Top Posts of 2019
Department of Energy, Office of ScienceFrom nanoparticles to algae ecology, the Office of Science supported a variety of research in 2019.
From nanoparticles to algae ecology, the Office of Science supported a variety of research in 2019.
To understand why very large molecules behave the way they do inside cells, scientists must first understand the relationship between these molecules’ structure and motion. Engineers created algorithms that provide the physics backbone for a new “microscope in a computer.”
Isotope “labeling” techniques replace specific atoms in a compound with an isotope that can be detected by its neutron count.
Where two unusual materials meet, scientists have seen promising behaviors for energy storage, medicine, and more. An international team of users and Foundry staff wrote a set of design rules that they then used to direct the self-assembly of the crystals and the cages into new types sheet-like structures.
The South Pole Telescope is one of the tools scientists are using to understand the earliest history of our universe. To check out the Department of Energy’s (DOE) investment in this project, DOE Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar visited the facility last week.
The SNO+ experiment has made new measurements of the lifetime of the proton. It also measured how the flow of solar neutrinos changes over time as well as the energy spectrum of those neutrinos.
A popular microscopy tool can give false results about certain materials’ properties. Scientists have developed a new quantitative approach to identifying and removing these artifacts. This new technique will provide a clear way to distinguish false motions from the sample’s true electromechanical phenomena in materials.
Nuclear physicists have developed a non-invasive way to measure the “spin tune” of polarized protons.
Christina Markert is a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Texas in Austin.
Ivan Bazarov is a professor in the Department of Physics at Cornell University.
Yuantao Ding is a staff scientist at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Artificial versions of small proteins, called peptoids, can readily self-assemble into tiny sheets, which gives them a great deal of potential for use in medicine, sensing, and other fields. An international team led by Foundry scientists discovered that peptoids could change shape when they form a nanosheet.
Scientists have demonstrated a new micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) resonator. By using this device with a hard (higher energy) X-ray, scientists can now control how long the X-ray pulses are, down to 300 picoseconds long.
This new research shows how the ligands affect key structural and mechanical properties of the superlattices.
The Big Questions series features perspectives from the five recipients of the Department of Energy Office of Science’s 2019 Distinguished Scientists Fellows Award describing their research and what they plan to do with the award. Josh Frieman is the division head of particle physics at Fermilab.
Antonino Miceli is the group leader of the Detectors Group in the X-ray Science Division of the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, a senior fellow at the Northwestern Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, and a senior scientist at the University of Chicago Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering.
Youssef M. Marzouk is an associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-director of the MIT Center for Computational Engineering. He is also a core member of MIT's Statistics and Data Science Center and Director of MIT’s Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette has issued the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) second Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a funding opportunity for up to $24 million for new grants under the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR).
Astronauts are extending the life of the DOE's Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer aboard the International Space Station.
In the 1980s, Saul Perlmutter at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and his collaborators realized that they could use data about supernovae to research the history of the universe. They expected to see that very distant supernovae appear a bit brighter than they would in an expanding universe that wasn’t slowing in its growth. The data revealed something else entirely.
Antonino Miceli is the group leader of the Detectors Group in the X-ray Science Division of the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, a senior fellow at the Northwestern Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, and a senior scientist at the University of Chicago Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering.
The Big Questions series features perspectives from the five recipients of the Department of Energy Office of Science’s 2019 Distinguished Scientists Fellows Award describing their research and what they plan to do with the award. José Rodriguez is a senior chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
CFN staff and users from ExxonMobil have developed a new approach to identifying atoms that are neither carbon nor hydrogen within a specific type of molecule in crude oil.
A new 3D-printing method allows manufacturers to better customize carbon microelectrodes used as biomedical implants. These implants are used to record signals from the brain or nervous system.
A team developed a method to apply pulsed-electron beams to image the beam-sensitive material with atomic resolution.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a plan to provide $10 million for new observational and experimental studies aimed at improving the accuracy of today’s Earth system models. Research will focus on three separate types of environments—terrestrial, watershed, and subsurface—where current models fall short of providing fully accurate representation.
Scientists designed and connected two different artificial cells to each other to produce molecules called ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
Feng Wang is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California – Berkeley and a faculty scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The future of materials science covers a smorgasbord of applications: batteries that self-repair, wind turbines robust enough to withstand the extreme forces put on them, or long-lasting devices that only require replacing small parts every so often. Before getting to these applications, these basic science questions need to be answered. These questions are one reason the Department of Energy (DOE) supports research in this area at universities and national laboratories around the country.
Christiane Jablonowski is an associate professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan.
The Department of Energy (DOE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs issued its FY 2020 Phase II Release 1 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) with approximately $97 million in available funding.
This is a continuing profile series on the directors of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facilities. These scientists lead a variety of research institutions that provide researchers with the most advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nano world, the environment, and the atmosphere.
Christine M. Thomas is the Fox Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University and formerly a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Brandeis University.
Bone and mollusk shells are composite systems that combine living cells and inorganic components. This allows them to regenerate and change structure while also being very strong and durable. Borrowing from this amazing complexity, researchers have been exploring a new class of materials called engineered living materials (ELMs).
Researchers developed two new methods to assess and remove error in how scientists measure quantum systems. By reducing quantum “noise” – uncertainty inherent to quantum processes – these new methods improve accuracy and precision.
Lanthanum strontium manganite (LSMO) is a widely applicable material, from magnetic tunnel junctions to solid oxide fuel cells. However, when it gets thin, its behavior changes for the worse. The reason why was not known. Now, using two theoretical methods, a team determined what happens.
How an ion behaves when isolated within an analytical instrument can differ from how it behaves in the environment. Now, Xue-Bin Wang at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory devised a way to bring ions and molecules together in clusters to better discover their properties and predict their behavior.
Shape affects how the particles fit together and, in turn, the resulting material. For the first time, a team observed the self-assembly of nanoparticles with tetrahedral shapes.
On October 9, the Nobel committee recognized work in developing lithium-ion batteries. These batteries have enabled a huge number of advances, including mobile phones and plug-in electric vehicles. The DOE Office of Science is proud to have supported research by Drs. Whittingham and Goodenough and to have funded research by many scientists who have built upon their innovations.
This study is the first to confirm dust particles pre-dating the formation of our solar system. Further study of these materials will enable a deeper understanding of the processes that formed and have since altered them.
Future fusion reactors will require materials that can withstand extreme operating conditions, including being bombarded by high-energy neutrons at high temperatures. Scientists recently irradiated titanium diboride (TiB2) in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) to better understand the effects of fusion neutrons on performance.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced funding for 12 projects with private industry to enable collaboration with DOE national laboratories on overcoming challenges in fusion energy development. The awards are the first provided through the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy program (INFUSE).
In breast cancer screening, an imaging technique based on nuclear medicine is currently being used as a successful secondary screening tool alongside mammography to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis. Now, a team is hoping to improve this imaging technique.
Scientists can use genetic information to measure if microbes in the environment can perform specific ecological roles. Researchers recently analyzed the genomes of over 6,000 microbial species.
The Achilles Heel of “metallic glasses” is that while they are strong materials—even stronger than conventional steels—they are also very brittle. The initial failures tend to be localized and catastrophic. This is due to their random amorphous (versus ordered crystalline) atomic structure. Computer simulations revealed that the structure is not completely random, however, and that there are some regions in the structure that are relatively weak. Defects nucleate more easily in these regions, which can lead to failure. This understanding of the mechanical properties has led to a strategy for making the material stronger and less brittle.
In the study, scientists demonstrated, for the first time, an intrinsically rotating form of motion for the atoms in a crystal. The observations were on collective excitations of a single molecular layer of tungsten diselenide. Whether the rotation is clockwise or counter-clockwise depends on the wave’s propagation direction.
For years, scientists have formed polymers using the interaction of charges on molecular chains to determine the shape, geometry, and other properties. Now, a team achieved precise and predictable control of molecular chains by positioning charges. Their method leads to particles with reproducible sizes.
Alloys (metals combining two or more metallic elements) are typically stronger and less susceptible to cracking than pure metals. Yet when alloys are subjected to stress and a harsh chemical environment, the alloy can fail. The reason? Cracks caused by corrosion.
Scientists have developed a novel and efficient approach to surface cleaning, materials transport, and repair.