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Lynne Ecker works on materials in radiation environments at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and NSLS-II at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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Brookhaven Lab scientists reveal the atomic-scale structural and electronic degradations that plague some rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and make them vulnerable during high-temperature operations

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Nathalie Bouet's research is focused on developing thin-film samples for new x-ray optics—in particular, multilayer Laue lenses for x-rays nanofocusing.

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The National Synchrotron Light Source II detects its first photons, beginning a new phase of the facility’s operations. Scientific experiments at NSLS-II are expected to begin before the end of the year.

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Building on its capabilities in computational science and data management, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory is embarking upon a major new Computational Science Initiative (CSI). This program will leverage computational science expertise and investments across multiple programs at the Laboratory-including the flagship facilities that attract thousands of scientific users each year-further establishing Brookhaven as a leader in tackling the "big data" challenges at the frontiers of scientific discovery.

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This joint Brookhaven Lab/Fermilab news release describes new high-speed transatlantic data-sharing links that will provide U.S. scientists with enhanced access to data at the Large Hadron Collider and other European-based experiments.

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Scientists reveal crucial steps and surprising structures in the genesis of the enzyme that divides the DNA double helix during cell replication

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A series of detailed genetic studies points scientists to a new way to dramatically increase the accumulation of oil in plant leaves, an abundant source of biomass for fuel production.

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The Daya Bay Collaboration, an international group of scientists studying the subtle transformations of subatomic particles called neutrinos, is publishing its first results on the search for a so-called sterile neutrino, a possible new type of neutrino beyond the three known neutrino "flavors," or types. The existence of this elusive particle, if proven, would have a profound impact on our understanding of the universe, and could impact the design of future neutrino experiments.

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The Daya Bay Collaboration, an international group of scientists studying the subtle transformations of subatomic particles called neutrinos, is publishing its first results on the search for a so-called sterile neutrino, a particle that could have a profound impact on our understanding of the universe. US Daya Bay Chief Scientist Steve Kettell of Brookhaven National Laboratory offers commentary on the implications of this research.

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A new grant just awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will fund the operation of a suite of powerful experimental tools for Life Sciences research at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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To isolate quantum fluctuations that define the properties of a metallic material, scientists probed it at temperatures colder than interstellar space. The research provides new methods to identify and understand promising new materials, including superconductors.

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New supercomputing calculations provide the first evidence that particles predicted by the theory of quark-gluon interactions but never before observed are being produced in heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).

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Brookhaven Lab scientists discover surprising head-to-head charge polarizations that impede performance in next-gen materials that might revolutionize data-driven devices

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Using a new method to track the electrochemical reactions in a common electric vehicle battery material under operating conditions, scientists have revealed new insight into why fast charging inhibits this material’s performance. The results could inform battery makers' efforts to optimize materials for faster-charging batteries with higher capacity.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new catalytic system for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) to methanol-a key commodity used to create a wide range of industrial chemicals and fuels. With significantly higher activity than other catalysts now in use, the new system could make it easier to get normally unreactive CO2 to participate in these reactions.

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Columbia researchers used Brookhaven Lab supercomputer simulations to discover unexpected transitions in graphene and other promising super materials under strain.

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Scientists running the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful "atom smasher," report the first evidence of a process that can be used to test the mechanism by which the recently discovered Higgs particle imparts mass to other fundamental particles.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced an extension of funding totaling $14 million over four years for the Center for Emergent Superconductivity, an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Brookhaven Lab with partners from the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory.

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Scientists have used DNA-linked nanoparticles to form a single-particle-thick layer on a liquid surface where the properties of the layer can be easily switched. Understanding the assembly of such nanostructured thin films provides a possible pathway to adjustable filters, surfaces with variable mechanical response, or even new ways to deliver genes for biomedical applications.

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A collaboration from several DOE national labs--Berkeley, Brookhaven, SLAC, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory--mapped the nanoscale dynamics of lithium-ion charge cycles and discovered never-before-seen evolution and degradation patterns in two key battery materials.

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Plant scientists find fatty acid desaturating enzymes link up to pass intermediate products from one enzyme to another. Engineering these enzyme interactions could be a new approach for tailoring plants to produce useful products.

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Detailed studies of a material as it transforms from an insulator through the “pseudogap" into a full-blown superconductor links two “personality” changes of electrons at a critical point.

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Scientists seeking ways to synchronize the magnetic spins in nanoscale devices to build tiny yet more powerful signal-generating or receiving antennas and other electronics have published a study showing that stacked nanoscale magnetic vortices separated by an extremely thin layer of copper can be driven to operate in unison. These devices could potentially produce a powerful signal that could be put to work in a new generation of cell phones, computers, and other applications.

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Using principles of energy transfer more commonly applied to designing solar cells, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new highly sensitive way to detect specific sequences of DNA, the genetic material unique to every living thing. As described in a paper published in the journal Chemistry of Materials, the method is considerably less costly than other DNA assays and has widespread potential for applications in forensics, medical diagnostics, and the detection of bioterror agents.

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Accelerator physicist Stephen Brooks uses custom designed software to create a 3-D virtual model of the electron accelerator Brookhaven physicists hope to build inside the tunnel currently housing the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).

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Scientists used ultrafast x-ray pulses to capture the disappearance of charge stripes that may be key to understanding room-temperature superconductivity

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A new study overturns a long-held theory in plant science, showing that plant sugars--not the the plant hormone auxin-- play a dominant role in regulating branching at plant stems.

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By smashing together ordinary atomic nuclei at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), scientists recreate the primordial soup of the early universe thousands of times per second. Using sophisticated detectors to track what happens as exotic particles emerge from the collision zone and “freeze out” into more familiar forms of matter, they are turning up interesting details about how the transition takes place.

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Scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have made the first 3D observations of how the structure of a lithium-ion battery anode evolves at the nanoscale in a real battery cell as it discharges and recharges. The details of this research could point to new ways to engineer battery materials to increase the capacity and lifetime of rechargeable batteries.

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The Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) named Emil Bozin, a condensed matter physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, the recipient of their 2014 Science Prize for breakthrough research linking nanoscale form and function.

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Advances in accelerators built for fundamental physics research have inspired improved cancer treatment facilities. But will one of the most promising—a carbon ion treatment facility—be built in the U.S.? Participants at a symposium organized by Brookhaven Lab for the 2014 AAAS meeting explored the science and surrounding issues.

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The Russian Ministry of Education and Science has awarded a $3.4 million "mega-grant" to Alexei Klimentov, scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, to develop new "big data" computing tools for the advancement of science.

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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have combined atoms with multiple orbitals and precisely pinned down their electron distributions. Using advanced electron diffraction techniques, the scientists discovered that orbital fluctuations in iron-based compounds induce strongly coupled polarizations that can enhance electron pairing—the essential mechanism behind superconductivity.

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Run 14 at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) will feature a dramatic improvement in machine performance enabling detailed studies of the quark-gluon plasma of the early universe and its transition to the matter we see in the universe today.

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2013 was a banner year for science at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory—from our contributions to Nobel Prize-winning research to new insights into catalysts, superconductors, and other materials key to advancing energy-efficient technologies.

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Before catalysis unfolds in a laboratory, scientists painstakingly assemble the materials and spark a reaction. But many experimental techniques only capture the static details before and after the reaction. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated an unprecedented ability to peer into the dynamic, real-time reactions blazing along at scales spanning just billionths of a meter, producing a sort of play-by-play view of the chemistry in action.

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Scientists have developed a new set of molecular tools for controlling the production of (poly)phenols, plant compounds important for flavors, human health, and biofuels.

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In a study published in the journal Chemical Communications, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and Syracuse University show that shrinking the core of a quantum dot can enhance the ability of a surrounding polymer to extract electric charges generated in the dot by the absorption of light.

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New analyses of deuteron-gold collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider indicate that collisions between gold ions and much smaller deuterons, designed as control experiments, may be serving up miniscule drops of hot quark-gluon plasma.

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Scientists create surfaces with differently shaped nanoscale textures that may yield improved materials for applications in transportation, energy, and diagnostics.

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Scientists have developed a general approach for combining different types of nanoparticles to produce large-scale composite materials. The technique opens many opportunities for mixing and matching particles with different magnetic, optical, or chemical properties to form new, multifunctional materials or materials with enhanced performance for a wide range of potential applications.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified the key genes required for oil production and accumulation in plant leaves and other vegetative plant tissues. Enhancing expression of these genes resulted in vastly increased oil content in leaves, the most abundant sources of plant biomass-a finding that could have important implications for increasing the energy content of plant-based foods and renewable biofuel feedstocks.

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Scientists introduce a general theoretical approach that describes all known forms of high-temperature superconductivity and their "intertwined" phases.

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A group of theoretical physicists has solved half of a 50-year homework assignment—a calculation of one type of subatomic particle decay aimed at helping to answer the question of why the early universe ended up with an excess of matter.

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Calculations plus experimental data help map nuclear phase diagram, offering insight into transition that mimics formation of visible matter in the universe today.

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Researchers have developed a new kind of “x-ray vision”—a way to peer inside real-world devices such as batteries and catalysts to map the internal nanostructures and properties of the various components, and even monitor how properties evolve as the devices operate.

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Brookhaven Lab scientists use simple, ‘green’ process to create novel core-shell catalyst that tolerates carbon monoxide in fuel cells and opens new, inexpensive pathways for zero-emission vehicles

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Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory used an indirect method to detect fluctuating "stripes" of charge density in a material closely related to a superconductor. The research identifies a key signature to look for in superconductors as scientists seek ways to better understand and engineer these materials for future energy-saving applications.

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The international Daya Bay Collaboration has announced new results about the transformations of neutrinos - elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early universe. The latest findings include the collaboration's first data on how neutrino oscillation varies with neutrino energy, allowing the measurement of a key difference in neutrino masses known as "mass splitting."