U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 21-Mar-2013

DOE Joint Genome Institute's 8th Annual Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting
DOE Joint Genome Institute 8th Annual Meeting on March 26-28, 2013
The 8th Annual Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting of the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute will be held at the Marriott in Walnut Creek on March 26-28, 2013.

Public Release: 19-Mar-2013

mBio
UMass Amherst researchers reveal mechanism of novel biological electron transfer
"For biologists, Geobacter's behavior represents a paradigm shift. It goes against all that we are taught about biological electron transfer, which usually involves electrons hopping from one molecule to another," Lovley says. "So it wasn't enough for us to demonstrate that the microbial nanowires are conductive and to show with physics the conduction mechanism, we had to determine the impact of this conductivity on the biology."

Office of Naval Research, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 17-Mar-2013

Nature Geoscience
Ocean plankton sponge up nearly twice the carbon currently assumed
Models of carbon dioxide in the world's oceans need to be revised, according to new work by UC Irvine and other scientists published online Sunday in Nature Geoscience. Trillions of plankton near the surface of warm waters are far more carbon-rich than has long been thought, they found.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, UCI Environment Institute

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 21-Feb-2013
Solar energy to get boost from cutting-edge forecasts
Applying its atmospheric expertise to solar energy, NCAR is spearheading a three-year, nationwide project to create unprecedented, 36-hour forecasts of incoming energy from the sun. The prototype system will forecast sunlight every 15 minutes over specific solar facilities, thereby enabling utilities to continuously anticipate the amount of available solar energy.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 19-Feb-2013
NREL helps communities assess their readiness for electric vehicles
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has launched a new tool to help local and regional leaders assess the readiness of their communities for the arrival of plug-in electric vehicles.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 19-Feb-2013
Nation could double energy productivity
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have long understood that using energy more efficiently can be just as beneficial as finding new ways to produce energy more efficiently.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 18-Feb-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The role of goop: Research shows pollution doesn't change the rate of droplet formation
When it comes to forming the droplets that make up clouds, a little oily and viscous organic material apparently doesn't matter that much. And that's good news for reducing the uncertainty of climate model predictions.

National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, US Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research

Public Release: 15-Feb-2013

2013 AAAS Annual Meeting
Data challenges the APB on BPA
A controversial component of plastic bottles and canned food linings that have helped make a safer food supply has recently come under attack: bisphenol A. BPA has the potential to mimic estrogen if blood and tissue levels are high enough. Now, an analysis of almost 150 BPA exposure studies shows that in the general population, people's exposure may be many times too low for BPA to effectively mimic estrogen in the human body.

Environmental Protection Agency

Public Release: 14-Feb-2013

Molecular Cell
Revealing the secrets of motility in archaea
The protein structure of the archaellum, the motor that propels many species of Archaea, the third domain of life, has been characterized for the first time by a team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology. A ring made of six identical proteins derives energy from hydrolyzing adenosine triphosate and uses this energy to drive shape changes, both assembling and rotating the archaellum's whiplike propeller.

National Institutes of Health, Max Planck Institute, Max Planck Society, Dutch Science Organization, US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013
HIPPO global-scale air chemistry dataset now available
Data from the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations study of greenhouse gases and aerosols are now available to the atmospheric research community and the public. This comprehensive dataset provides the first high-resolution, vertically resolved measurements of over 90 unique atmospheric species collected during a series of nearly pole-to-pole flights over the Pacific Ocean, across all seasons. The suite of atmospheric trace gases and aerosols is pertinent to understanding the carbon cycle and challenging global climate models.

National Science Foundation, NCAR, US Department of Energy/CDIAC

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013

Nature Methods
Nature Methods study: Using light to control cell clustering
A new study from engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, pairs light and genetics to give researchers a powerful new tool for manipulating cells. Results of the study, published in the journal Nature Methods, show how blue light can be used as a switch to prompt targeted proteins to accumulate into large clusters.

US Department of Energy/Office of Basic Energy

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013

Science
For drug makers, new 3-D control opens wealth of options
A team of scientists anchored at Yale University has demonstrated a new, highly versatile approach for quickly assembling drug-like compounds, establishing a broad new route to drug discovery and medical treatment. They report their results in the journal Science on Feb. 8.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, Swiss National Science Foundation

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013

Science
ORNL scientists solve mercury mystery, Science reports
By identifying two genes required for transforming inorganic into organic mercury, which is far more toxic, scientists today have taken a significant step toward protecting human health.

Public Release: 4-Feb-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Scientists turn toxic by-product into biofuel booster
Scientists studying an enzyme that naturally produces alkanes, long carbon-chain molecules that could be a direct replacement for the hydrocarbons in gasoline, have figured out why the natural reaction typically stops after three to five cycles -- and devised a strategy to keep the reaction going. The work could renew interest in using the enzyme in bacteria, algae, or plants to produce biofuels that need no further processing.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013

American Geophysical Union Monograph Series
Study rebuts hypothesis that comet attacks ended 9,000-year-old Clovis culture
Comet explosions and asteroid impacts could not have ended 9,000-year-old Clovis culture, study contends.

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013
NREL acquires fuel cell hybrid vehicles to support hydrogen studies
The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently received four fuel cell hybrid vehicles - advanced on loan from Toyota through a two-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. These vehicles will help NREL enhance its research related to hydrogen fueling infrastructure, renewable hydrogen production, and vehicle performance.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013
Lakewood High School wins Colorado Science Bowl
Students from Lakewood High School Team 1 won the Colorado High School Science Bowl today. They will go on to the 23rd National Science Bowl in Washington DC, April 25-29, where they will compete for the national title against more than 400 students from 70 high schools.

US Department of Energy