When it comes to nuclear power, the uranium at the heart of fuel rods is also this power source’s Achilles’ heel. When power plants shut down or the fuel rods in nuclear reactors become inefficient, the high-level nuclear waste resulting from the spent fuel created from running these plants could stay radioactive for thousands of years.…
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Susan Hubbard has been named Deputy for Science and Technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Berkeley Lab. News release from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, December 27, 2021 Susan Hubbard, an acclaimed scientific leader and researcher, has been named Deputy for Science and Technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her appointment…
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This news release appeared first at newscenter.lbl.gov A new study finds that plants are photosynthesizing more in response to more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but nowhere near enough to remove all emissions. (Credit: baona/iStock) Because plants take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into food, forests and other similar ecosystems are considered…
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This news release appeared first at newscenter.lbl.gov If you had a jar of marbles of many different colors but wanted only the green ones, how could you efficiently pick them out? What if it wasn’t marbles but a jar of glitter, and there was sand, glue, and mud mixed in? That begins to describe the…
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In recognition of her outstanding research during her PhD at the Iowa State University, Lin Meng, now a postdoctoral scholar with the NGEE-Tropics project in Berkeley Lab’s Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, has been awarded this year’s Science and SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For her…
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EESA research scientist Michelle Newcomer co-chaired a November 15-16 workshop to help inform and catalyze the DOE Earth and Environmental System Sciences Division’s (EESSD) growing interests and approaches to addressing the scientific and societal challenge of enhancing predictive understanding of integrated mountain hydro-climate. For the purposes of this workshop, integrated mountain hydroclimate is defined as…
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As society experiences increasingly frequent and severe natural hazard events and environmental stressors—the need to adapt to the changing climate has become starkly clear. But what actions are we taking to adapt to climate change around the world—and how successful are our efforts? A global network of 126 researchers (called the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative…
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This article appeared originally at newscenter.lbl.gov A model of the North American Regionally Refined Model grid showing the grid refinement that includes a 100-kilometer grid globally and 25 kilometers over North America. DOE’s Earth system model has been improved to create more realistic simulations of different ecosystem factors that are influenced by environmental changes. (Credit:…
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This article appeared initially at newscenter.lbl.gov Oil and gas fields in Elk Hills, California are part of Berkeley Lab’s SUMMATION project on methane monitoring. (Credit: Andrew Moyes/Berkeley Lab) Sébastien Biraud is a Berkeley Lab scientist leading an effort to identify and mitigate some of the largest emitters of methane in California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley.…
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When a plant is beleaguered by drought, contaminated soils, or any other stressor, the earliest and best indicators are often not obvious in its leaves, or stems, flowers or fruit. For crops or houseplants, shrubs or grasses, the early-warning signs of stress are out of sight, out of mind in the last place anyone ever…
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