Berkeley Lab’s Top 10 Science Stories of 2020 It was a year dominated by COVID-19 research, along with some beetles, batteries, and a Nobel Prize December 22, 2020 T he coronavirus pandemic has taught us many valuable lessons this year, and perhaps foremost among them is the importance of science. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have always strived to find science-based solutions for society’s most pressing issues. This year our scientists, while continuing to focus on the immense challenges of energy, climate change, and understanding the mysteries of the universe, also stepped up to face an unprecedented health crisis, using their expertise in everything from nanoscience to machine learning to contribute new knowledge to COVID-19.