U.S. Department of Energy Research News

1-Jun-2011
The curious case of germanium-72
Physicists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and Germany's GSI in Darmstadt recently used ORNL's Jaguar supercomputer to explore the pair bonding of neutrons in one uncommon isotope -- germanium-72. In doing so they discovered that changes in temperature and rotation take the nucleus through at least two physical phases.

5-May-2011
Ames Lab regional teams win an unprecedented 3 awards at National Science Bowl
Home Schools of Eastern Iowa took home top honors in two categories and Ames High School won one award at the US Department of Energy's National Science Bowl held in Washington, D.C., April 28-May 2.

13-Jul-2010
Ethanol-fueled racecar engines outpower lead-fueled engines
A group of automotive researchers from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and industry have shown that a fuel-injected racing car engine fueled by E-85, an ethanol-based fuel, outperforms the same engine with a carburetor and leaded racing fuel.

4-Jun-2009
Ames Laboratory-made materials are out of this world
Materials produced at the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory were launched into space on May 14 with the European Space Agency's Planck Mission. Ames Laboratory's Materials Preparation Center synthesized over 20 kilograms of a lanthanum-nickel-tin alloy for use in a metallic hydride sorption cryocooler system -- built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- that will cool instruments during the space mission.

21-Sep-2007
Los Alamos National Laboratory Supports San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen
An Espa�ola soup kitchen will soon be able to expand its outreach efforts thanks to the work of Los Alamos National Laboratory and several local businesses and nonprofits.

20-Sep-2007
Jefferson Lab engineer among nation's best
For years, Jefferson Lab has considered Celia Garcia Whitlatch to be one of its most brilliant engineers. Now, others across the country agree.

26-Jan-2006
NOvA: A neutrino appearance experiment
Deep in the woods of Minnesota, close to the Canadian border, particle physicists hope to construct the next neutrino experiment on a secluded piece of land, fit for studying a lightweight particle that was, itself, once ignored.

2-Dec-2005
NVAC: Visualizing a safer homeland
September 11, 2001 forever changed how Americans view national security. The responsibility for protecting citizens from future attacks has fallen on government shoulders in an increasingly discontented world. One way the Department of Homeland Security has responded is with new visual analytic technologies that transform volumes of documents, emails, images, videos and voice recordings into interactive visuals.

10-Feb-2005
'Quantum Diaries' reveal the secret lives of modern physicists
What is it like to be a physicist 100 years after Einstein pushed physics to a new frontier? A new website featuring researchers at Stanford and around the globe is helping answer that question by cataloging the daily lives of more than 25 physicists. Quantum Diaries celebrates the World Year of Physics by recording the experiences, thoughts, impressions, triumphs and disappointments of these men and women in their blogs, or web-based logs.

9-Feb-2005
Innovative glass fibers shine in radiation detection
Being flexible in the rigid world of glass radiation detectors has made Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's glass fiber optic detectors very popular.

31-Dec-2002
Closing in on cancer
Gerald Small, an Ames Lab senior chemist and an Iowa State University distinguished professor, and Ryszard Jankowiak, an Ames Lab senior scientist, have developed a unique biosensor technology that provides immediate information about DNA damage from cancer-causing pollutants called carcinogens. Damage to DNA, which carries the genetic code of life, is a critical first step in the development of cancer.

8-Jul-2002
Ames Laboratory puts the 'squeeze' on communications technology
A new message-passing library that makes it possible to extract optimum performance from both workstation and personal computer clusters, as well as from large massively parallel supercomputers has been developed by researchers at Ames Laboratory. The new library, called MP_Lite, supports and enhances the basic capabilities that most software programs require to communicate between computers.

27-May-2002
Small effects are key to how materials evolve
Fundamental research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Lab shows that subtle variations in certain properties control how microstructures form. This basic research effort may one day allow scientists to tailor microstructural development, providing the basis for new and improved materials.

1-Apr-2002
New standard in sensor technology
The Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and the University of Michigan integrated basic research in two separate areas�organic light-emitting devices and fluorescent sensors�to develop an innovative new OLED/optical chemical sensor with possible wide-ranging applications such as medical testing, drug discovery, and pathogen detection.

1-Mar-2002
Sensible sensors
Joseph Shinar, Ames Laboratory senior physicist, in collaboration with chemist Raoul Kopelman from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has developed a novel, fluorescence-based chemical sensor that is smaller, less expensive and more versatile than existing technology of its kind.

1-Feb-2002
State-of-the-art magnetoelectronics lab puts Ames Lab on thin-film fast track
Tucked away in a small laboratory space on the second floor of Metals Development is new, state-of-the-art research equipment that should help boost Ames Lab researchers David Jiles and John Snyder to the forefront of thin-film research and the newly emerging field of magnetoelectronics.

7-Jan-2002
New magnetic refrigerator
Using materials developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, researchers have successfully demonstrated the world's first room temperature, permanent-magnet, magnetic refrigerator. The refrigerator was developed by Milwaukee-based Astronautics Corporation of America as part of a cooperative research and development agreement with Ames Laboratory.

31-Dec-2001
EDM cuts cleaner, smoother
The Charmilles Technologies Robofil 290 Wire Electrical Discharge Machine, or EDM for short, uses an electrical spark delivered by a fine wire to cut through any material that conducts electricity.

31-Dec-2001
BAM continues amazing development
A material that rivals industrial diamond in hardness continues to amaze the researchers who developed it and attract interest from a variety of industrial sectors. The material represents a breakthrough technology that could have a substantial impact on the machining industry, which spends $300 billion each year in labor and overhead in the United States alone.

31-Dec-2001
Building on success
When researchers at Ames Laboratory developed a compact laboratory furnace, it marked a huge leap forward in the ability to understand what happens to a material's crystal structure as the material is heated and cooled. That success has led to the building of two additional furnaces for other DOE laboratories and a refined design intended to make the furnace easier to operate.

31-Dec-2001
'Fast-talking' clusters
Researchers at Ames Laboratory's Scalable Computing Lab have extended their investigation into communication technology for cluster computers thanks to a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrument grant awarded to Iowa State University's Center for Physical and Computational Mathematics.

31-Dec-2001
Dirty coal, clean power
Iver Anderson thinks the solution to the rolling power blackouts in California and parts of the East Coast may lie under the rolling black soil of Iowa�s farm country. "Iowa is sitting on top of huge deposits of coal," says Anderson, an Ames Laboratory senior metallurgist. "The problem is that it�s high-sulfur, dirty coal." Anderson and colleagues Bob Terspstra and Brian Gleeson are closing in on a new material to filter the nasty ashes and dust that result from burning "dirty" coal.

31-Dec-2001
Molecular roller coaster analyzes compounds
Visualize a pack of various molecules in a compound, all mingling in a solution. Then imagine molecules being whisked away from the crowd, one at a time, into a tiny tube by an invisible force. About halfway through this molecular roller coaster, the molecules are flashed with ultraviolet light beamed through a small window as they scream by. That, in short, describes the operation of a new instrument created by Ed Yeung and his team of researchers at the Ames Laboratory.

31-Dec-2001
Old material makes a new debut
Magnesium diboride is a relatively inexpensive metal compound that can be purchased in powder form from most standard chemical supply companies. Until this year, there was nothing remarkable about it � at least nothing that was known. But the material had never been investigated for superconductivity � whether it had the ability to conduct electricity perfectly, without resistance, when cooled to temperatures near absolute zero (minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit).

18-Nov-2001
Ames award-winning technology selected as 2001's 'Most Promising'
The Absorption Detection System in Multiple Capillaries technology, developed by Edward S. Yeung, director of Ames Laboratory's Chemical and Biological Sciences Program, was one of three technologies selected for the Editors' Choice Award from the 2001 R&D 100 Award winners.