Intern Develops Technology to Find EV Charging Vulnerabilities
Idaho National Laboratory intern Jake Guidry has developed a cybersecurity research tool that could improve the security of electric vehicle charging.
Halide Perovskite Material Exhibits Liquid-Like Atomic Vibrations
Halide perovskites have applications in solar energy, radiation detection, and potentially in thermal harvesting. Cesium lead bromide is among the simplest of lead halide perovskite materials (LHPs). New research examined structural instabilities and large atomic fluctuations that may affect LHPs' optical and thermal properties. It found that the atomic vibrations (phonons) of bromine octahedrons have large amplitudes but cannot oscillate for long amounts of time. Instead, the vibrations are strongly damped.
Rising "snow" deep in the Earth
Researchers have gained important insights about mysterious structures 1,800 miles below the Earth's surface--and how they may be connected to volcanoes.
Breaking Barriers in Drug Delivery with Better Lipid Nanoparticles
Berkeley Lab and Genentech are collaborating to make the next generation of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for drug delivery. Combining structural biology with cutting edge pharmaceutical science, the team is designing LNPs that can precisely deliver vaccines and therapeutics to target tissues while improving the product's shelf life and duration of action.
Changing Seasons: Jet Shift Causes Seasonally Dependent Future Changes in the Midwest Hydroclimate
A new study that aims to resolve uncertainty in projections of future changes in the U.S. Midwest rainy season projects that while future seasonal mean precipitation will not change significantly, late spring precipitation will increase and late summer rainfall will decrease. The study indicates these changes will be driven by the poleward shift in the North American westerly jet due to climate change. The results may mean an increased risk of late-spring deluges and late-summer droughts for the Midwest.
Establishing Ethical Nanobiotechnology
PNNL's wide-ranging report maps the current nanobiotechnology landscape, flags potential concerns, and details the need for an organizing body to coordinate currently disparate disciplines.
Thanks to Trapped Electrons, a Material Expected to be a Conducting Metal Remains an Insulator
Recent research sheds light on the mechanism behind how quantum materials change from an electrical conductor to an electric insulator. Below a critical temperature, strontium doped lanthanum strontium nickel oxide is an insulator due the separation of introduced holes from the magnetic regions, forming "stripes." These stripes fluctuate and melt at 240K, at which temperature the material should become a conducting metal. Instead, it remains an insulator. This is because of certain atomic vibrations that trap electrons and impede electrical conduction.
A foundation that fits just right gives superconducting nickelates a boost
Researchers at SLAC and Stanford found a way to make thin films of an exciting new nickel oxide superconductor that are free of extended defects. This improved the material's ability to conduct electricity with no loss and revealed that it's more like superconducting cuprates than previously thought.
Researchers make a surprising discovery about the magnetic interactions in a Kagome layered topological magnet
A team from Ames National Laboratory conducted an in-depth investigation of the magnetism of TbMn6Sn6, a Kagome layered topological magnet. They were surprised to find that the magnetic spin reorientation in TbMn6Sn6 occurs by generating increasing numbers of magnetically isotropic ions as the temperature increases.
Next-generation Flow Battery Design Sets Records
A new flow battery design achieves long life and capacity for grid energy storage from renewable fuels.
Synthesizing 200 Years of Research on the Urban Impact on Regional Climate and Extreme Weather
Urbanization has noticeable effects on processes at and near the Earth's surface, affecting weather and climate. An international team of scientists reviewed more than 500 sources from the scientific literature produced over nearly 200 years on effects of urbanization on extreme weather and regional climate to better synthesize this knowledge and direct future research.
Nuclear Charge Distribution Measurements May Solve Outstanding Puzzle In Particle Physics
Researchers recently reviewed the current standard procedure to determine the nuclear weak distribution, which describes the distribution of active protons in a nucleus. The new analysis found significant differences with previous model-based determinations of the nuclear weak distribution. The results provide a partial explanation for a discrepancy between predictions from particle physics theory and experimental measurement of a fundamental quantity.
PPPL makes critical contributions to historic public-private partnership
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory confirms achievement of 100 million degree plasma, the heat required for commercial fusion energy production, in the UK Tokamak Energy's compact spherical ST40 tokamak.
Humidity - not just light - causes color degradation in historical paintings, researchers discover
When you look at a painting in a museum, the colors that you see are likely less bright than they were originally, something that had previously been attributed mainly to light exposure. Now, researchers have discovered a new cause of color degradation: humidity.
Quantum Error Correction Moves Beyond Breakeven
Quantum systems decohere due to unwanted interactions with their environment. Correcting for the effects of decoherence is a major challenge for quantum information systems. Previous error correction methods have not kept up with decoherence.
Stressed for a Bit? Then Don't Click It, Cybersecurity Experts Advise
Workers feeling a specific form of stress are more likely than others to become the victims of a phishing attack, according to a new study.
New tool helps improve quantum computing circuit component
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory in partnership with the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, used the terahertz SNOM microscope, originally developed at Ames Lab, to investigate the interface and connectivity of a nano Josephson Junction that was fabricated by Rigetti Computing. The images they obtained with the terahertz microscope revealed a defective boundary in the nano junction that causes a disruption in the conductivity.
Less Rain in Town, More Rain on the Farm: the Effects of Urbanization and Irrigation on Mid-Atlantic Summer Precipitation
Researchers investigated how large-scale urbanization and irrigation in the United States affect the three dominant types of summer precipitation in the mid-Atlantic region. They found that urbanization suppresses all three types of precipitation. Irrigation enhances non-convective and isolated deep convection precipitation, and its effects on mesoscale convective systems (MCS) depends on whether an MCS formed locally or remotely.
First Direct Visualization of a Zero-Field Pair Density Wave
Scientists directly observed a pair-density wave (PDW) in an iron-based superconducting material with no magnetic field present. This state of matter, which is characterized by coupled pairs of electrons that are constantly in motion, had been thought to only arise when a superconductor is placed within a large magnetic field. This exciting result opens new potential avenues of research and discovery for superconductivity.
New Insights on the Prevalence of Drizzle in Marine Stratocumulus Clouds
Detecting drizzle in its early stages in marine stratocumulus clouds is important for studying how water in clouds becomes rainfall. However, detecting the initial stages of drizzle is challenging for ground-based remote-sensing observations.
Chemists Are on the Hunt for the Other 99 Percent
PNNL scientists are creating new ways to learn more about the vast sea of unknown compounds.
Proteins Predict Significant Step Toward Development of Diabetes
Scientists have taken an important step forward in predicting who will develop Type 1 diabetes months before symptoms appear.
Neutrons look inside working solid-state battery to discover its key to success
Researchers used neutrons to peer inside a working solid-state battery and discovered that its excellent performance results from an extremely thin layer, across which charged lithium atoms quickly flow as they move from anode to cathode and blend into a solid electrolyte.
Discovering Evidence of Superradience in the Alpha Decay of Mirror Nuclei
Nuclei can absorb energy, pushing the nuclei into excited states. When these states decay, the nuclei emit different particles. The interplay between these decay channels and the internal characteristics of the excited states gives rise to phenomena such as superradiance. In superradiance, a nucleus with high excitation energy has excited states so dense that neighboring excited states overlap. Scientists recently found evidence of the superradiance effect in the differences between decaying states in Oxygen-18 and Neon-18.
An ingredient in toothpaste may make electric cars go farther
Argonne scientists have developed a fluoride-containing electrolyte for lithium metal batteries that could boost the electric vehicle industry. The usefulness of this electrolyte extends to other types of advanced battery systems beyond lithium ion.