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Department of Energy funded researchers at the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives (IBEA) have sequenced microbes in the Sargasso Sea and have discovered at least 1,800 new species and more than 1.2 million new genes. IBEA researchers' discoveries include 782 new rhodopsin-like photoreceptor genes (only a few dozen have been characterized in microorganisms to date).

The Department of Energy's Office of Science today unveiled its Strategic Plan, which charts a course for science over the next two decades. The plan sets seven short-term scientific priorities: the ITER fusion science experiment, scientific discovery through advanced scientific computing, using nanoscale science for new materials and processes, microbial genomics, physics to explore the basic forces of creation, exploring new forms of nuclear matter, and developing the facilities for the future of science.

The Department of Energy's Office of Science, the Nation's leading supporter of the physical sciences, is unveiling its 20-year vision for the future of science supported by DOE. The Office of Science Strategic Plan, produced after extensive consultations with the U.S. scientific community, sets concrete goals and priorities that will dramatically infleunec the direction of basic research in the U.S. for decades to come.

Department of Energy-funded researchers have decoded and analyzed the genome of a bacterium with the potential to bioremediate radioactive metals and generate electricity. In an article published in the December 12th issue of Science, researchers at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, report that Geobacter sulfurreducens possesses extraordinary capabilities to transport electrons and "reduce" metal ions as part of its energy-generating metabolism.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory currently has the fastest operational unclassified supercomputer in the U.S. The 11.8-teraflops system at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory will advance novel studies in research areas such as atmospheric chemistry, systems biology, catalysis, and materials science.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Joint Genome Institute have discovered the existence of DNA sequences--located in genetic "deserts"--that regulate gene activation over very long distances. Previously, sequences in these deserts were thought to be of no value and were thus largely unexplored. Results of this research are reported in the October 17, 2003, issue of the journal Science.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center used the world's longest linear accelerator to develop the world's shortest bunches of electrons. Conversion of these bunches into bright, short pulses of X-ray light enables researchers to directly observe atomic motion never seen before in solids and liquids--allowing for instantaneous snapshots of simple chemical reactions in progress.

Department of Energy-funded researchers have achieved a significant scientific advance in their efforts to piece together DNA strands, thereby helping develop new, biological methods to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, produce hydrogen and clean the environment. Joined by J. Craig Venter, president of the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that the IBEA has succeeded in assembling a genome of a phage, or a virus of bacteria.

The Department of Energy today released the department's Office of Science 20-year science facility plan, a roadmap for future scientific facilities to support the department's basic science and research missions. The plan prioritizes new, major scientific facilities and upgrades to current facilities. The 28 facilities cover the range of science supported by the Office of Science, including fusion energy, materials science, biological and environmental science, high energy physics, nuclear physics and advanced scientific computation.

John Bahcall, Raymond Davis, Jr. and Seymour Sack are winners of the Presidential Enrico Fermi Award. Drs. Bahcall and Davis will receive the award for their research in neutrino physics. Dr. Sack will receive the award for his contributions to national security. Dr. Sack will receive a $187,500 honorarium. Drs. Bahcall and Davis will share an award and so will each receive a $93,750 honorarium.