NEWS RELEASES

A research team at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is the first ever to observe a beta-delayed neutron emission from fluorine-25, a rare, unstable nuclide. Using the FRIB Decay Station Initiator (FDSi), the team found contradictions in prior experimental findings. The results led to a new line of inquiry into how particles in exotic, unstable isotopes remain bound under extreme conditions. Led by Robert Grzywacz, professor of physics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), the team included Jack Peltier, undergraduate student at UTK, Zhengyu Xu, postdoctoral researcher at UTK, Sean Liddick, professor of chemistry at FRIB and interim chairperson of MSU’s Department of Chemistry, and Rebeka Lubna, scientist at FRIB. The team published its results (“The evidence of N = 16 shell closure and β-delayed neutron emission from ²⁵F”) in Physics Letters B.

Brown University engineers showed that applying a temperature gradient across a solid-state electrolyte blocks destructive dendrite growth, offering a practical solution to a major barrier in battery technology.

Astronomers have found evidence for a possible first-of-its-kind "superkilonova," or a kilonova spurred by a supernova. Such an event has been hypothesized but never seen. 

Soil is one of Earth’s largest carbon sinks, second to the ocean. New study discovers a key iron mineral in soil has a nanoscale mosaic of positive and negative charges. Varied charges, hydrogen bonding and strong chemical bonds enable mineral to trap carbon. Findings help explain why some carbon is locked in soils for centuries.

A team of engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed ways to rapidly evaluate new thermal protection materials for hypersonic vehicles. Their three-year research project combined computer modeling, laboratory experiments and flight testing to better understand how heat shields behave under extreme temperatures and pressures, and to predict their performance much faster than before.

To meet ambitious U.S. Department of Energy targets for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), production of purpose-grown energy crops must ramp up significantly. Although researchers have made substantial progress in understanding the management and conversion of these crops, key knowledge gaps hold the industry back. Now, two new studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign help fill in the blanks for Miscanthus and switchgrass management.