U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013

Nature Communications
By their powers combined
Thanks to new research by an international team of researchers led by the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, physicists have developed new methods for controlling magnetic order in a particular class of materials known as "magnetoelectrics."

US Department of Energy, NASA

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013
Advisory committee recommends continued investment in Jefferson Lab
A committee appointed by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation to review and recommend the future course of nuclear physics research in the United States has issued a report supporting the continued funding of the experimental program at the US Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab.

Public Release: 6-Feb-2013

Applied Physics A
High-energy X-rays shine light on mystery of Picasso's paints
The Art Institute of Chicago teamed up with Argonne National Laboratory to unravel a decades-long debate among art scholars about what kind of paint Picasso used to create his masterpieces.

Department of Energy

Public Release: 6-Feb-2013

Nature
A massive stellar burst, before the supernova
In data from the Palomar Transient Factory housed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, astronomers have found the first causal evidence that massive stars shed huge amounts of material in a "penultimate outburst" before they finally detonate as Type IIn supernovae. After characterizing supernova 2010mc, the scientists found evidence of previous outbursts in the same location and were able to conclusively relate them to the supernova explosion.

Department Of Energy Office of Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Public Release: 6-Feb-2013
New coal technology harnesses energy without burning, nears pilot-scale development
A new form of clean coal technology reached an important milestone recently, with the successful operation of a research-scale combustion system at Ohio State University.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 4-Feb-2013
February 2013 story tips from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Precise optical imaging is vital for better diagnosis of breast cancer. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and New Mexico State University have produced a graphene sheet 40 inches in diagonal. By studying the effects of climate change on the Gulf Coastal region's economy, agriculture and energy production, ORNL researchers are addressing key questions posed by the Department of Energy while designing a tool that the scientific community can use to predict how climate change will impact small localized areas elsewhere.

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

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013

Biofuels
Biofuels blend right in
A collaboration by researchers with the Joint BioEnergy Institute and the Idaho National Laboratory has shown that blending different feedstocks and milling the mixture into flour or pellets has significant potential for helping to make biofuels a cost-competitive transportation fuel technology.

US Department of Energy/Office of Science

Public Release: 27-Jan-2013

Nature Nanotechnology
Rice technique points toward 2-D devices
Rice scientists have created a process to make patterns in atom-thick layers that combine a conductor -- graphene -- and an insulator -- hexagonal boron nitride. The process may lead to new possibilities for two-dimensional electronics.

National Science Foundation, USARO, ONR, Welch Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 24-Jan-2013
PNNL awarded $2.8 million to keep troops cool while using less fuel
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been awarded $2.8 million to adapt its energy-efficient adsorption chilling system for field military bases. The system could use up to half as much diesel as today's technology, which could also save soldiers' lives by reducing attacks on troops who transport fuel in the battlefield.

US Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, US Department of Defense, Navy

Public Release: 24-Jan-2013

Science
Love triumphs over hate to make exotic new compound
Northwestern University graduate student Jonathan Barnes had a hunch for creating an exotic new chemical compound, and his idea that the force of love is stronger than hate proved correct. He and his colleagues are the first to permanently interlock two identical tetracationic rings that normally are repelled by each other. Many experts had said it couldn't be done. The new compound has attractive electronic characteristics and can be made quickly and inexpensively.

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