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Key molecule in plant photo-protection identified

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Another important piece to the photosynthesis puzzle is now in place. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have identified one of the key molecules that help protect plants from oxidation damage as the result of absorbing too much light.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Tsunami fault

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Livermore researchers have determined the Karakorum fault in Tibet, a feature formed by the same tectonic "collision" that caused the recent tsunami, has slipped 10 millimeters per year during the last 140,000 years.

Journal: Science

First x-ray laser gets funding

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Plans by SLAC to build a revolutionary new synchrotron X-ray source received a major boost this year thanks to $54 million in funding provided by Congress in the fiscal 2005 budget appropriation. "The Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences--which funds synchrotron programs--has given the project very high priority and got our full request through Congress," said SLAC physicist John Galayda, director of the project, called the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Organic molecules transport strongest spectral signature of interplanetary dust particles

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Carbon and silicate grains in interplanetary dust particles are helping scientists solve a 40-year-old astronomical mystery.

Journal: Science

New lensless imaging technique opens door to nanoscale world

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at SSRL and BESSY crafted a technique to take X-ray images that reveal tiny variations and lightning-quick changes in materials a thousand times smaller than the thickness of a strand of hair. The technique--lensless X-ray holography--will be valuable for researchers working with the world's first X-ray free electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), slated to begin experiments in 2009 at SLAC.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Good news from big bad black holes

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Astronomers have discovered how ominous black holes can create life in the form of new stars, proving that jet-induced star formation may have played an important role in the formation of galaxies in the early universe.

Meeting: American Astronomical Society

A passion for computation benefits every discipline

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

It's no secret that computers are in Lawrence Livermore's blood. That passion for computation was one of the principal factors that brought me to Livermore three years ago to become associate director of Computation.

Chromosome 16 publication fulfills DOE's human genome commitment

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI), culminating a 16-year effort, has completed its share of the Human Genome Project with the publication of the DNA sequence and analysis of chromosome 16 in the Dec. 23 issue of Nature.

Journal: Nature
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

Putting the squeeze on materials

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Few gemstones are as mesmerizing as diamonds. Livermore physicists also find diamonds attractive but for reasons other than their beauty. The researchers use flawless, polished diamonds in opposing pairs, or anvils, to slowly compress samples of materials at extreme pressures.

The Art of protein structure prediction

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

From hemoglobin that carries oxygen, to enzymes and hormones that turn cells on and off, to antibodies that fight infection, proteins seem to do it all.