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"Water, water, everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink." These words, written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the 18th century, may soon describe the 21st. In fact, access to fresh water is already an issue of global concern. Scientists involved in UC Berkeley's Keck HydroWatch Center, established in 2006, are hoping to correct our sketchy comprehension of the water cycle by delving into a study so detailed that the water will have nowhere to hide.

Here’s a pollution-control tip from nature: Deep inside a flooded mine in Wisconsin, scientists from several institutions including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a world in which bacteria emit proteins that sweep up metal nanoparticles into immobile clumps. Their finding may lead to innovative ways to remediate subsurface metal toxins. “We have found, in the environment, that cells release proteins and polypeptides which promote the aggregation of nanoparticulate metals,” says John Moreau, lead author of the study and a former PhD student in UC Berkeley’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

The Energy Biosciences Institute, the world’s largest public/private consortium dedicated to the application of biosciences to the energy sector, has announced an initial set of 49 research projects for funding during the first year of EBI’s 10-year program.

Imagine a technology that would not only provide a green and renewable source of electrical energy, but could also help scrub the atmosphere of excessive carbon dioxide resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. That’s the promise of artificial versions of photosynthesis, the process by which green plants have been converting solar energy into electrochemical energy for millions of years. To get there, however, scientists need a far better understanding of how Nature does it, starting with the harvesting of sunlight and the transporting of this energy to electrochemical reaction centers.

A new study led by a UC Berkeley biologist sheds light on the factors influencing the stalled growth of the severely endangered Puerto Rican parrot, and in turn, provides an analytical tool that could help pinpoint the biggest factors hindering the recovery of other endangered species.

Three researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have proposed an innovative way to improve global climate change predictions by using a supercomputer with low-power embedded microprocessors, an approach that would overcome limitations posed by today’s conventional supercomputers.

Twenty-three projects aimed at helping people live more sustainably have been granted a total of $2 million through a new program at the University of California, Berkeley, that is funded by the Dow Chemical Co. Foundation.

Officials will gather today (Tuesday, April 29) to celebrate the University of California, Berkeley's first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-silver certified building - the Haste Street Child Development Center - which also is the state's first freestanding LEED-silver certified child care center.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau outlined for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday the efforts underway on campus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and discussed research initiatives that have made Berkeley a leading center on energy research and education.

Reflecting the growing importance of sustainability on campus, Berkeley’s fifth annual summit on the issue is expanding to a half-day, with workshops on everything from greening your own life to the energy frontier far beyond fossil fuels.