Coming Together, Falling Apart, and Starting Over, Battery Style
Scientists built a new device that shows what happens when electrode, electrolyte, and active materials meet in energy storage technologies.
X-Ray Study Reveals Long-Sought Insights Into Potential Drug Target
X-ray studies done in part at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have produced surprising insights into the workings of a hormone receptor associated with blood pressure regulation. Researchers believe it could be a target for new medicines related to cardiovascular conditions, neuropathic pain and tissue growth.
Computer Simulations of DIII-D Experiments Shed Light on Mysterious Plasma Flows
Article describes how pumping heat into the core of plasmas can create sheared rotation that improves the performance of fusion devices.
New Measurements Suggest 'Antineutrino Anomaly' Fueled by Modeling Error
Results from a new study involving Berkeley Lab scientists could explain a mismatch between predictions and recent measurements of ghostly particles streaming from nuclear reactors -- the so-called "reactor antineutrino anomaly" that has puzzled physicists since 2011.
Predicting the Limits of Friction: Sandia Looks at Properties of Material
Sandia National Laboratories materials scientists have developed a model to predict the limits of friction behavior of metals based on materials properties -- how hard you can push on materials or how much current you can put through them before they stop working properly.
Story Tips From the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, April 2017
ORNL-led team joins quantum, high-performance and neuromorphic computing architectures that could yield more flexible, efficient intelligent computing; ORNL uses electron beam precision to instantly adhere coatings for lithium-ion batteries; ORNL's high-res tools look closely at plant makeup for more efficient, less costly biomass breakdown.
Speciation Driven by Alleles Adapted to Local Conditions
Using the flowering mustard plant Boechera stricta, a team including researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute and Duke University offers the first direct evidence showing that QTLs, genome regions on chromosomes to which genetic traits can be mapped, are a driving force behind speciation.
New Device Produces Hydrogen Peroxide for Water Purification
Producing and distributing hydrogen peroxide is a challenge in many parts of the world. Now scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created a small device for hydrogen peroxide production that could be powered by renewable energy sources, like conventional solar panels.
PPPL and Max Planck Physicists Reveal Experimental Verification of a Key Source of Fast Reconnection of Magnetic Fields
Feature describes source of acceleration of common type magnetic reconnection.
Proteins That Can Take the Heat
Ancient proteins may offer clues on how to engineer proteins that can withstand the high temperatures required in industrial applications, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Built From the Bottom Up, Nanoribbons Pave the Way to 'on-Off' States for Graphene
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and North Carolina State University report in the journal Nature Communications that they are the first to grow graphene nanoribbons without a metal substrate.
LLNL Reinventing Metal 3D Printing with Direct Metal Writing Process
Metal 3D printing has enormous potential to revolutionize modern manufacturing. However, the most popular metal printing processes, which use lasers to fuse together fine metal powder, have their limitations. Parts produced using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and other powder-based metal techniques often end up with gaps or defects caused by a variety of factors. To overcome those drawbacks, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers, along with collaborators at Worchester Polytechnic Institute, are taking a wholly new approach to metal 3D printing with a process they're calling Direct Metal Writing, in which semisolid metal is directly extruded from a nozzle, like ketchup from a bottle.
The Economic Case for Wind and Solar Energy in Africa
To meet skyrocketing demand for electricity, African countries may have to triple their energy output by 2030. While hydropower and fossil fuel power plants are favored approaches in some quarters, a new assessment by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found that wind and solar can be economically and environmentally competitive options and can contribute significantly to the rising demand.
Chemists ID Catalytic 'Key' for Converting CO2 to Methanol
Results from experiments and computational modeling studies that definitively identify the "active site" of a catalyst commonly used for making methanol from CO2 will guide the design of improved catalysts for transforming this pollutant to useful chemicals.
Cryo-Electron Microscopy Achieves Unprecedented Resolution Using New Computational Methods
Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)--which enables the visualization of viruses, proteins, and other biological structures at the molecular level--is a critical tool used to advance biochemical knowledge. Now Berkeley Lab researchers have extended cryo-EM's impact further by developing a new computational algorithm instrumental in constructing a 3-D atomic-scale model of bacteriophage P22 for the first time.
New Study Maps Space Dust in 3-D
A new Berkeley Lab-led study provides detailed 3-D views of space dust in the Milky Way, which could help us understand the properties of this dust and how it affects views of distant objects.
Single-Angle Ptychography Allows 3D Imaging of Stressed Materials
Scientists have used a new X-ray diffraction technique called Bragg single-angle ptychography to get a clear picture of how planes of atoms shift and squeeze under stress.
New Feedback System Could Allow Greater Control Over Fusion Plasma
A physicist has created a new system that will let scientists control the energy and rotation of plasma in real time in a doughnut-shaped machine known as a tokamak.
Towards Super-Efficient, Ultra-Thin Silicon Solar Cells
Researchers from Ames Laboratory used supercomputers at NERSC to evaluate a novel approach for creating more energy-efficient ultra-thin crystalline silicon solar cells by optimizing nanophotonic light trapping.
Study IDs Link Between Sugar Signaling and Regulation of Oil Production in Plants
UPTON, NY--Even plants have to live on an energy budget. While they're known for converting solar energy into chemical energy in the form of sugars, plants have sophisticated biochemical mechanisms for regulating how they spend that energy. Making oils costs a lot. By exploring the details of this delicate energy balance, a group of scientists from the U.
High-Energy Electrons Probe Ultrafast Atomic Motion
A new technique synchronized high-energy electrons with an ultrafast laser pulse to probe how vibrational states of atoms change in time.
Rare Earth Recycling
A new energy-efficient separation of rare earth elements could provide a new domestic source of critical materials.
Two-Dimensional MXene Materials Get Their Close-Up
Researchers have long sought electrically conductive materials for economical energy-storage devices. Two-dimensional (2D) ceramics called MXenes are contenders.
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Discovery in New Material Raises Questions About Theoretical Models of Superconductivity
The U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory has successfully created the first pure, single-crystal sample of a new iron arsenide superconductor, CaKFe4As4, and studies of this material have called into question some long-standing theoretical models of superconductivity.
Study: Soils Could Release Much More Carbon Than Expected as Climate Warms
Soils could release much more CO2 than expected into the atmosphere as the climate warms, according to new research by Berkeley Lab scientists. Their findings are based on a field experiment that, for the first time, explored what happens to organic carbon trapped in soil when all soil layers are warmed, which in this case extend to a depth of 100 centimeters.