Researchers demonstrate new building block in quantum computing
Researchers with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a new level of control over photons encoded with quantum information. The team's experimental system allows them to manipulate the frequency of photons to bring about superposition, a state that enables quantum operations and computing.
Story Tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, December 2018
ORNL solved methane mystery through tree trunk, soil study; neutrons unlock secrets of corn nanoparticles; lithium-ion battery study could inform safer designs; corrosion tests could advance molten salt reactor designs; thought leaders discuss sea of energy change at maritime risk meeting.
To curb maternal deaths in developing countries, researchers use X-rays to map a lifesaving drug in action
A team that includes researchers from the Bridge Institute at the University of Southern California (USC) and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used X-rays to map the shape of a receptor in the body as it binds with misoprostol. This research, published in Nature Chemical Biology, could help in the quest to design low-cost drugs that can tackle postpartum bleeding without affecting other tissues.
United States Department of Energy to host multi-laboratory CyberForce Competition(tm)
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will host its fourth collegiate CyberForce Competition(tm) on December 1.
Quickly Capture Tiny Particles Reacting
New method takes a snapshot every millisecond of groups of light-scattering particles, showing what happens during industrially relevant reactions.
FIONA Measures the Mass Number of 2 Superheavy Elements: Moscovium and Nihonium
A Berkeley Lab-led team has directly measured the mass numbers of two superheavy elements: moscovium (element 115), and nihonium (element 113).
Why the future of water purification may involve Chinese ink
A substance developed thousands of years ago could help accelerate solutions to the world's freshwater crisis.
Light-Activated, Single-Ion Catalyst Breaks Down Carbon Dioxide
A team of scientists has discovered a single-site, visible-light-activated catalyst that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into building block molecules that could be used for creating useful chemicals. The discovery opens the possibility of using sunlight to turn a greenhouse gas into hydrocarbon fuels.
Hidden Giants in Forest Soils
Viruses can infect the microbes residing in, on and around soils, impacting their ability to regulate these global cycles. In Nature Communications, giant virus genomes have been discovered for the first time in a forest soil ecosystem by researchers from the DOE Joint Genome Institute and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Scientists Produce 3-D Chemical Maps of Single Bacteria
Scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)--a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory--have used ultrabright x-rays to image single bacteria with higher spatial resolution than ever before. Their work, published in Scientific Reports, demonstrates an x-ray imaging technique, called x-ray fluorescence microscopy (XRF), as an effective approach to produce 3-D images of small biological samples.
Making X-ray Microscopy 10 Times Faster
Microscopes make the invisible visible. And compared to conventional light microscopes, transmission x-ray microscopes (TXM) can see into samples with much higher resolution, revealing extraordinary details. Researchers across a wide range of scientific fields use TXM to see the structural and chemical makeup of their samples--everything from biological cells to energy storage materials.
Microbes Eat the Same in Labs and the Desert
Analyses of natural communities forming soil crusts agree with laboratory studies of isolated microbe-metabolite relationships.
Self-Sensing Materials Are Here
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers invented a way to make a nanomaterial-embedded composite that is stronger than other fiber-reinforced composites and imbued with a new capability--the ability to monitor its own structural health.
Diverse Biofeedstocks Have High Ethanol Yields and Offer Biorefineries Flexibility
Evidence suggests that biorefineries can accept various feedstocks without negatively impacting the amount of ethanol produced per acre.
Opening Access to Explore the Synthetic Chemistry of Neptunium
New, easily prepared starting material opens access to learning more about a difficult-to-control element in nuclear waste.
Symbiosis a Driver of Truffle Diversity
Truffles are thought of as dining delicacies but they play an important role in soil ecosystem services as the fruiting bodies of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal symbionts residing on host plant roots. An international team sought insights into the ECM lifestyle of truffle-forming species through a comparative analysis of eight fungal genomes.
Climate Simulations Project Wetter, Windier Hurricanes
New supercomputer simulations by climate scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that climate change intensified the amount of rainfall in recent hurricanes such as Katrina, Irma, and Maria by 5 to 10 percent. They further found that if those hurricanes were to occur in a future world that is warmer than present, those storms would have even more rainfall and stronger winds.
Tiny Titanium Barrier Halts Big Problem in Fuel-Producing Solar Cells
New design coats molecular components and dramatically improves stability under tough, oxidizing conditions.
X-Rays Show How Periods of Stress Changed an Ice Age Hyena to the Bone
An international team has unearthed what life might have been like for a now-extinct subspecies of spotted hyena. They found that despite their massive size, some cave hyenas experienced times of hardship that affected them to the bone, causing areas of arrested growth that appear as dark lines, like rings on a tree trunk.
Turning Wood Scraps into Tape
A new chemical process converts a component of wasted wood pulp and other biomass into high-value pressure-sensitive adhesives.
Very Heavy Elements Deliver More Electrons
Scientists revise understanding of the limits of bonding for very electron-rich heavy elements.
Detecting Light in a Different Dimension
UPTON, NY--Scientists from the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)--a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory--have dramatically improved the response of graphene to light through self-assembling wire-like nanostructures that conduct electricity.
From the Cosmos to Fusion Plasmas, PPPL Presents Findings at Global APS Gathering
Invited Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory talks at 60th American Physical Society-Department of Plasma Physics annual meeting.
Scientists Bring Polymers Into Atomic-Scale Focus
A Berkeley Lab-led research has adapted a powerful electron-based imaging technique to obtain a first-of-its-kind image of atomic-scale structure in a synthetic polymer. The research could ultimately inform polymer fabrication methods and lead to new designs for materials and devices that incorporate polymers.
Probing Water's "No-Man's Land" Temperature Region
Measuring the physical properties of water at previously unexplored temperatures offers insights into one of the world's essential liquids.