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Q&A: Biologist describes milestone in watching proteins boogie

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Using an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, researchers have for the first time directly seen myoglobin move within quadrillionths of a second after a bond breaks and the protein releases a gas molecule. The Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser is a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and its short, bright pulses were essential for observing these ultrafast, atomic-scale motions.

Lawrence Livermore National Lab to explore spectral imaging to detect moisture in solar cells

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Over the next two years, Mihail Bora, a Materials Engineering Division research team member at the Lab, will try to prove that spectral imaging can be used to evaluate the moisture content of PV modules and to create two-dimensional maps and models of water concentration. Bora will then use these results as a screening tool to help protect the modules from water damage. Water ingress can cause corrosion of metal parts, delamination and decrease the efficiency of solar cells.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Scientists use lasers to simulate shock effects of meteorite impact on silica

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists used high-power laser beams at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to simulate the shock effects of a meteorite impact in silica, one of the most abundant materials in the Earth's crust. They observed, for the first time, its shockingly fast transformation into the mineral stishovite -- a rare, extremely hard and dense form of silica.

Best precision yet for neutrino measurements at Daya Bay

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Today, the international Daya Bay Collaboration announces new findings on the measurements of neutrinos, paving the way forward for further neutrino research, and confirming that the Daya Bay neutrino experiment continues to be one to watch.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

SLAC's ultrafast 'electron camera' visualizes ripples in 2-D material

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research led by scientists from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University shows how individual atoms move in trillionths of a second to form wrinkles on a three-atom-thick material. Revealed by a brand new 'electron camera,' one of the world's speediest, this unprecedented level of detail could guide researchers in the development of efficient solar cells, fast and flexible electronics and high-performance chemical catalysts.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: SLAC UED/UEM Program Development Fund, US Department of Energy's Office of Science, National Science Foundation, German National Academy of Sciences

Celeste: A new model for cataloging the universe

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory-based research collaboration of astrophysicists, statisticians and computer scientists has developed Celeste, a new statistical analysis model designed to enhance one of modern astronomy's most time-tested tools: sky surveys.

Meeting: 32nd International Conference on Machine Learning

Fortifying computer chips for space travel

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

One of the most long-lived and active space-chip testing programs is at the Berkeley Lab. Since 1979, most American satellites and many major NASA projects including the Mars Rover Curiosity, the space shuttles, and the new Orion capsule, have had one or more electronic components go through Berkeley Lab's cyclotron.

Researchers see 'spin current' in motion for the first time

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have for the first time seen a spin current -- an inherent magnetic property common to all electrons -- as it travels across materials. The result, which revealed a surprising loss of current along the way, is an important step toward realizing a next-generation breed of electronics known as 'spintronics.'

Time-lapse analysis offers new look at how cells repair DNA damage

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Time-lapse imaging can make complicated processes easier to grasp. Berkeley Lab scientists are using a similar approach to study how cells repair DNA damage. Microscopy images are acquired about every thirty minutes over a span of up to two days, and the resulting sequence of images shows ever-changing hotspots inside cells where DNA is under repair.

Global team seeks individual X-ray portraits of active viruses, bacteria and cell components

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A major international collaboration launched by the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is laying the technical groundwork for taking individual, atomic-scale portraits of intact viruses, living bacteria and other microscopic samples using the brightest X-ray light on Earth.