Science Highlights

New research finds that ab initio methods using effective field theory can be used to study the scattering of protons and neutrons off atomic nuclei. The research specifically examined the scattering of protons from carbon-12 and oxygen-16 at low energies.

To produce biofuels from nonedible plants, researchers can use cellulase to break down plant cellulose into glucose, which can be fermented to generate bioethanol. Researchers have now used a specialized optical microscope to visualize single cellulase enzymes interacting with different forms of cellulose. This allowed them to investigate enzyme function in the presence of the product of the reaction and other components of plant biomass.

New findings about chitinases, enzymes found naturally in plants, could allow farmers to address fungal infections sooner and more efficiently.

Isotope production facilities depend on cooling for proper function of target systems during irradiation. Examining these systems is challenging due to high radiation levels during target irradiation that make real-world measurements impossible. Researchers turned instead to a mock apparatus to collect temperatures and high-speed video of cooling water boiling, then used deep-learning tools to validate a model that predicts boiling in cooling systems.

A new study conducted on the Frontier supercomputer gave researchers new clues to improving fusion confinement. This research, in collaboration with General Atomics and UC San Diego, uncovered that the interaction between ions and electrons near the tokamak's edge can unexpectedly increase turbulence, challenging previous assumptions about how to optimize plasma confinement for efficient nuclear fusion.

Theorists have performed the first systematic study of whether and how the viscosity of quark gluon plasma from heavy nuclei collisions changes over a wide range of collision energies. The calculations predict that the fluid’s viscosity increases with net-baryon density. The results will help researchers probe the entire phase diagram of nuclear matter.

The NGC 2419 globular cluster contains potassium and magnesium in ratios not found in other, similar globular clusters. Scientists have so far been unable to find the source for this unexpected pattern. However, previous uncertainties in the potassium-hydrogen fusion reactions hindered the predictions of stellar models. This new study offers crucial experimental insights that enable refined stellar models to probe the peculiarities of NGC 2419.