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Q&A: SLAC's Vera Lüth discusses the search for new physics

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

In this Q&A, particle physicist Vera Lüth discusses scientific results that potentially hint at physics beyond the Standard Model. The professor emerita of experimental particle physics at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is co-author of a review article published today in Nature that summarizes the findings of three experiments: BABAR at SLAC, Belle in Japan and LHCb at CERN.

SLAC X-ray beam helps uncover blueprint for Lassa virus vaccine

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has solved the structure of the viral machinery that Lassa virus uses to enter human cells. X-ray beams from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory gave the team the final piece in a puzzle they sought to solve for over 10 years.

The world's most powerful X-ray laser beam creates 'molecular black hole'

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory focused the full intensity of the world's most powerful X-ray laser on a small molecule, they got a surprise: a single laser pulse stripped all but a few electrons out of the molecule's biggest atom from the inside out, leaving a void that started pulling in electrons from the rest of the molecule, like a black hole gobbling a spiraling disk of matter.

Journal: Nature

Fungal enzymes team up to more efficiently break down cellulose

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cost-effectively breaking down bioenergy crops into sugars that can then be converted into fuel is a barrier to commercially producing sustainable biofuels. Bioenergy researchers are looking to fungi for help; collectively, they can break down almost any substance on earth, including plant biomass. Enabled by US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facilities, a team reports for the first time that early lineages of fungi can form enzyme complexes capable of degrading plant biomass.

Journal: Nature Microbiology
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

How X-rays helped to solve mystery of floating rocks

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Experiments at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source have helped scientists to solve a mystery of why some rocks can float for years in the ocean, traveling thousands of miles before sinking.

Journal: Earth and Planetary Science Letters

A fresh math perspective opens new possibilities for computational chemistry

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

A new mathematical "shortcut" developed by Berkeley Lab researchers is speeding up molecular absorption calculations by a factor of five, so simulations that used to take 10 to 15 hours to compute can now be done in approximately 2.5 hours. These algorithms will be incorporated in an upcoming release of the widely used NWChem computational chemistry software suite later this year.

Not all cool pavements are created equal

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cool pavements can help keep cities cool, right? Yes, but according to new research from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), many reflective pavements have some unexpected drawbacks relative to conventional pavements when considering the entire life cycle of the materials.

Journal: Energy and Buildings
Funder: California Air Resources Board

HPC4MfG paper manufacturing project yields first results

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Simulations run at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as part of an HPC4Mfg collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an industry consortium could help US paper manufacturers significantly reduce production costs and increase energy efficiencies.

Fermi satellite observes billionth gamma ray with LAT instrument

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

On April 12, one of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope's instruments -- the Large Area Telescope (LAT), which was conceived of and assembled at SLAC -- detected its billionth extraterrestrial gamma ray.

Scientists help thin-film ferroelectrics go extreme

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have created the first-ever polarization gradient in thin-film ferroelectrics, greatly expanding the range of functional temperatures for a key material used in a variety of everyday applications. The discovery could pave the way for developing devices capable of supporting wireless communications in extreme environments.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Army Research Office, DOE/US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Carnegie Institution for Science