Category Archives: LBL
Berkeley scientist advises on clean-up in gulf oil spill
By Jane Tierney
A Berkeley scientist who is advising British Petroleum is cautioning against the use of too many detergents to clean up the vast oil spill in the gulf.
Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and a leading bioremediation expert, is advising authorities that using detergents to clean up oil-contaminated sites may make matters worse. They might cause their own environmental problems.
Instead, Hazen suggests that biomediation, a process that uses microorganisms, enzymes, fungi or green plants to repair a natural environment compromised by contaminants, might be a better approach.
“It is important to remember that oil is a biological product and can be degraded by microbes, both on and beneath the surface of the water,” said Hazen. “Some of the detergents that are typically used to clean-up spill sites are more toxic than the oil itself, in which case it would be better to leave the site alone and allow microbes to do what they do best.”
Hazen, the head of the ecology department at Berkeley Lab, is advising BP on behalf of the Department of Energy.
Hazen is also managing two research vessels in the gulf, staffed by international scientific crews from Canada, Australia and the U.S. They are sampling the gulf beaches and deep water for toxicity and levels of contamination.
Hazen has also appeared widely in the news, including an appearance on KQED’s Forum with Michael Krasny. Hazen will be on NBC Nightly News tonight.
Experts estimate that 29 million gallons of oil have leaked out of the broken BP underwater well, making the spill the largest in U.S. history. In attempts to contain the spreading oil slick and protect the fragile ecosystems of the gulf region, clean up crews have resorted to an array of oil skimmers, booms and chemical dispersants, as well as burning off the surface oil. Such extreme clean up measures are rife with unintended consequences, said Hazen.
“There are newer dispersants, such as the Correctix 9500 that have not been tested by EPA, and can have toxic effects on specific marine life,” said Hazen. … Continue reading »
Berkeley chemist wins $500,000 prize
Carolyn Bertozzi (right), who holds appointments in both chemistry and molecular and cell biology at Berkeley, has won the 2010 Lemelson-MIT Prize for “her pioneering inventions in the field of biotechnology”. The $500,000 prize has been dubbed the “Oscar for inventors”, and is awarded to outstanding mid-career inventors “who have developed a patented product or process of significant value to society”.
Bertozzi was cited for a number of specific contributions. She developed the concept of bioorthogonal chemical … Continue reading »
The 83-year old rock star professor at Cal
Marian Diamond is a rock star of UC Berkeley.
At 83, with her hair swept up in a chignon and always elegantly dressed, Diamond’s classes on Integrative Biology routinely draw more than 750 students.
But that is not the source of her popularity. She is a rock star because she has gone viral.
Diamond’s lectures on human anatomy have been posted on You Tube. One of her lectures is the second-most popular “open education” lecture … Continue reading »
It took the German Chancellor three days to get home from Berkeley
When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Lawrence Berkeley Lab last Thursday morning, she thought she would end the day by flying back home.
She didn’t reach Germany until Sunday.
Like millions of people, Merkel’s travel plans were disrupted by the huge cloud of volcanic ash that has spread across northern Europe. The ash cloud has forced the cancellation of all airplane flights, including those, it appears, of heads of state.
Merkel spent Thursday morning at the lab … Continue reading »
Tight security = Head of state at Berkeley
All that extra security in Berkeley today was for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the Berkeley Lawrence Lab on her swing through the Bay Area.
There are more than 100 German staff scientists and postdoctoral students working at Berkeley Lab, and Merkel planned to take a photo with them. She probably kept up her end of the conversation, too, as she has a doctorate in physics.
Don’t feel bad for Stanford. Merkel went there, too.
It … Continue reading »
The Berkeley Wire: 4.14.10
Bay Area News Group wins top journalism award for East Bay expose [Coco Times]
Police misconduct allegations after student arrest at car crash [Daily Cal]
On location for Aurora’s “John Gabriel Borkman” [Stark Silver Creek]
Berkeley Lab scientists create “molecular paper” [E Science News]
Center for Investigative Reporting wins $440K community health grant [SF Biz Times]
New show in town: “Girlfriend” opens tonight at the Rep [Berkeley Rep]
Photo: American Apparel on Telegraph by kukkurovaca/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Berkeley Lab measures its economic impact
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory generated 5,600 jobs and $446.5 million in personal income, and contributed $690 million to the Bay Area’s economy in 2009, according to an economic impact study prepared by CBRE Consulting of San Francisco. The same study concludes that Berkeley Lab was responsible for creating more than 12,000 jobs nationally. The report also reckons that over the last 20 years, the 30 startup companies based on Berkeley Lab technologies contributed $904 million … Continue reading »
The Berkeley Wire: 3.31.10
Berkeley pier (above): once led to ferry, now to fish [SF Chronicle]
Berkeley hit and run driver injures one, destroys two cars [Berkeley Voice]
Lawrence Berkeley Lab to build new research facility with $18m grant [SF Biz Times]
Credit card skimming scam suspected in Berkeley [SF Chronicle]
Berkeley climber tells of stranded partner on Mount Shasta [Oakland Tribune]
Photo of Berkeley pier by pixieclipx/Flickr creative commons.
Update 20.07: Reader Jenny Wenk adds this interesting footnote to the Chronicle’s Berkeley pier story: The S. F. Chronicle article on the Berkeley pier neglects an important bit of history. in 1960 or 1961 a fire started at the far end of the pier. My husband, who was night Harbor Master, and a friend of his with Model A pick up helped the Berkeley Fire Department get hoses, axes and other equipment out to the fire. Obviously driving several ton fire engines out the pier wasn’t a good idea since the fire was jumping from spot to spot. This explains the current state of the remains of the pier and why people can take their sail boats through some of the gaps. If they know the waters well.
The Berkeley Wire: 3.22.10
Mr Bauer pleasantly surprised at the new Vik’s Chaat Corner [Chronicle]
Shotgun Players’ Patrick Dooley on John Hinkel Park [New York Times]
Alice Waters talks edible gardens in Louisiana and… [New Orleans Examiner]
…Alice Waters explains why she’s so over France [Financial Times]
Old concerns over a new plan for Downtown [New York Times]
Berkeley Labs nabs $13.5m for breast cancer research [SF Business Times]
Berkeley leaders seeing nothing but red [NBC Bay Area]
Photo: Jef Poskanzer/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Welcome the Rosenfeld
If Berkeley wasn’t already blushing from its dominance in scientific nomenclature* it looks like another local name may be immortalized. In a refereed article in Environmental Research Letters, a group of scientists propose that a unit of electricity savings be named the Rosenfeld, after Arthur Rosenfeld, “the godfather of energy efficiency” (photo right).
The proposed Rosenfeld is defined as savings of 3 billion kilowatt-hours per year, the amount necessary to replace the generation of a 500 megawatt … Continue reading »
