To Get More Oomph From an Electron Gun, Tip It with Diamondoids
They sound like futuristic weapons, but electron guns are actually workhorse tools for research and industry: They emit streams of electrons for electron microscopes, semiconductor patterning equipment and particle accelerators, to name a few important uses. Now scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have figured out how to increase these electron flows 13,000-fold by applying a single layer of diamondoids - tiny, perfect diamond cages - to an electron gun's sharp gold tip.
Innovation Boosts Study of Fragile Biological Samples at SLAC's X-Ray Laser
Researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have found a simple new way to study very delicate biological samples - like proteins at work in photosynthesis and components of protein-making machines called ribosomes - at the atomic scale using SLAC's X-ray laser.
Titan Helps Researchers Explore Explosive Star Scenarios
A team led by Michael Zingale of Stony Brook University is exploring the physics of Type Ia supernovas using the Titan supercomputer at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The team's latest research focuses on a specific class of Type Ia supernovas known as double-detonation supernovas. This year, the team completed a three-dimensional (3-D), high-resolution investigation of the thermonuclear burning a double-detonation white dwarf undergoes before explosion. The study expands upon the team's initial 3-D simulation of this supernova scenario, which was carried out in 2013.
RHIC Particle Smashups Find that Shape Matters
Peering into the seething soup of primordial matter created in particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) -- an "atom smasher" dedicated to nuclear physics research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory -- scientists have come to a new understanding of how particles are produced in these collisions.
High-Energy X-Rays Give Industry Affordable Way to Optimize Cast Iron
Researchers from Caterpillar and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory conducted a proof of principle study that shows that high-energy synchrotron X-rays from the Advanced Photon Source can provide a new, affordable way for industry to optimize the mechanical and physical properties of cast iron in the manufacturing process.
A Cure for Medical Researchers' Big Data Headache
Oak Ridge Graph Analytics for Medical Innovation (ORiGAMI) supplies researchers with an advanced data tool for literature-based discovery that has the potential to accelerate medical research and discovery. The result of collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the US National Library of Medicine, ORiGAMI unites three emerging technologies that are shaping the future of health care: big data, graph computing, and the Semantic Web
New Clues for Battling Botulism
Scientists have discovered new details about how "cloaking" proteins protect the toxin that causes botulism, a fatal disease caused most commonly by consuming improperly canned foods. That knowledge and the cloaking proteins themselves might now be turned against the toxin -- the deadliest known to humankind.
Story Tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, December 2015
Higher cost of electricity not necessarily deterrent to usage; Finding opens door for lead-free electromechanics; Neutron measurements provide insight into quantum magnets.
PPPL Physicists Propose New Plasma-Based Method to Treat Radioactive Waste
Article about a proposed plasma-based method for treating nuclear waste.
ORNL Process Could Be White Lightning to Electronics Industry
A new era of electronics and even quantum devices could be ushered in with the fabrication of a virtually perfect single layer of "white graphene."
DOE Pulse
Science and Technology Highlights from the DOE National Laboratories
Can Paris Pledges Avert Severe Climate Change?
In a study published in Science today, PNNL scientists and their colleagues show that nations' pledges to reduce greenhouse gases have the potential to reduce the probability of the highest levels of warming, and increase the probability of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
Identifying New Sources of Turbulence in Spherical Tokamaks
This article describes the discovery of two new sources of turbulence in compact spherical tokamaks.
New Supercomputer Simulations Enhance Understanding of Protein Motion and Function
Supercomputing simulations could change how researchers understand the internal motions of proteins that play functional, structural and regulatory roles in all living organisms. The team's results are featured in Nature Physics.
Atom-Sized Craters Make a Catalyst Much More Active
Bombarding and stretching an important industrial catalyst opens up tiny holes on its surface where atoms can attach and react, greatly increasing its activity as a promoter of chemical reactions, according to a study by scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Innovative Report Series to Help Inform Decisions by Utility Regulators, Policymakers and Electric Industry
The electric industry in the U.S. is undergoing significant changes for a number of reasons, including new and improved technologies, changing customer desires, low load growth in many regions, and changes in federal and state policies and regulations. A new series of reports will advance the discussion by examining issues related to electric industry regulation and utility business models.
Supercomputing the Strange Difference Between Matter and Antimatter
An international team of physicists including theorists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has published the first calculation of direct "CP" symmetry violation--how the behavior of subatomic particles (in this case, the decay of kaons) differs when matter is swapped out for antimatter. Should the prediction represented by this calculation not match experimental results, it would be conclusive evidence of new, unknown phenomena that lie outside of the Standard Model--physicists' present understanding of the fundamental particles and the forces between them.
ORNL Microscopy Captures Real-Time View of Evolving Fuel Cell Catalysts
Atomic-level imaging of catalysts by scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could help manufacturers lower the cost and improve the performance of emission-free fuel cell technologies.
Quantum Spin Could Create Unstoppable, One-Dimensional Electron Waves
Scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Ludwig Maximilian University have proposed a solution to the subatomic stoppage of electron flow due to defects in materials: a novel way to create a more robust electron wave by binding together the electron's direction of movement and its spin.
Using Powerful Computers, Physicists Uncover Mechanism That Stabilizes Plasma Within Tokamaks
A team of physicists led by Stephen Jardin of the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has discovered a mechanism that prevents the electrical current flowing through fusion plasma from repeatedly peaking and crashing. This behavior is known as a "sawtooth cycle" and can cause instabilities within the plasma's core.
X-ray Microscope Reveals 'Solitons,' a Special Type of Magnetic Wave
Researchers used a powerful, custom-built X-ray microscope at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to directly observe the magnetic version of a soliton, a type of wave that can travel without resistance. Scientists are exploring whether such magnetic waves can be used to carry and store information in a new, more efficient form of computer memory that requires less energy and generates less heat.
New Information About Bacterial Enzymes to Help Scientists Develop More Effective Antibiotics, Cancer Drugs
New research from Argonne, Scripps Research Institute and Rice University now allows researchers to manipulate nature's biosynthetic machinery to produce more effective antibiotics and cancer-fighting drugs.
Team of Appraisers Across Six States Find Home Buyers Will Pay Premium for Solar Homes
Photovoltaics added value to homes in six markets, according to a new report led by a Berkeley Lab researcher and a home appraisal expert. Seven appraisers from across six states determined the value that PV systems added to single-family homes.
Scientists ID Genetic Factors that Influence Body Weight and Neurological Disorders
A new study by Berkeley Lab scientists has identified genetic factors that influence motor performance and body weight in a genetically diverse group of mice. The researchers also found the genes identified in the mice overlap significantly with genes related to neurological disorders and obesity in people.
Microbes Map Path Toward Renewable Energy Future
In the quest for renewable fuels, scientists are taking lessons from a humble bacterium that fills our oceans and covers moist surfaces the world over. Cyanothece 51142, a type of bacteria also called blue-green algae, produces hydrogen in robust fashion, and scientists have found that it taps into an unexpected source of energy to do so.