New Routes to Renewables: Sandia Speeds Transformation of Biofuel Waste Into Wealth
A Sandia National Laboratories-led team has demonstrated faster, more efficient ways to turn discarded plant matter into chemicals worth billions. The team's findings could help transform the economics of making fuels and other products from domestically grown renewable sources.
The Society for Risk Analysis Presents New Research on Who Really Benefits from Energy Efficient Manufacturing
Regulators claim that the value of the energy savings to consumers exceeds the incremental costs to manufacturers for delivering greater energy efficiency. This energy paradox challenges fundamental notions of how markets work. Four studies presented at the 2017 Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting will present new evidence relating to this paradox.
Cool Textiles to Beat the Heat
Air-conditioned buildings bring welcome relief to people coming in from the heat. But creatingthat comfort comes with a cost to our wallets and the environment in the form of increased energy bills andgreenhouse gas emissions.
New Study: Scientists Narrow Down the Search for Dark Photons Using Decade-Old Particle Collider Data
A fresh analysis of particle-collider data, co-led by Berkeley Lab physicists, limits some of the hiding places for one type of theorized particle - the dark photon, also known as the heavy photon - that was proposed to help explain the mystery of dark matter.
Lessons from Marine Sponges Could Lead to Novel Glass Technology
Israeli and German scientists have uncovered some clues about the abilities of some marine creatures to form glass structures in cold water. The findings could lead to nature-inspired recipes for creating novel glass technologies at room temperature.
Neutron Spectroscopy Reveals Common 'Oxygen Sponge' Catalyst Soaks Up Hydrogen Too
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their collaborators discovered that a workhorse catalyst of vehicle exhaust systems--an "oxygen sponge" that can soak up oxygen from air and store it for later use in oxidation reactions--may also be a "hydrogen sponge."
Improving Sensor Accuracy to Prevent Electrical Grid Overload
Electrical physicists from Czech Technical University have provided additional evidence that new current sensors introduce errors when assessing current through iron conductors. The researchers show how a difference in a conductor's magnetic permeability, the degree of material's magnetization response in a magnetic field, affects the precision of new sensors. They also provide recommendations for improving sensor accuracy. The results are published this week in AIP Advances.
Researchers Model Coulomb Crystals to Understand Star Evolution
Matter in the cores of old white dwarfs and the crusts of neutron stars is compressed to unimaginable densities by intense gravitational forces. The scientific community believes this matter is composed of Coulomb crystals that form at temperatures potentially as high as 100 million Kelvin. Researchers in Russia clarify the physics of these crystals this week in the journal Physics of Plasmas.
Where Did Those Electrons Go? X-Ray Measurements Solve Decades-Old Mystery
There's been an unsolved mystery associated with mixed valence compounds: When the valence state of an element in these compounds changes with increased temperature, the number of electrons associated with that element decreases, as well. But just where do those electrons go? Using a combination of state-of-the-art tools, including X-ray measurements at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), a group of researchers at Cornell University have come up with the answer.
The Flat and the Curious
Argonne researchers have simulated the growth of the 2-D material silicene. Their work, published in Nanoscale, delivers new and useful insights on the material's properties and behavior and offers a predictive model for other researchers studying 2-D materials.
White Roofing Isn't Always Green, Virginia Tech Study Confirms
A study out of Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies' Center for High Performance Environments presents a new scientific challenge to widely held industry assumptions that white roofing is the best option for commercial builders.
'Smart' Paper Can Conduct Electricity, Detect Water
A University of Washington team wants to simplify the process for discovering detrimental water leaks by developing "smart" paper that can sense the presence of water.
First-Ever U.S. Experiments at New X-Ray Facility May Lead to Better Explosive Modeling
For the first time in the U.S., time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering (TRSAXS) is used to observe ultra-fast carbon clustering and graphite and nanodiamond production in the insensitive explosive Plastic Bonded Explosive (PBX) 9502, potentially leading to better computer models of explosive performance.
Lightning-Fast Communications
Researchers from the University of Utah's departments of electrical and computer engineering and physics and astronomy have discovered that a special kind of perovskite, a combination of an organic and inorganic compound that has the same structure as the original mineral, can be layered on a silicon wafer to create a vital component for the communications system of the future.
Let There Be (White) Light: New Materials Shine Out
Modifying the internal structure of 2-D hybrid perovskite materials causes them to emit white light.
Synthetic Material Acts Like an Insect Cloaking Device
Synthetic microspheres with nanoscale holes can absorb light from all directions across a wide range of frequencies, making it a candidate for antireflective coatings, according to a team of Penn State engineers.
Exotic Nucleus Exhibits Curious Shape
A new shape measurement of unstable ruthenium-110 has found this nucleus to be similar to a squashed football.
Story Tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, November 2017
ORNL story tips, November 2017: Fast-learning computing technique supports hurricane damage assessments; neutrons unlock liquid flow mystery; "puckering" 2D material creates tunable energy gap; window air conditioning prototype allows safe use of propane refrigerant; graphene nanoribbons become semiconductors through precise electrical contacts.
Honey, I Shrunk the Features for Low-Cost, Flexible, Large-Area Electronics
Exploiting reversible solubility allows for direct, optical patterning of unprecedentedly small features.
One-Step 3D Printing of Catalysts Developed at Ames Laboratory
The U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory has developed a 3D printing process that creates a chemically active catalytic object in a single step, opening the door to more efficient ways to produce catalysts for complex chemical reactions in a wide scope of industries.
The Inner Secrets of Planets and Stars
An INCITE research team, led by Jonathan Aurnou of UCLA, is using Mira to develop advanced models to study magnetic field generation on Earth, Jupiter and the sun at an unprecedented level of detail.
Flavins Perform Electron Magic
Researchers discover the secret behind the third way living organisms extract energy from their environment.
Mission Not So Impossible Now: Control Complex Molecular Organization
Scientists achieved thin films with structures virtually impossible via traditional methods.
Making Glass Invisible: A Nanoscience-Based Disappearing Act
Glare-free cell phone screens, ultra-transparent windows, and more efficient solar cells--these are some of the applications that could be enabled by texturing glass surfaces with tiny nanoscale features that reduce surface reflections to nearly zero.
Spin-Polarized Surface States in Superconductors
Novel spin-polarized surface states may guide the search for materials that host Majorana fermions, unusual particles that act as their own antimatter, and could revolutionize quantum computers.