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Proteins are the biological workhorses that make life possible. They provide structure, synthesize complicated chemicals, control the ability to move, help transmit neural impulses and perform countless other biological demands. Their ability to function properly is intimately tied to their structure—a complex arrangement of twists, loops, spirals and folds. Understanding this molecular origami is crucial in developing a fundamental understanding of molecular biology, designing disease-fighting drugs and repairing malfunctioning proteins.

Life’s molecules are made up from chemical building blocks that can be synthesized in a laboratory. The ability to synthesize these molecular components is extremely important in the quest for understanding the structures and functions of the biological macromolecules, DNA, RNA and proteins.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is collaborating on a new tool that will provide public health officials with an early warning and response system for threats to public health.

A unique molecular biology study of endangered Mexican spotted owls nesting in the Jemez Mountains near Los Alamos National Laboratory is being conducted in the Lab's Bioscience Division and has revealed valuable information about levels of genetic diversity present within the owl population.

A rapidly growing field of research, recognized by a 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry, focuses on electrically conductive plastic, once thought to be an impossibility.

A project that uses modern biotechnology to produce plants that grow faster, are more robust and contain more protein is ongoing in Los Alamos National Laboratory's Bioscience Division. The project stems from the discovery of a naturally occurring plant metabolite that allows plants to regulate their own nitrogen metabolism rates, resulting in plants that reach peak growth more rapidly because they fix more carbon dioxide.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women aged 40-59 and was expected to total more than 45,000 deaths in the United States last year, according to the American Cancer Society. A Los Alamos National Laboratory-developed technology, the Optical Biopsy System (OBS), may aid in not only the diagnosis of breast cancer, but the success of the surgical treatment as well.

What may be the world’s smallest robot — it "turns on a dime and parks on a nickel" — is being developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories.

A simpler, less expensive US alternative to the magnetically levitated (maglev) trains of Europe and Japan is now funded for development at Sandia National Laboratories. The system when completed is expected to decrease new highway construction, vehicle noise, atmospheric pollution, and other environmental degradations attendant on more highways and automobiles.

A tiny bar that in appearance resembles cheesecloth has bent infrared beams with very little loss of light in laboratory experiments at Sandia National Laboratories. The simple, inexpensive, essentially two-dimensional artificial crystal may drastically reduce the energy needed to start and operate a laser, act as a wire for light, more efficiently relay optical signals, and ultimately help develop photonic chips.