U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 14-Mar-2013
Building the massive simulation sets essential to Planck results
The Planck collaboration will soon release its first cosmological results from trillions of measurements of the cosmic microwave background. Crucial to the results were tens of millions of hours of massively parallel processing at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, and the expertise of the Computational Cosmology Center's physicists and computational scientists.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 14-Mar-2013

Science
Water signature in distant planet shows clues to its formation, Lawrence Livermore research finds
A team of international scientists including a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory astrophysicist has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-size like planet beyond our solar system.

Public Release: 14-Mar-2013

Science
Breakthrough research shows chemical reaction in real time
The ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source have enabled unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step in the effort to develop cleaner and more efficient energy sources.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 13-Mar-2013

Nature Methods
Predictability: The brass ring for synthetic biology
DNA sequences and statistical models have been unveiled that greatly increase the reliability and precision by which microbes can be engineered.

Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 13-Mar-2013

Nature Physics
Surprising control over photoelectrons from a topological insulator
Electrons flowing swiftly across the surface of topological insulators (TIs) are "spin polarized," their spin and momentum locked. The potential to control electron distribution in spintronic devices makes TIs a hot topic in materials science. Now scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered another useful surprise.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 13-Mar-2013
Biomass research collaboration seeks to improve biofuel efficiency, bio-products quality
A Kansas State University biochemical engineer has a key role in a research project between universities, industries and federal agencies that seeks to refine and improve the conversion of biomass into better drop-in biodiesel, biolubricants, jet fuel and other value-added products.

US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 11-Mar-2013
Lyncean Technologies, Inc. receives $1.1M grant from DOE to develop the Compact Light Source
Lyncean Technologies, Inc. has received a Fast-Track SBIR grant of $1.1M from the Department of Energy to further develop their flagship product, the Compact Light Source, a miniature synchrotron that produces tunable, high-quality X-rays for broad scientific and industrial use. The grant will be performed in collaboration with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 7-Mar-2013

Plant Journal
Biologists produce rainbow-colored algae
What can green algae do for science if they weren't, well, green? That's the question biologists at UC San Diego sought to answer when they engineered a green alga used commonly in laboratories, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, into a rainbow of different colors by producing six different colored fluorescent proteins in the algae cells.

US Department of Energy, California Energy Commission

Public Release: 7-Mar-2013

PLOS ONE
Illuminating fractures: X-ray imaging sheds new light on bone damage
Using cutting-edge X-ray techniques, Cornell University researchers have uncovered cellular-level detail of what happens when bone bears repetitive stress over time, visualizing damage at smaller scales than previously observed. Their work could offer clues into how bone fractures could be prevented.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 7-Mar-2013

Science
Long predicted atomic collapse state observed in graphene
Seventy years ago theorists predicted superlarge nuclei would exhibit a quantum-mechanical phenomenon known as "atomic collapse." Recently materials scientists calculated that highly-charged impurities in graphene should exhibit a corresponding buildup of electrons partially localized in space and energy -- a unique electronic resonance. By constructing artificial superlarge nuclei on graphene, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have achieved the first experimental observation of long-sought atomic collapse, with important implications for the future of graphene-based electronic devices.

Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 5-Mar-2013
Biomass analysis tool is faster, more precise
A screening tool from the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory eases and greatly quickens one of the thorniest tasks in the biofuels industry: determining cell wall chemistry to find plants with ideal genes.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 5-Mar-2013

Nature
USF and KAUST chemists develop efficient material for carbon capture
Chemists have discovered a more efficient, less expensive and reusable material for carbon dioxide capture and separation.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 4-Mar-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Lawrence Livermore helps find link to arsenic-contaminated groundwater
A team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Barnard College, Columbia University, University of Dhaka, Desert Research Institute and University of Tennessee found that the arsenic in groundwater in the region is part of a natural process that predates any recent human interaction, such as intensive pumping.

Public Release: 4-Mar-2013
March story tips
By introducing microbial fuel cells into the corn stover biorefinery waste recovery process, a team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has demonstrated a new way to produce bioenergy from the process waste stream. Quantitative analyses of vitamins can be done in minutes with minimal processing, saving time and money with a technique successfully demonstrated by a team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers.

Public Release: 3-Mar-2013

Nature Materials
Man-made material pushes the bounds of superconductivity
A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications.

US Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Public Release: 2-Mar-2013

Science
Mysterious electron stash found hidden among Van Allen belts
US researchers, including a trio from Los Alamos National Laboratory, have witnessed the mysterious appearance of a relatively long-lived zone of high-energy electrons stored between Earth's Van Allen radiation belts.

Public Release: 1-Mar-2013
Report spotlights Sandia's impact on economy
Sandia National Laboratories spent roughly $900 million on goods and services in fiscal year 2012 and New Mexico businesses were awarded more than $400 million, or 45 percent, of the total, according to the labs' latest economic impact report.

Public Release: 1-Mar-2013
Disabled kids inspire musical instrument anyone can play
A Taos, N.M., musician, working with a Sandia National Laboratories scientist, has created a way for people to make music without the kind of physical skill it normally takes to play an instrument.

Public Release: 27-Feb-2013

Nature
Reading the human genome
Berkeley Lab researchers have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.

National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 27-Feb-2013

Nature
NuSTAR helps solve riddle of black hole spin
An international team including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists has definitively measured the spin rate of a supermassive black hole for the first time.

Public Release: 27-Feb-2013

Scientific Reports
Rice builds nanotube photodetector
A nanotube-based photodetector that gathers light in and beyond visible wavelengths shows promise for unique optoelectronic devices and specialized cameras.

US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, LANCER, Welch Foundation

Public Release: 26-Feb-2013
NREL's economic benefit to Colorado totals $814.8 million in FY 2012
The net economic benefit of the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to Colorado's economy was $814.8 million in fiscal year 2012, according to a study by the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Feb-2013
NREL employees honored by industry associations
The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and its employees have garnered new awards and recognition from industry groups for advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy research.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Feb-2013

Nature Communications
In probing mysteries of glass, researchers find a key to toughness
Glass doesn't have to be brittle. Scientists propose a way of predicting whether a given glass will be brittle or ductile -- a property typically associated with metals like steel or aluminum -- and assert that any glass could have either quality.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Feb-2013

Cell
Target: Cancer
A microscopy technique developed at the University of Akron could be key to improving cancer treatments with targeted therapeutic drugs.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, US Department of Energy