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Berkeley Lab Receives DOE Support for Building to Study Microbe-Ecosystem Interactions for Energy and Environmental Research

July 30, 2019

Scientists collect samples in the Rocky Mountains as part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area project. (Credit: Roy Kaldschmidt/Berkeley Lab) The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) recently received federal approval to proceed with preliminary design work for a state-of-the-art building that would revolutionize investigations into how interactions among microbes, water, soil,…

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Berkeley Lab Study Provides New Insights Into Measuring Aquifer Recharge in Semi-Arid Regions

June 5, 2018

Berkeley Lab researchers who study aquifer recharge and groundwater quality measured concentrations and isotopic composition of the trace element Strontium (Sr) in groundwater to evaluate how local topography affects the amount of groundwater recharge across a semi-dry riparian floodplain in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Their study location was the Rifle Site, one of 18 former…

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Living Large: Exploration of Diverse Bacteria Signals Big Advance for Gene Function Prediction

June 1, 2018

Romy Chakraborty in her research lab

This article was authored by Massie S. Ballon for the Joint Genome Institute. Ecology Department Head Romy Chakraborty participated in this research on behalf of EESA.   In the air, beneath the ocean’s surface, and on land, microbes are the minute but mighty forces regulating much of the planet’s biogeochemical cycles. To better understand their…

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Tool created at Geosciences Measurement Facility Enables Unprecedented Look at Subsurface Rock Fractures

June 1, 2018

A new instrument developed at the Geosciences Measurement Facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will help scientists working to identify ways to improve enhanced geothermal systems technologies to expand access to clean energy. Two of the instruments, called SIMFIP (Step-Rate Injection Method for Fracture In-Situ Properties), were installed in late May nearly 5,000 feet below…

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EESA Early Career Researchers Learn What It’s Like Across Berkeley Lab

June 1, 2018

When not at work researching Arctic permafrost microbes or mountainous watersheds, research scientists Neslihan Taş (above left) and Erica Woodburn (above right) are out and about learning what it’s like across Berkeley Lab with fellow recipients of Early Career research awards from the Department of Energy, Berkeley Lab, and UC Berkeley. In December, Berkeley Lab…

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EESA Faculty Scientist Tapped to Discuss Climate Change and Wildfire Risk Before California State Senate

May 4, 2018

Jeff Chambers, faculty scientist within the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division at Berkeley Lab, provided testimony relevant to the impact of climate change on wildfire risk. The subject was the focus of the first informational joint hearing of the California State Assembly Subcommittee on Resources and Transportation and the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management. California…

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Post Energy Geosciences Division Energy Resources Program Domain Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program GC-Resilient Systems GC-Sustainable Earth Resilient Energy Uncategorized

EESA Research Scientist Helps Describe Fukushima Restoration

October 24, 2017

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…

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Celebrating Our Earth for Earth Day!

April 20, 2017

Colony cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, is a bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis, under microscope, 3D illustration. Cr. Romanenko Alexey. Shutterstock.

Thank you, cyanobacteria! We humans exist because of tiny organisms—cyanobacteria, or blue-green bacteria—that evolved about 2.7 billion years ago. They flourished in Earth’s warm oceans of that time. They released oxygen gases from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight—the process called photosynthesis. As cyanobacteria created more free oxygen, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere reached…

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