U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 9-Apr-2013
NREL launches initiative to build solar performance database
The US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory has launched an initiative to build an open-source database of real-world performance from solar facilities across the country. As part of DOE's SunShot Initiative, the Open Solar Performance and Reliability Clearinghouse will give the private market tools to develop investment vehicles to tap low-cost public capital.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 9-Apr-2013

Journal of Nuclear Medicine
System provides clear brain scans of awake, unrestrained mice
Researchers have shown that the AwakeSPECT system can obtain detailed, functional images of the brain of a freely moving, conscious mouse.

US Department of Energy's Office of Science, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 9-Apr-2013
Better monitoring and diagnostics tackle algae biofuel pond crash problem
Sandia National Laboratories is developing a suite of complementary technologies to help the emerging algae industry detect and quickly recover from algal pond crashes, an obstacle to large-scale algae cultivation for future biofuels. The research, which focuses on monitoring and diagnosing algal pond health, draws upon Sandia's longstanding expertise in microfluidics technology, its strong bioscience research program and significant internal investments.

Public Release: 7-Apr-2013

Nature Chemical Biology
Sweet success
Using an ultrahigh-precision microscopy technique, Berkeley Lab researchers have uncovered a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails on cellulosic biomass, boosting the yields of sugars for the production of advanced biofuels.

Energy Biosciences Institute

Public Release: 4-Apr-2013

Nature
Antibody evolution could guide HIV vaccine development
Observing the evolution of a particular type of antibody in an infected HIV-1 patient, a study spearheaded by Duke University, including analysis from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has provided insights that will enable vaccination strategies that mimic the actual antibody development within the body.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 4-Apr-2013
DOE renews JBEI funding
The Department of Energy has renewed funding for the Joint BioEnergy Institute for another five years. JBEI is a multi-institutional partnership for advanced biofuels research led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 4-Apr-2013
Energy Department announces 5-year renewal of funding for Bioenergy Research Centers
The US Department of Energy today announced it would fund its three Bioenergy Research Centers for an additional five-year period, subject to continued congressional appropriations. The three Centers are the BioEnergy Research Center led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in partnership with Michigan State University, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 4-Apr-2013

Journal of Nuclear Medicine
ORNL's awake imaging device moves diagnostics field forward
A technology being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory promises to provide clear images of the brains of children, the elderly and people with Parkinson's and other diseases without the use of uncomfortable or intrusive restraints.

Public Release: 3-Apr-2013

Nature
Quantum tricks drive magnetic switching into the fast lane
Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, and the University of Crete in Greece have found a new way to switch magnetism that is at least 1000 times faster than currently used in magnetic memory technologies. Magnetic switching is used to encode information in hard drives, RAM and other computing devices.

US Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 3-Apr-2013
First data released from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
The first published results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a major physics experiment operating on the International Space Station, were announced today by the AMS collaboration spokesman, Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting. The result is the most precise measurement to date of the ratio of positrons to electrons in cosmic rays. Measurements of this key ratio may eventually provide the world with our first glimpse into dark matter.

US Deptartment of Energy

Public Release: 3-Apr-2013

Nature Communications
ORNL microscopy uncovers 'dancing' silicon atoms in graphene
Jumping silicon atoms are the stars of an atomic scale ballet featured in a new Nature Communications study from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Public Release: 3-Apr-2013

Nature
Ancient pool of warm water questions current climate models
A huge pool of warm water that stretched out from Indonesia over to Africa and South America four million years ago suggests climate models might be too conservative in forecasting tropical changes.

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

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013

Journal of Climate
Rising temperature difference between hemispheres could dramatically shift tropical rain patterns
UC Berkeley and University of Washington researchers found that changes in the interhemispheric temperature difference during the 20th century were linked to catastrophic changes in tropical rainfall. They predict that in the future, the rising difference could have major effects on tropical rainfall patterns, generally shifting seasonal rains such as monsoons northward.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013
Berkeley Lab researchers release guide to financing energy upgrade for K-12 school districts
Energy costs K-12 schools in the U.S. $6 billion dollars annually. Spending less money on energy costs would leave more for funding-constrained school districts to spend on educating their students, according to researchers at Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. They have released a guide on planning and financing comprehensive energy upgrades that involve multiple measures and are targeted toward achieving significant and persistent energy savings.

US DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013
April 2013 story tips
This release includes these topics: Analytics -- Device has ORNL pedigree, Climate -- Going small with big computers, Transportation -- Highway to green, Energy -- Extending reactor life, Environment -- Seeing through soil.

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013
New instrument will quickly detect botulinum, ricin, other biothreat agents
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a medical instrument that will be able to quickly detect a suite of biothreat agents, including anthrax, ricin, botulinum, shiga and SEB toxin. Sandia's work is funded by a recent grant -- nearly $4 million over four years -- from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 1-Apr-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Research deciphers HIV attack plan
A new study by Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Pennsylvania scientists defines previously unknown properties of transmitted HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. The viruses that successfully pass from a chronically infected person to a new individual are both remarkably resistant to a powerful initial human immune-response mechanism, and they are blanketed in a greater amount of envelope protein that helps them access and enter host cells.

Public Release: 1-Apr-2013

Nature Nanotechnology
Watching fluid flow at nanometer scales
New research carried out at MIT and elsewhere has demonstrated for the first time that when inserted into a pool of liquid, nanowires naturally draw the liquid upward in a thin film that coats the surface of the wire.

Sandia National Laboratories, US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Mar-2013

Plant Biotechnology Journal
Making do with more: Joint BioEnergy Institute researchers engineer plant cell walls to boost sugar yields for biofuels
Using the tools of synthetic biology, JBEI researchers are engineering healthy plants whose lignocellulosic biomass can more easily be broken down into simple sugars for the production of clean, green and renewable advanced biofuels.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 28-Mar-2013

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Study: 'Waste heat' may economize CO2 capture
In some of the first results from a federally funded initiative to find new ways of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal-fired power plants, Rice University scientists have found it may be possible to use "waste" heat to remove CO2 instead of the higher pressure steam needed to make electricity.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 28-Mar-2013
NOvA neutrino detector records first 3-D particle tracks
The in-progress NOvA neutrino detector recorded its first cosmic ray particles in March. The experiment begins in earnest this summer.

US Department of Energy/Office of Science

Public Release: 28-Mar-2013

Science
Light may recast copper as chemical industry 'holy grail'
Wouldn't it be convenient if you could reverse the rusting of your car by shining a bright light on it? It turns out that this concept works for undoing oxidation on copper nanoparticles, and it could lead to an environmentally friendly production process for an important industrial chemical, University of Michigan engineers have discovered.

US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 26-Mar-2013

Physical Review E
Simulations uncover obstacle to harnessing laser-driven fusion
Researchers at The Ohio State University have uncovered an obstacle to the cone-guided approach to fast-ignition fusion energy through simulations at the Ohio Supercomputer Center and experiments at the National Ignition Facility. Chris Orban, Ph.D., a researcher at Ohio State and the lead theorist on the project, found electric fields that build up on the cone's edge reduce the number of energetic electrons being directed by laser beams toward the targeted fuel.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Mar-2013
NREL assembles industry working group to advance solar securitization
The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently convened the Solar Access to Public Capital working group with a mission to enable securitization of solar PV assets and associated cash flows in the marketplace.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Mar-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
UGA discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from CO2 in the atmosphere
Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint.

US Department of Energy