Digging Deep: Harnessing the Power of Soil Microbes for More Sustainable Farming
Berkeley Lab’s ‘farm of the future’ project marries microbiology and machine learning
Read More Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program
EESA Researchers Study How to Sustainably Remediate Contaminated Soil and Groundwater in Wake of Extreme Events
Researchers from the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab are being recognized for developing advanced scientific tools that can inform how to sustainably remediate soil and groundwater contamination. Such remediation has become increasingly difficult in the wake of extreme climate events such as flooding. Hurricane Harvey, for example, caused flooding in 13 EPA-designated…
Read MoreEESA Mentoring Program Underway
The EESA Mentoring Pilot Program for FY2018 kicked off with two training sessions on January 11 for individuals grouped in pairs of 43 mentors and mentees from our Area who will meet over the next nine months. Mentors learned effective mentoring skills in a morning training with breakout sessions. Mentees gathered in an afternoon training…
Read MorePanel Discussion on Lab’s Water Technology Research Jan. 10
On Jan. 10 at noon in the Building 50 auditorium, five Lab scientists will discuss innovative solutions to improving the reliability, efficiency, and sustainability of water-energy systems in California and the nation. The event, “Big Ideas in Water Technology Research,” will be moderated by Peter Fiske, director of Berkeley Lab’s Water-Energy Resilience Research Institute, which…
Read MoreNew Environmental Resilience Program will be led by Haruko Wainwright
Research scientist Haruko Wainwright has been selected to lead a new initiative named “Environmental Resilience” within the Energy Geosciences Division.
Read MoreEESA Research Scientist Helps Describe Fukushima Restoration
UC Berkeley Center for Japanese Studies and the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab hosted a public event regarding the recovery and future in the Fukushima region after the nuclear accident. The event was held on Monday, October 30 at the David Brower Center on UC Berkeley’s campus. Research scientist Haruko Wainwright of EESA’s Climate Sciences…
Read MoreNovel Monitoring Strategy Uncovers New Insights to Arctic Ecosystems
Researchers in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental & Earth Sciences Area (EESA) have led the development of a new approach for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems, and have used the system to discover new insights about how processes in different compartments of an Arctic Tundra ecosystem interact over space and time.
Read MoreThe Art of Studying—and Sharing—Snowmelt Science in a Mountain Watershed
As an ecologist working with the Environmental & Earth Science Area’s Watershed Scientific Focus Area (SFA), Heidi Steltzer and her research assistant, Chelsea Wilmer, spend a lot of time conducting fieldwork in the picturesque Colorado mountains. Now, as she’s studying snowmelt and its effects on plant growth in Crested Butte, Colorado, Steltzer is bringing the SFA’s science to a much wider audience.
Read MoreNew Clues About the Roles of Subsurface Microbes in Globally Important Cycles
Jill Banfield's research team provides new clues about the roles of subsurface microbes in globally important cycles and adds new branches to the tree of life.
Read MoreNew Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination
Using the award-winning PhyloChip, a credit card-sized device that can detect the presence of more than 60,000 species of bacteria and archaea, a new method was found that was more sensitive than conventional methods at assessing health risks of microbially contaminated water.
Read More