Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated the competition for the management and operating (M&O) contract for the Fermi National Acceleratory Laboratory (FNAL).
The enzymes polyketide synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases can shuffle their parts, allowing them to produce new chemicals. To help scientists design these enzymes, researchers have improved ClusterCAD. This tool helps users modify these enzymes for synthetic biology applications. New improvements include an expanded database, powerful search tools, and helpful new features within the interface.
How do microbes in soil communities interact to release nutrients from material in the soil? Researchers have discovered that microbes able to break down one type of available food, chitin, are critical for the community’s success but do not necessarily grow the fastest. Instead, species with the ability to use a wide range of food sources produced by other members of the community become the most abundant. The researchers also found that individual microbes can change their behavior when grown alone or in the community.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $200 million for Energy Earthshot Research Centers (EERCs). This funding, provided by the Office of Science, will support fundamental research to accelerate breakthroughs in support of the Energy Earthshots Initiative.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science (SC) will support nearly 100 high schoolers, recent high school graduates, and early undergraduate students from underrepresented groups and underserved schools in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through awards for five Pathway Summer Schools at six national laboratories. The funding comes from SC’s Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative (see details at https://science.osti.gov/initiatives/RENEW). Sponsored by the Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), the WDTS RENEW Pathway Summer Schools aim to diversify the STEM pipeline via hands-on learning opportunities at DOE national laboratories.
Recent research shows that magnetic fields can spontaneously emerge in a plasma if the plasma has a temperature anisotropy. This mechanism is known as the Weibel instability. This new research is the first to unambiguously observe the Weibel instability in the laboratory. It offers a possible solution to the problem of the origin of the microgauss-level magnetic fields that permeate the galaxies.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $2.3 million in funding for 10 projects that will pair private industry with DOE’s National Laboratories to overcome challenges in fusion energy development, an area of research that captivated global attention in December when the Department announced that a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had achieved fusion ignition. Ignition, in which more energy was derived from fusion than was put into it, had never been accomplished before in a laboratory setting and raised hopes that fusion energy could play a major role in the transition to clean energy.
The DOE Early Career Research Program Award allowed Ming Ye at Florida State University to develop interdisciplinary approaches to quantify and reduce uncertainty in environmental studies.
When a spacecraft enters a thick atmosphere at a high velocity, it rapidly compresses the gas in front of it, creating a hot, dense plasma. To protect against damage, spacecraft are typically covered by a heat shield material. Scientists for the first time used a tokamak to study what happens to these materials in a hot plasma. The research creates a path to improving heat shield materials for future planetary exploration.
Lignin, the complex polymer that gives plants their structural integrity, makes them difficult to break down and creates challenges for the creation of biochemicals and bioproducts. Building blocks that are present in small amounts in the lignin of the bioenergy crop poplar are valuable platform chemicals that are easy to “clip-off” during plant deconstruction. Scientists engineered a new type of poplar to have more of a specific building block in its lignin and less lignin overall. This results in wood that is easier to deconstruct and more valuable as a bioproduct raw material.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards totaling $17 million for small businesses in 25 states. The 77 projects are in the fields of advanced scientific computing and scientific instrumentation that support DOE’s clean energy mission.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $56 million to provide research opportunities to historically underrepresented groups and institutions in STEM. The funding, through the DOE Office of Science’s Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative, will support internships, mentorship, and training programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and other research institutions. These investments will diversify American leadership in the physical, biological, and computational sciences to ensure America’s best and brightest students have pathways to STEM fields.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science will sponsor the participation of 148 undergraduate students and seven faculty members in three STEM-focused workforce development programs at 13 DOE national laboratories and the national fusion facility during Spring 2023. Collectively, these programs ensure DOE and our nation have a diverse, strong, sustained workforce trained in the skills needed to address the energy, environment, and national security challenges of today and tomorrow.
Scientists are working to transform carbon dioxide into chemical solar fuels. To advance this process, researchers have identified a new hybrid material that consists of a light-absorbing semiconductor and a cobalt catalyst. The research extends scientific efforts to identify new ways to store energy and to efforts to understand how light-absorbing hybrid systems can drive the catalytic production of chemical fuels using solar energy.
In the summer, sea- and bay-breeze circulations are important drivers of the weather in southeastern Texas. This research used machine learning techniques to unpack how these circulations interact with larger-scale weather systems to affect how thunderstorms form in the Houston area. These insights are helping researchers focus their study of aerosol and cloud life cycle, aerosol-cloud interactions, and air quality during the TRACER field campaign in the Houston area in 2021 and 2022.
Researchers are combining experimental, theoretical, and observational data on neutron stars to constrain the equation of state (EOS) and to glean the composition of their interiors. Different techniques probe the EOS at different densities, thereby creating a “density ladder” that aims to connect the various rungs. The findings indicate a possible phase transition in the interior of neutron stars.
The proton is the only composite building block of matter that is stable in nature, making its properties key to understanding the formation of matter. A team of physicists measured the proton’s electric polarizability, which characterizes the proton’s susceptibility to deformation, or its “stretchability,” in the presence of a photon’s electromagnetic field. The results reveal a puzzling new structure – a bump in the polarizability that nuclear theory cannot explain.
When the nuclei of atoms are about to collide in an experiment, their centers never perfectly align along the direction of relative motion, leading to complex collisions. A deblurring algorithm from optics can help nuclear physicists examine the pattern of emissions from these collisions as if the initial nuclear centers were under tight control.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $35 million to build research capacity, infrastructure, and expertise at institutions historically underrepresented in science, including minority serving institutions (MSIs) and emerging research institutions (ERIs). FAIR will enhance research at these institutions on clean energy, climate, and additional topics spanning the Office of Science portfolio. This investment will help develop a diverse, vibrant, and excellent scientific workforce and contribute to the science innovation ecosystem.
For the first time, researchers produce more energy from fusion than was used to drive it, promising further discovery in clean power and nuclear weapons stewardship.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced 41 awards totaling $32 million to 37 institutions to support historically underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and diversify American leadership in the physical sciences, including energy and climate. The funding, through the DOE Office of Science’s Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative, will support internships, training programs, and mentor opportunities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and other research institutions. Ensuring America’s best and brightest students have pathways to STEM fields will be key to achieving President Biden’s energy and climate goals, including achieving a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.
Lignin in plant cell walls can be broken down into component polymers that can in turn be converted into valuable bioproducts, but deconstructing lignin is difficult. Researchers have now showed that some solvents are more effective than others at getting between the cellulosic and lignin polymers in switchgrass variants.
To understand how plants respond to drought condition, researchers combined three cutting-edge metabolomic and imaging technologies at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. The study revealed that different species of plants use different strategies to survive drought conditions.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $11.24 million for five topical theory collaborations in nuclear physics (NP). These projects bring together leading nuclear theorists to collaboratively focus on solving challenging problems central to advancing knowledge in nuclear physics.
Heavy ion collisions using gold nuclei found a phase of nuclear matter with freely moving quarks and gluons, the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). Scientists are aiming to establish if a critical point exists in the phase diagram of nuclear matter, where the QGP would coexist with a gas of protons, neutrons, and other particles. Research at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider indicates that if this critical point exists, it is between energies of 3 and 20 giga-electron volts.
Supported by his Early Career Research Award at the University of Oregon, computer science professor Hank Childs created new approaches to store, load, and visualize large data sets generated by high-performance computers.
Researchers recently produced single-photon sources with operating wavelengths compatible with existing fiber communication networks using two-dimensional molybdenum ditelluride semiconductor layers on nano-size pillars.
While peatlands have historically stored massive amounts of soil carbon, warming is expected to enhance decomposition, leading to a positive climate change feedback effect. This study experimentally warmed peatlands in northern Minnesota and observed increased methane production relative to carbon dioxide release. This methane release process is likely to amplify global climate warming.
Scientists measuring the nucleus of calcium-48 to determine how its 20 protons and 28 neutrons are distributed inside its nucleus found that the protons and neutrons aren’t simply sprinkled throughout the nucleus. Instead, they form a neutron-rich “thin skin” around a core of evenly distributed protons and neutrons. This skin is thinner than many theoretical models predicted and not consistent with expectations based on recent observations of lead’s thick skin.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $4.3 million in funding for 16 projects in artificial intelligence (AI) research for high energy physics (HEP). These awards support the DOE Office of Science initiative in artificial intelligence research to use AI techniques to deliver scientific discoveries that would not otherwise be possible, and to broaden participation in high energy physics research.
Northern peatlands contain one third of the Earth’s soil carbon, making them important for carbon storage. In northern peatlands, carbon losses from soil during the winter can exceed carbon storage during the warm growing season, primarily because of the activity of microbes. To better understand how microbes interact in peatland soils during the winter months, this study incubated Arctic peat soils under winter conditions, then analyzed the microbes to understand how the microbes released carbon dioxide.
Quarks are distributed differently in free protons and neutrons versus those inside nuclei, something called “the EMC effect.” Scientists previously thought that the EMC effect treated the up and down quarks in protons and neutrons equally. New high-precision data from the MARATHON experiment indicates that the EMC effect may exert more influence on the distribution of down quarks compared to up quarks inside nuclei.
As precipitation patterns shift in response to climate change, scientists must understand how this change affects soil viruses. In this study, scientists analyzed DNA viruses in three grassland soils with different historical precipitation patterns: low precipitation from eastern Washington, intermediate precipitation from Kansas, and high precipitation from Iowa. The researchers found that viruses were more diverse and more common in drier soil.
Subatomic particles’ spin dictates how they propagate, interact, and form bound states. But how proton spin arises from quarks and gluons is a mystery, and experimental measurements of the individual contributions of quark and gluon spin don’t add up to the proton’s total spin. The orbital motion of quarks and gluons in the proton may account for the rest. Theorists have now proposed a way to measure this property using the future Electron-Ion Collider.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $8.6 million in funding for nine projects in accelerator research and development that will advance scientific discovery in nuclear physics research.
A teaspoon of soil contains billions of viruses and other microorganisms. In this study, scientists examined viruses in soil from Kansas prairies to sequence genetic material, identify viruses’ proteins, and look at how viruses’ activity varied under different environmental conditions. They found that some viruses were more abundant in wet soils, while others were more active.
Edge localized modes (ELMs) associated with plasma instabilities in tokamak fusion reactors can damage reactor walls, a challenge in the design of future fusion power plants. Scientists have now discovered that internal resistance of the plasma can cause additional instabilities that drive ELMs in the National Spherical Torus Experiment. This will help researchers mitigate and control ELMs in spherical tokamaks.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is accepting applications for the 2023 DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers. The program will support over 80 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions, DOE national laboratories, and Office of Science user facilities.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $10 million in funding for three projects providing classroom training and research opportunities in computational high energy physics to train the next generation of computational scientists and engineers needed to deliver scientific discoveries.
James McKinlay is an associate professor of biology at Indiana University. His group used genetics, analytical chemistry, and computational modeling to identify factors that determine hydrogen gas production levels. More broadly, we identified factors that govern cooperative relationships between microbes.
The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today announced $1.5 billion from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to build and upgrade America’s national laboratories.
Microalgae play an important role in the Earth’s climate, converting carbon dioxide into solid carbon. This research sought new ways to study these microalgae and their associated bacterial communities across time and space. The researchers created a new co-culture method called a “porous microplate” that passes nutrients and molecules associated with metabolism between culture cells while blocking physical contact between algae in adjacent wells.
Nuclear fission and fusion reactors use carbon and silicon in shielding, structural materials, fuel, and neutron moderators. Neutrons are the drivers of the nuclear energy production processes. This makes understanding how neutrons scatter from all reactor materials critical for nuclear plant design and other applications. In this research, scientists investigated the interaction of neutrons with silicon and carbon.
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced two national laboratory scientists as DOE Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellows. This honor, authorized by the America COMPETES Act, is bestowed on national laboratory scientists with outstanding records of achievement. The award provides each Fellow with $1 million over three years to support activities that develop, sustain, and promote scientific and academic excellence in DOE Office of Science research.
Controlling gene activity is important for engineering plants for improved bioenergy crops and other applications. This research developed synthetic genes that use Boolean logic gates to achieve specific patterns of gene expression within a plant. The researchers used these gene circuits to redesign the root architecture by tuning the number of root branches.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, today held a groundbreaking for the Stable Isotope Production and Research Center (SIPRC), which will expand the nation’s capability to enrich stable isotopes for medical, industrial, and research applications.
Registration is open for the 33rd National Science Bowl® (NSB), hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. Thousands of students compete in the contest annually as it has grown into one of the largest academic math and science competitions in the country.
A new study examined how microbial genes, enzymes, and cultures interact with carbon stored in soils in Svalbard. The study found that microbes can produce enzymes able to degrade carbon compounds in Arctic soils and that these enzymes also work well at low temperatures. The study further found evidence that Arctic soil microbes can take up carbon dioxide. They are thereby well-adapted to take advantage of permafrost thawing in response to climate change.
Applications are currently being accepted for the Summer 2023 term of two undergraduate internship programs offered by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science: the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program. The application deadline is January 10, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. EST.
Applications are currently being accepted for the Summer 2023 term of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s Visiting Faculty Program (VFP). The application deadline is January 10, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
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