U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 14-Jul-2013

Nature
Boldly illuminating biology's 'dark matter'
Microbial dark matter comprises the invisible infrastructure of life that can have profound influences on the most significant environmental processes. By employing next generation DNA sequencing of single cell genomes, researchers are systematically filling in the bacterial and archaeal tree of life's uncharted branches. An international collaboration led by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute has published the most recent findings from exploring microbial dark matter July 14, 2013, in the journal Nature.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 11-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the Royal Society B
50-year-old assumptions about strength muscled aside
New understanding of where muscles get their power from turns 50 years of strength belief on its head. New insight could aid everything from bodybuilding to cardiac care.

Department of Energy, NIH, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 10-Jul-2013
CASL milestone validates reactor model using TVA data
Today, the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) announced that its scientists have successfully completed the first full-scale simulation of an operating nuclear reactor. CASL is modeling nuclear reactors on supercomputers to help researchers better understand reactor performance with much higher reliability than previously available methods, with the goal of ultimately increasing power output, extending reactor life, and reducing waste.

Public Release: 10-Jul-2013

Science Translational Medicine
Of aging bones and sunshine
Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that deficiencies in vitamin D -- the sunshine vitamin -- accelerates the aging of bone, reducing the quality and making it more susceptible to fracturing.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 10-Jul-2013
Wind power does not strongly affect greater prairie chickens, 7-year study finds
Wind power development does not ruffle the feathers of greater prairie chicken populations, according to a seven-year study from a Kansas State University ecologist and his team. They found that grassland birds are more affected by rangeland management practices and by the availability of native prairie and vegetation cover at nest sites.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 9-Jul-2013
NREL research earns 3 prestigious R&D 100 Awards
A new energy-efficient approach to building occupancy detection, a better way to detect heat loss in electric-vehicle batteries and a high-efficiency silicon solar cell � all developed or advanced at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory -- have been named among this year's most significant innovations by R&D Magazine.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 9-Jul-2013
SWiFT commissioned to study wind farm optimization
The U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories and Texas Tech University commissioned the DOE/Sandia Scaled Wind Farm Technology facility today at the Reese Technology Center in Lubbock, Texas. The SWiFT is the first public facility of its kind to use multiple wind turbines to measure how wind turbines interact with one another in a wind farm.

Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Public Release: 9-Jul-2013

Nature Communications
Wildfires may contribute more to global warming than previously predicted
Wildfires produce a witch's brew of carbon-containing particles, as anyone downwind of a forest fire can attest. But measurements taken during the 2011 Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos National Laboratory show that the actual carbon-containing particles emitted by fires are very different than those used in current computer models, providing the potential for inaccuracy in current climate-modeling results.

Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 9-Jul-2013
ORNL wins 6 R&D 100s
Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received six R&D 100 awards, presented each year by R&D Magazine in recognition of the year's most significant technological innovations.

Public Release: 8-Jul-2013

New Phytologist
Getting to the root of the matter
Plant molecular biologists go looking for the genetics of poplar root growth in low-nitrogen soil and wind up with a model for genetic interaction.

US Department of Energy, US Department of Agriculture, Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research

Public Release: 8-Jul-2013

Physical Review Letters
An unlikely competitor for diamond as the best thermal conductor
Researchers from Boston College and the Naval Research Lab report the potential for boron arsenide to challenge the extraordinarily high thermal conductivity of diamond, which could pave the way for a more plentiful and affordable alternative to cooling high tech devices.

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

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013
July 2013 story tips
These tips are about: ENERGY � Big voltage, little package METALLURGY - Graphite foam expansion ENERGY � CoNNECT promotes savings MATERIALS - Safer batteries CLIMATE - Blogging from the Arctic.

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013

Journal of the American Chemical Society
New catalyst could cut cost of making hydrogen fuel
A discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison may represent a significant advance in the quest to create a "hydrogen economy" that would use this abundant element to store and transfer energy.

US Department of Energy/Basic Energy Sciences Program

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013

FEBS Letters
Scientists identify promising antiviral compounds
Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified two promising candidates for the development of drugs against human adenovirus, a cause of ailments ranging from colds to gastrointestinal disorders to pink eye. The researchers sifted through thousands of compounds to determine which might block the effects of a key viral enzyme they had previously studied in atomic-level detail.

National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 1-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Surprise superconductor
Superconductivity is a rare physical state in which matter is able to conduct electricity -- maintain a flow of electrons -- without any resistance. This phenomenon can only be found in certain materials under specific low-temperature and high-pressure conditions. New research found unexpected superconductivity that could help scientists better understand the structural changes that create this rare phenomenon.

National Science Foundation, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Deep Carbon Observatory, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

Science
This image could lead to better antibiotics
Berkeley Lab scientists have created an atomic-scale structure of a bacterial ribosome attached to a molecule that controls its motion. The image is also a possible roadmap to better antibiotics. Somewhere in its twists and turns could be a weakness that a new antibiotic can target.

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

Nano Letters
Tiny nanocubes help scientists tell left from right
A team of scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Ohio University has developed a new, simpler way to discern molecular handedness, known as chirality, which could improve drug development, optical sensors and more.

US Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

Angewandte Chemie
Chemists work to desalt the ocean for drinking water, 1 nanoliter at a time
By creating a small electrical field that removes salts from seawater, chemists have introduced a new method for the desalination of seawater that consumes less energy and is dramatically simpler than conventional techniques. The new method requires so little energy that it can run on a store-bought battery.

US Department of Energy, US Environmental Protection Agency

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013
Power for seaports may be the next job for hydrogen fuel cells
Providing auxiliary hydrogen power to docked or anchored ships may soon be added to the list of ways in which hydrogen fuel cells can provide efficient, emissions-free energy. Hydrogen fuel cells are already powering mobile lighting systems, forklifts, emergency backup systems and light-duty trucks, among other applications. Now, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have found that hydrogen fuel cells may be both technically feasible and commercially attractive as a power source for ships at berth.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013

Energy & Environmental Science
Getting the carbon out of emissions
MIT researchers propose method to remove carbon from emissions that could be more efficient than previous systems and easier to retrofit in existing power plants.

Siemens AG, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013

IAEA International Conference on Nuclear Security: Enhancing Global Efforts
Los Alamos/Tribogenics create highly portable imaging system
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Tribogenics, the pioneer of innovative X-ray solutions, have partnered to create a unique, lightweight, compact, low-cost X-ray system that uses the MiniMAX (Miniature, Mobile, Agile, X-ray) camera to provide real-time inspection of sealed containers and facilities. The innovative technology will be featured at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Conference on Nuclear Security: Enhancing Global Efforts, July 1-5, in Vienna, Austria.

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013

PLOS ONE
Salmonella infection is a battle between good and bad bacteria in the gut
A new study in PLOS ONE that examined food poisoning infection as-it-happens in mice revealed harmful bacteria, such as a common type of Salmonella, takes over beneficial bacteria within the gut amid previously unseen changes to the gut environment. The results provide new insights into the course of infection and could lead to better prevention or new treatments.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 25-Jun-2013
DOE, NREL announce new research center to boost clean energy technologies on a smarter grid
The Energy Department and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory today announced the Energy Systems Integration Facility in Golden, Colorado, as the latest Energy Department user facility and the only one in the nation focused on utility-scale clean energy grid integration. The facility's first industry partner -- Colorado-based Advanced Energy Industries -- has already signed on to start work at ESIF, developing lower cost, better performing solar power inverters.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 25-Jun-2013

IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
NREL reports 31.1 percent efficiency for III-V solar cell
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Lab has announced a world record of 31.1 percent conversion efficiency for a two-junction solar cell under one sun of illumination.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 25-Jun-2013
NREL drives toward the future with fuel cell EVs
Efforts currently underway at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory are contributing to rapid progress in the research, development and testing of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

US Department of Energy