News By Location
News from DC
Select a state to view local articles and features
14-May-2021
Enhancing land surface models to grow perennial bioenergy crops
DOE/US Department of Energy
To understand the effects of expanding biofuel production, scientists must accurately represent biofuel crops in land surface models. Using observations from biofuel plants in the Midwestern United States, researchers simulated two biofuel perennial plants, miscanthus and switchgrass. The simulations indicate these high-yield perennial crops have several advantages over traditional annual bioenergy crops--they assimilate more carbon dioxide, and they require fewer nutrients and less water.
6-May-2021
Department of Energy announces $10M for quantum information science, nuclear physics research
DOE/US Department of Energy
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $10 million for interdisciplinary research in Quantum Information Science (QIS) and nuclear physics.
3-May-2021
DOE awards $17.3 million for student, faculty research and to foster workforce diversity
DOE/US Department of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $17.3 million for college internships, research opportunities, and research projects that connect talented science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students and faculty with the world-class resources at DOE's National Laboratories.
30-Apr-2021
Hungry fungi: White-rot fungi eat all components of the wood they decompose
DOE/US Department of Energy
White-rot fungi have an extraordinary ability to break down lignin, a very sturdy material in plant cell walls. To find out what products result when these fungi deconstruct lignin, researchers used synthetic compounds that mimic those produced by lignin breakdown, fed those compounds to the fungi, then tracked the compounds within fungal cells. They found that white-rot fungi uptake lignin deconstruction products and use them as a carbon source for food and building material.
30-Apr-2021
Burning the forest, not just the trees
DOE/US Department of Energy
Wildfires affect both the visible parts of plants and the plant microbiome. Understanding these effects helps scientists mitigate the effects of wildfires. This research examined microbial DNA samples from tissues of young quaking aspen saplings after a prescribed burn. Aspen relies largely on fire to regenerate. This work demonstrates that fire affects the entire plant microbiome, not just nearby soil.
29-Apr-2021
DOE Graduate Student Research Program selects 78 outstanding US graduate students
DOE/US Department of Energy
The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science has selected 78 graduate students representing 26 states for the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program's 2020 Solicitation 2 cycle.
28-Apr-2021
Advancing understanding of heavy elements at the edge of the periodic table
DOE/US Department of Energy
Researchers have for the first time examined in detail a compound of einsteinium (Es). Einsteinium is one of the synthetic elements and is also the heaviest element currently available for classical chemistry studies. These experimental results chart the path to exploring the fundamental behavior of rare heavy elements and could lead to a new understanding of chemistry across the Periodic Table.
27-Apr-2021
Watching the evolution of nanostructures in thin films
DOE/US Department of Energy
Scientists have found a way to turn X-ray fluorescence into an ultra-high position-sensitive probe to measure nanostructures in thin films. The fluorescence reveals the evolution of nanostructures in real time with nearly atomic-level resolution, something no other technique has achieved. This allows scientists to watch nanostructures in thin films evolve with unprecedented precision and design thin films for new applications.
26-Apr-2021
DOE announces $11M for research on quantum information science for fusion energy sciences
DOE/US Department of Energy
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $11 million for ten projects in Quantum Information Science (QIS) with relevance to fusion and plasma science.