Novel hardware approach offers new quantum-computing paradigm
A potentially game-changing theoretical approach to quantum computing hardware avoids much of the problematic complexity found in current quantum computers. The strategy implements an algorithm in natural quantum interactions to process a variety of real-world problems faster than classical computers or conventional gate-based quantum computers can.
Researchers Improve Production for Short-Lived Scandium Radioisotopes
Scandium radioisotopes are potentially useful for cancer therapy and medical imaging such as positron emission tomography (PET) scans, but the difficulty of producing sufficient amounts and purities of these isotopes limits their use. New research describes ways to make and irradiate accelerator targets for scandium to increase production and purity. The process recycles the calcium target material with more than 95% efficiency.
Neutrons seek to stop cancer from hijacking a metabolic highway
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutrons and x-rays to draw a roadmap of every atom, chemical bond and electrical charge inside a key metabolic pathway in the body that cancer cells hijack and dramatically overuse to reproduce. The study essentially paves the way for developing new drugs that act as roadblocks that cut off the supply of vital resources to cancer cells. The drugs would be designed to target highly aggressive tumor-forming cancers that too often become terminal such as lung, colon, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers.
Natural or Not? Scientists Aid in Quest to Identify Genetically Engineered Organisms
Ever since gene editing became feasible, researchers and health officials have sought tools that can quickly and reliably distinguish genetically modified organisms from those that are naturally occurring. Now, such tools exist.
Researchers develop a unique quantum mechanical approach to determining metal ductility
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory and Texas A&M University developed a new quantum-mechanics-based approach to predict metal ductility. The team demonstrated its effectiveness on refractory multi-principal-element alloys.
Theoretical and Experimental Physics Team Up in the Search for Particle Flavor Change
Scientists recently discovered that neutrinos have mass, counter to long-held understanding. This means that neutrinos can change flavor. Now, advances in theory and experiment are helping scientists to determine whether the neutrinos' charged counterparts--electrons, muons, and tauons--can also change flavor and how future experiments can look for those changes.
Muon g-2 experiment announces updated result that's twice as precise
The Muon g-2 collaboration announced an updated measurement. The new result aligns with the collaboration's first result, and it's twice as precise. The experiment measures a property of the muon that might indicate existence of new particles or forces.
Muon g-2 doubles down with latest measurement, explores uncharted territory in search of new physics
Scientists working on Fermilab's Muon g-2 experiment released the world's most precise measurement yet of the magnetic moment of the muon, bringing particle physics closer to the ultimate showdown between theory and experiment that may uncover new particles or forces.
Pivotal discovery in sensor technology to combat water contamination and more
Researchers have developed an innovative method for screening sensors to detect heavy metals, bacteria and other agents in water. This method could lead to mass manufacturing of sensors that provide dependable part-per-billion monitoring of water quality.
A Single Gene and a Unique Layer of Regulation Opens the Door for Novel Plant-Fungi Interactions
Plants have a complex layer of regulation that allows beneficial fungi to colonize their roots while protecting them from harmful ones such as pathogens. Researchers recently identified the underlying plant signaling processes within this layer of regulation that permits a specific beneficial bacteria species to colonize the roots of switchgrass.
Carpets Retain a Stubborn Grip on Pollutants from Tobacco Smoke
In rooms where smoking has taken place regularly, tobacco's imprint lingers on indoor surfaces, even long after regular smoking has stopped. The leftover residues, known as thirdhand smoke, can be a long-term source of indoor pollutants. New research from a team led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) zeroes in on carpets as an especially potent - and difficult to clean - reservoir of tobacco contaminants.
With a Lithium-6 Test Case, Quantum Computing Comes to a Historic Nuclear Physics Problem
As quantum computing advances, scientists want to know how it may be better able to solve complex problems than today's conventional computers. This research applied quantum computing to determine different energy levels for nuclei of lithium-6. This work shows how to solve a historic nuclear physics research problem on present-day commercially available quantum computer hardware.
Scientists Identify an Alternative System for Producing the Medical Isotope Scandium-44
Scandium-44 is a promising medical isotope for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for identifying cancer, heart disease, and other conditions. Scandium-44 can be produced through the radioactive decay of titanium-44, but the challenge is to reliably separate scandium-44 from titanium-44 at hospitals. A new approach produces an isotope generator that is portable, uses facilities routinely available at hospitals, and works efficiently and reliably. This will enable medical staff to more easily use scandium-44 for PET scans and other applications.
Researchers Strengthen Defenses Against Common Cyberattack
Scientists have developed a better way to recognize denial-of-service internet attacks, improving detection by 90 percent.
Researchers use commercial quantum computer to identify molecular candidate for development of more efficient solar cells
Using the full capabilities of the Quantinuum H1-1 quantum computer, researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory not only demonstrated best practices for scientific computing on current quantum systems but also produced an intriguing scientific result. By modeling singlet fission -- in which absorption of a single photon of light by a molecule produces two excited states -- the team confirmed that the linear H4 molecule's energetic levels match the fission process's requirements.
Scientists View the "Transition State" of a Photochemical Reaction in Real-Time
In chemical reactions, molecules transform from reactants into reaction products through a critical geometry called a transition state that lasts less than one millionth of one millionth of a second. Scientists recently captured a critical geometry using the ultra-high speed "electron camera" at SLAC. The research will help explain why reactions generate only specific reaction products.
Scientists dig into wildfire predictions, long-term impacts
Wildfires are an ancient force shaping the environment, but they have grown in frequency, range and intensity in response to a changing climate. At the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists are working on several fronts to better understand and predict these events and what they mean for the carbon cycle and biodiversity.
Researchers show how to increase X-ray laser brightness and power using a crystal cavity and diamond mirrors
At particle accelerator facilities around the world, scientists rely on powerful X-rays to reveal the structure and behavior of atoms and molecules. Now, researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have calculated how to make X-ray pulses at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) even brighter and more reliable by building a special cavity chamber and diamond mirrors around an XFEL.
Scientists discover unusual ultrafast motion in layered magnetic materials
A team of researchers report a mechanical response across a layered magnetic material tied to changing its electron spin. This response could have important applications in nanodevices requiring ultra-precise and fast motion control.
Calculations Reveal High-Resolution View of Quarks Inside Protons
A collaboration of nuclear theorists has used supercomputers to predict the spatial distributions of charges, momentum, and other properties of "up" and "down" quarks within protons. The calculations show that the up quark is more symmetrically distributed and spread over a smaller distance than the down quark.
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR Gives Its Final Answer about a Rare Nuclear Decay
One approach to the question of why matter is more abundant than antimatter in our observable universe is observing an extremely rare nuclear process called neutrinoless double-beta decay. The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment was designed to detect this decay. Although it did not observe the decay, it achieved world-leading energy resolutions and showed the feasibility of using a larger detector to search for the hypothesized decay.
Novel Metric Examines the Role of Organic Matter and Microbes in Ecological Communities
Individual features in a community, like microbes or types of chemicals, affect the overall community's development and help determine the similarity of different communities over time and space. Scientists developed a novel ecological metric, called βNTIfeat, that helps to investigate the roles of different features in community development. The resulting information can inform models of how ecosystems respond to disturbances such as climate change.
Making Renewable, Infinitely Recyclable Plastics Using Bacteria
In a study published today, researchers successfully engineered microbes to make biological alternatives for the starting ingredients in an infinitely recyclable plastic known as poly(diketoenamine), or PDK.
Geoscientists aim to improve human security through planet-scale POI modeling
When geoinformatics engineering researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory wanted to better understand changes in land areas and points of interest around the world, they turned to the locals -- their data, at least. Through an intelligent combination of geotagged social media, global location and natural language data, ORNL's Junchuan Fan and Gautam Thakur developed MapSpace, a publicly available, scalable land-use modeling framework.
A Nickle-Platinum Nanoscale Core with a Platinum Shell Cracks Oxygen Molecules into Useful Ions
Researchers have modified the surface of nickel-platinum nanoparticles to improve their ability to act as catalysts to make reactive oxygen ions. Using a specialized X-ray scattering imaging technique, the researchers examined the modified nanoparticles and discovered a platinum-rich outer layer.