Improving Isotope Supply for a Cancer-Fighting Drug
Production of actinium-227 ramps up for use in a drug to fight prostate cancer that has spread to bone.
Extracting Signs of the Elusive Neutrino
Scientists use software to "develop" images that trace neutrinos' interactions in a bath of cold liquid argon.
Machine learning speeds modeling of experiments aimed at capturing fusion energy on Earth to rapidly predict behavior of plasma that fuels fusion reactions
Release describes application of machine learning form of artificial intelligence to predict the behavior of fusion plasma.
Record-shattering underwater sound
A team of researchers has produced a record-shattering underwater sound with an intensity that eclipses that of a rocket launch. The intensity was equivalent to directing the electrical power of an entire city onto a single square meter, resulting in sound pressures above 270 decibels.
CosmoGAN: Training a Neural Network to Study Dark Matter
A Berkeley Lab-led research group is using a deep learning method known as generative adversarial networks to enhance the use of gravitational lensing in the study of dark matter.
Breakthrough Technique for Studying Gene Expression Takes Root in Plants
An open-source RNA analysis platform has been successfully used on plant cells for the first time - an advance that could herald a new era of fundamental research and bolster efforts to engineer more efficient food and biofuel crop plants. The technology, called Drop-seq, is a method for measuring the RNA present in individual cells, allowing scientists to see what genes are being expressed and how this relates to the specific functions of different cell types.
Bio-inspired material targets oceans' uranium stores for sustainable nuclear energy
Scientists have demonstrated a new bio-inspired material for an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to recovering uranium from seawater. The low-cost polymer adsorbent could help push past bottlenecks in the cost and efficiency of extracting uranium resources from oceans for sustainable energy production.
Study Concludes Glassy Menagerie of Particles in Beach Sands Near Hiroshima is Fallout Debris from A-Bomb Blast
A years-long study that involved scientists and experiments at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley concluded that an odd assortment of particles found in beach sands in Japan are most likely fallout debris from the 1945 Hiroshima A-bomb blast.
New technique merging sound and math could help prevent plasma disruptions in fusion facilities
Scientists have created a novel method for measuring the stability of plasma in fusion facilities called "tokamaks." Involving an innovative use of a mathematical tool, the method might lead to a technique for stabilizing plasma and making fusion reactions more efficient.
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2D insulators with ferromagnetic properties are rare; researchers just identified a new one
Collaborating scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Princeton University have discovered a new layered ferromagnetic semiconductor, a rare type of material that holds great promise for next-generation electronic technologies.
Assessing battery performance: Compared to what?
A team from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, University of Warwick, OVO Energy, Hawaii National Energy Institute, and Jaguar Land Rover reviewed the literature on the various methods used around the world to characterize the performance of lithium-ion batteries to provide insight on best practices. Their results may one day lead to more reliably comparable methods for testing lithium-ion batteries tailored to different applications.
Probing battery hotspots for safer energy storage
For the first time, a team of researchers has studied the effects of tiny areas within lithium metal batteries that are much hotter than their surroundings. These hotspots, the researchers find, can make batteries grow spiky tumors of metal called dendrites that could cause short circuits, and potentially lead to fires.
A New Filter to Better Map the Dark Universe
To address messy measurements of the cosmic web that connects matter in the universe, researchers at Berkeley Lab developed a way to improve the accuracy and clarity of these measurements based on the stretching of the universe's oldest light.
Focus on Nuclear Waste Chemistry Could Help Hanford Cleanup Challenges
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University teamed up to investigate the complex dynamics of low-water liquids that challenge nuclear waste processing at federal cleanup sites.
Plastic Gets a Do-Over: Breakthrough Discovery Recycles Plastic From the Inside Out
A team of researchers at Berkeley Lab has designed a recyclable plastic that, like a Lego playset, can be disassembled into its constituent parts at the molecular level, and then reassembled into a different shape, texture, and color again and again without loss of performance or quality.
New Approach for Solving Protein Structures from Tiny Crystals
Scientists have developed a new approach for solving atomic-scale 3-D protein structures from tiny crystals. The advance will open up this structural biology technique to a wide range of hard-to-crystallize proteins in bacteria, viruses, plants, and humans.
Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, May 2019
ORNL story tips: Using ORNL's Summit supercomputer, scientists created some of the largest virtual universes; plant-based, super-sticky material proves stickier than mussels; method to 3D print big components with metal could promise low-cost, high-quality builds with less waste; simulated small modular reactors on Summit ran more efficiently than expected.
Berkeley Lab Science Snapshot April 2019
Three science briefs from Berkeley Lab
Plant Cells Eat Their Own ... Membranes and Oil Droplets
Biochemists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered two ways that autophagy, or self-eating, controls the levels of oils in plant cells. The study describes how this cannibalistic-sounding process actually helps plants survive, and suggests a way to get bioenergy crops to accumulate more oil.
Scientists Catalog How Colon Cancer Unfolds in the Body
Scientists have taken one of the most in-depth looks ever at the riot of protein activity that underlies colon cancer and have identified potential new molecular targets to try to stop the disease.
Bridge Over Coupled Waters: Scientists 3D-Print All-Liquid 'Lab on a Chip'
Researchers at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have 3D-printed an all-liquid device that, with the click of a button, can be repeatedly reconfigured on demand to serve a wide range of applications - from making battery materials to screening drug candidates.
Slow Charge Generation Plays Big Role in Model Material for Solar Cells
Insight about energy flow in copper-based material could aid in creating efficient molecular electronics.
The Spin Doctors: Researchers Discover Surprising Quantum Effect in Hard Disk Drive Material
Argonne scientists have further explored a new effect that enhances their ability to control the direction of electron spin in certain materials. Their discovery may lead to more powerful and energy-efficient materials for information storage.
New Lens System for Brighter, Sharper Diffraction Images
To design and improve energy storage materials, smart devices, and many more technologies, researchers need to understand their hidden structure and chemistry. Advanced research techniques, such as ultra-fast electron diffraction imaging can reveal that information. Now, a group of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new and improved version of electron diffraction at Brookhaven's Accelerator Test Facility (ATF)--a DOE Office of Science User Facility that offers advanced and unique experimental instrumentation for studying particle acceleration to researchers from all around the world.
A Breakthrough in the Study of Laser/Plasma Interactions
A new 3D particle-in-cell simulation tool developed by researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and CEA Saclay is enabling cutting-edge simulations of laser/plasma coupling mechanisms. More detailed understanding of these mechanisms is critical to the development of ultra-compact particle accelerators and light sources.