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DOE JGI releases latest version of IMG

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Business Announcement

The new version, IMG 1.2, contains 270 additional public genomes and nine (four finished, five draft) new JGI genomes, bringing the total of genomes in IMG to 618 (318 bacterial, 25 archaeal, 15 eukaryotic, 260 bacterial phage), 40 of which are finished and 80 of which are draft genomes sequenced by DOE JGI.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Finding a way to test for dark energy

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Physics models of dark energy can be separated into distinct scenarios, which could be used to rule out Einstein's cosmological constant and distinguish among two major classes of dynamic quintessence, a thawing model and a freezing model. Which scenario makes the best fit can be tested with the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM) proposed by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Of friction and 'The Da Vinci Code'

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Half a millenium ago Leonardo Da Vinci made fundamental discoveries about the role of geometric profiles in the strength of friction between materials. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Ames Laboratory have examined periodicity in friction at the atomic scale using quasicrystals -- materials with amusing (and eerie) echoes in Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," as in the Fibonnaci spacing of rows of some quasicrystal atoms.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

A random walk through time and space

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

IN 1905, Albert Einstein published five papers that shook the world of physics. His elegant arguments and conclusions were marvels of physical intuition that addressed dilemmas raised by experimental evidence.

The search for methane in Earth's mantle

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Petroleum geologists have long searched beneath Earth's surface for oil and gas, knowing that hydrocarbons form from the decomposition of plants and animals buried over time.

Testing the physics of nuclear isomers

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

FOR much of the past century, physicists have searched for methods to control the release of energy stored in an atom's nucleus.

Technological advances could reduce effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Technological advances within the chemical industry could erode the effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention's provisions for verification and compliance.

Journal: Science

New observations and climate model data confirm recent warming of the tropical atmosphere

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For the first time, new climate observations and computer models provide a consistent picture of recent warming of the tropical atmosphere.

Journal: Science

First measurement of geoneutrinos at KamLAND

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Results from KamLAND, an underground neutrino detector in central Japan, show that anti-electron neutrinos emanating from the earth, so-called geoneutrinos, can be used as a unique window into the interior of our planet, revealing information that is hidden from other probes.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

A gold mine for science

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

The National Science Foundation has announced that the Homestake gold mine is one of two finalists in the competition to determine the future location of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL). The Homestake underground lab proposal, which is being led by Kevin Lesko, a nuclear physicist with the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), will receive a $500,000 grant from NSF to go forward with a conceptual design for DUSEL.

Funder: National Science Foundation