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Measuring the speed of sound in dense nuclear matter

DOE/US Department of Energy

Physicists have proposed a method to measure the speed of sound characterizing matter created in nuclear collisions. Heavy nuclei consist of hundreds of protons and neutrons, which themselves are composed of quarks and gluons. In heavy-ion collisions, the energy density of matter reaches very high levels, and the nucleons become a quark-gluon plasma. Experimental analyses can reveal properties of the quark-gluon plasma, helping scientists learn about the thermodynamics of dense nuclear matter.

Journal: Physical Review Letters

Department of Energy announces $5.7 million for research on artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) for nuclear physics accelerators and detectors

DOE/US Department of Energy
Grant and Award Announcement

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $5.7 million for six projects that will implement artificial intelligence methods to accelerate scientific discovery in nuclear physics research.

A newly discovered enzyme makes ethylene and methane

DOE/US Department of Energy

Scientists know that ethylene comes from microbes, but the only known natural microbial processes that produce ethylene require oxygen. But now a team of scientists have discovered an enzyme system from bacteria called methylthio-alkane reductases that work without oxygen, instead scavenging sulfur to produce ethylene, ethane, or methane as a byproduct. The research may have applications in biofuels.

Journal: Science

Julia R. Greer: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner

DOE/US Department of Energy

Julia R. Greer, a professor of Materials Science, Mechanics and Medical Engineering at Caltech, created a new nano-fabrication approach to understand how materials in nuclear reactors can withstand radiation damage with the support of her 2011 Early Career Research Program award.

High-energy X-rays open a new view of degradation in potential fusion reactor material

DOE/US Department of Energy

In an important step toward future fusion reactors, scientists have made novel experimental observations of how silicon carbide’s atomic structure changes as it accumulates radiation damage. This material shows promise for use in fusion reactors and other structures. The experiment used two Department of Energy user facilities to identify new details in this deformation and how it occurs.

Journal: Scripta Materialia

Department of Energy announces $70 Million for Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC): Partnership in earth system model development

DOE/US Department of Energy
Grant and Award Announcement

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to provide $70 million for research in Earth system model development which will contribute to further development of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) through collaborations that will use DOE high performance computers to enable advanced modeling via mathematical and computational solutions.

Jinlong Zhang: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner

DOE/US Department of Energy

At Argonne National Laboratory, staff scientist Jinlong Zhang performs R&D on the CERN ATLAS and DAQ systems. These systems select and collect data from the billion-plus proton-proton collisions per second in particle physics experiments.

Meet Gina Tourassi, Director of the National Center for Computational Sciences

DOE/US Department of Energy

Gina Tourassi is the director of the National Center for Computational Sciences, leading world-class computing infrastructure programs and projects. This is one in a series of profiles on the directors of the SC-stewarded user facilities.

Anne White: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner

DOE/US Department of Energy

Anne White at MIT had a vision for an innovative approach to experiments to aid in the study and understanding of tokamak turbulence. Her work has developed rigorous validation of the models used to detail measurements of the turbulence, towards fusion’s promise of clean and nearly unlimited energy.

Predatory bacteria, eat thy neighbor

DOE/US Department of Energy

Ecologists know that adding more plant food that prey animals eat can also benefit predators. Scientists wanted to know if the same principles apply in bacterial food webs. They found that predatory bacteria grow faster and consume more resources than non-predators, and they use predatory behavior and physical features to hunt and feast on prey bacteria.

Journal: mBio

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