruptions every few decades. When the mass builds up to the near the ultimate limit a white dwarf star can take, it explodes as a Type Ia supernova, destroying the white dwarf. (Animation credit: Romano Corradi and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)

 

Virus-based piezoelectric energy generator

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity. The milestone could lead to tiny devices that harvest electrical energy from the vibrations of everyday tasks. The first part of the video shows how Berkeley Lab scientists harness the piezoelectric properties of the virus to convert the force of a finger tap into electricity. The second part reveals the "viral-electric" generators in action, first by pressing only one of the generators, then by pressing two at the same time, which produces more current.

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Science at the Theater: Extreme Science

On Feb. 27, 2012 at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, four Berkeley Lab scientists presented talks related to extreme science - and what it means to you. Topics include: Neutrino hunting in Antarctica. Learn why Spencer Klein goes to the ends of the Earth to search for these ghostly particles. From Chernobyl to Central Asia, Tamas Torok travels the globe to study microbial diversity in extreme environments. Andrew Minor uses the world's most advanced electron microscopes to explore materials at ultrahigh stresses and in harsh environments. And microbes that talk to computers? Caroline Ajo-Franklin is pioneering cellular-electrical connections that could help transform sunlight into fuel.