Brain Modulyzer Provides Interactive Window Into the Brain
A new tool developed at Berkeley Lab allows researchers to interactively explore the hierarchical processes that happen in the brain when it is resting or performing tasks. Scientists also hope that the tool can shed some light on how neurological diseases like Alzheimer's spread throughout the brain.
Smallest. Transistor. Ever.
A research team led by Berkeley Lab material scientists has created a transistor with a working 1-nanometer gate, breaking a size barrier that had been set by the laws of physics. The achievement could be a key to extending the life of Moore's Law.
Scientists Rev Up Speed of Bionic Enzyme Reactions
Bionic enzymes got a needed boost in speed thanks to new research at the Berkeley Lab. By pairing a noble metal with a natural enzyme, scientists created a hybrid capable of churning out molecules at a rate comparable to biological counterparts.
Enhancing the Superconducting Properties of an Iron-Based Material
By bombarding the material with low-energy protons, scientists doubled the amount of current the material could carry without resistance, while raising the temperature at which this superconducting state emerges.
For Normal Heart Function, Look Beyond the Genes
Berkeley Lab researchers have compiled a comprehensive genome-wide map of more than 80,000 enhancers considered relevant to human heart development and function. They went on to test two of the enhancers in mice, showing that when the enhancers were missing, the heart worked abnormally.
A Cooperative Way to Make Ammonia
A better understanding of how bacteria fix nitrogen gas into nitrogen-carrying ammonia could lead to energy savings in industrial processes. Researchers are studying the bacterial enzyme that does this, a complicated enzyme called nitrogenase. In new work, researchers discovered that the two sides of nitrogenase cooperate in producing ammonia, alternating through different steps in a way that makes efficient use of the complex enzyme.
New Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination
When the local water management agency closes your favorite beach due to unhealthy water quality, how reliable are the tests they base their decisions on? As it turns out, those tests, as well as the standards behind them, have not been updated in decades. Now scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a highly accurate, DNA-based method to detect and distinguish sources of microbial contamination in water.
Story Tips From the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, October 2016
ORNL-led team progresses toward automated research tools for U.S. cancer population data; ORNL updates National Hydropower Map; ORNL's Autotune software beat the industry's energy efficiency standards, automating about 45 man-hours of building calibration; Using Titan, a team achieved a 7- to 10-fold increase in LQCD code performance; ORNL hosts molten salt reactors workshop; ORNL developed deep insight for new Kelvin probe force microscopy technique; By exploiting quantum states, ORNL designed a sensor featuring unparalleled sensitivity.
Transformational X-Ray Project Takes a Step Forward
A proposed upgrade to the Advanced Light Source -- which would provide new views of materials and chemistry at the nanoscale with X-ray beams up to 1,000 times brighter than possible now -- has cleared the first step in a Department of Energy approval process. The upgrade would enable new explorations of chemical reactions, battery performance, and biological processes.
Water Vapor Sets Some Oxides Aflutter
A team of scientists has discovered a phenomenon that could have practical applications in solar cells, rechargeable battery electrodes, and water-splitting devices.
A Novel Way to Power Greener Homes
DOE's Argonne National Laboratory, Colorado-based Air Squared, Inc., Mississippi State University and Purdue University launched efforts to develop the first residential CHP system that uses small generators. The group's proposal to optimize combined heating and power systems (CHP) for residential housing earned $2.7 million in seed money in October from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
X-Rays Reveal New Path in Battle Against Mosquito-Borne Illness
Structural biology research conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has uncovered how small insecticidal protein crystals that are naturally produced by bacteria might be tailored to combat dengue fever and the Zika virus.
Ames Lab Discovers Way to Make Alane a Better Hydrogen Fuel Option for Vehicles
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, in collaboration with several partners, have discovered a less-expensive, more energy-efficient way to produce alane - aluminum trihydride - a hydrogen source widely considered to be a technological dead-end for use in automotive vehicles.
Powered for Life: Self-Charging Tag Tracks Fish as Long as They Swim
A self-powered fish-tracking tag uses a flexible strip containing piezoelectric materials to emit tiny beeps that are recorded by underwater microphones. The device is designed for longer-living fish such as sturgeon, eels and lamprey.
Crystalline Fault Lines Provide Pathway for Solar Cell Current
A team of scientists studying solar cells made from cadmium telluride, a promising alternative to silicon, has discovered that microscopic "fault lines" within and between crystals of the material act as conductive pathways that ease the flow of electric current. This research-conducted at the University of Connecticut and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, and described in the journal Nature Energy-may help explain how a common processing technique turns cadmium telluride into an excellent material for transforming sunlight into electricity, and suggests a strategy for engineering more efficient solar devices that surpass the performance of silicon.
In Bird Feathers, Scientists Find Hints About Color of Extinct Animals
In order to discover the true colors of ancient animals, scientists are using X-rays to closely examine the chemical details of modern bird feathers. The researchers were able to map elements that make up pigments responsible for red and black colors in feathers. They hope to use this information to find traces of the same pigments in fossil specimens of extinct animals, such as dinosaurs. This latest discovery means that scientists may be able to go beyond monochrome in their depictions of fossilized creatures, and make steps towards portraying their colors more accurately.
Scientists Find Twisting 3-D Raceway for Electrons in Nanoscale Crystal Slices
Researchers observed, for the first time, an exotic 3-D racetrack for electrons in ultrathin slices of a crystal they made at Berkeley Lab.
SLAC's X-Ray Laser Glimpses How Electrons Dance with Atomic Nuclei in Materials
The coupling between electrons and phonons determines how efficiently solar cells convert sunlight into electricity. It also plays key roles in superconductors that transfer electricity without losses, topological insulators that conduct electricity only on their surfaces, materials that drastically change their electrical resistance when exposed to a magnetic field, and more. At the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists can study these coupled motions in unprecedented detail with the world's most powerful X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). LCLS is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.
Argonne Ahead of the "Curve" in Magnetic Study
In a new study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, scientists noticed that magnetic skyrmions - small electrically uncharged circular structures with a spiraling magnetic pattern - do get deflected by an applied current, much like a curveball gets deflected by airflow.
We're Not in Kansas Anymore: Fluorescent Ruby Red Roofs Stay as Cool as White
Elementary school science teaches us that in the sun, dark colors get hot while white stays cool. Now new research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found an exception: scientists have determined that certain dark pigments can stay just as cool as white by using fluorescence, the re-emission of absorbed light.
A Conscious Coupling of Magnetic and Electric Materials
Scientists have successfully paired ferroelectric and ferrimagnetic materials so that their alignment can be controlled with a small electric field at near room temperatures, an achievement that could open doors to ultra low-power microprocessors, storage devices and next-generation electronics.
'Schroedinger's Cat' Molecules Give Rise to Exquisitely Detailed Movies
Scientists have known for a long time that an atom or molecule can also be in two different states at once. Now researchers at the Stanford PULSE Institute and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have exploited this Schroedinger's Cat behavior to create X-ray movies of atomic motion with much more detail than ever before.
PPPL and Princeton University Demonstrate a Novel Physical Cryptographic Technique That May Have Applicability to Future Nuclear Disarmament Agreements
Article describes successful demonstration of cryptographic technique that may have applicability to future nuclear disarmament agreements.
Nine Innovative Approaches That Utilities Are Using to Plan for Increased Rooftop Solar
A new report by researchers from Berkeley Lab and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory surveys utility planning practices from roughly 30 studies across the United States. The rapid growth of rooftop solar has not been distributed equally across U.S. utility territories, and the same is true for projected future growth.
Nanoscale Tetrapods Could Provide Early Warning of a Material's Failure
Light-emitting, four-armed nanocrystals could someday form the basis of an early warning system in structural materials by revealing microscopic cracks that portend failure, thanks to recent research by scientists from Berkeley Lab.