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A new study conducted at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory suggests that cocaine's effects go beyond the dopamine system.

Imagine trying to catch up to something moving close to the speed of light - the fastest anything can move -- and sending ahead information in time to make mid-path flight corrections. Impossible? Not quite. Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, a particle accelerator at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, have achieved this tricky task -- and the results may save the Lab money and time in their quest to understand the inner workings of the early universe.

In an achievement some see as the "holy grail" of nanoscience, researchers have for the first time used DNA to guide the creation of 3-D, ordered, crystalline structures of nanoparticles. The ability to engineer such 3-D structures is essential to producing functional materials that take advantage of the unique properties that may exist at the nanoscale -- for example, enhanced magnetism, improved catalytic activity, or new optical properties.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found new clues to why some people overeat and gain weight while others don't. Examining how the human brain responds to "satiety" messages delivered when the stomach is in various stages of fullness, the scientists have identified brain circuits that motivate the desire to overeat. Treatments that target these circuits may prove useful in controlling chronic overeating.

A new study by scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and colleagues in Norway suggests that the benefits of moderately increased exposure to sunlight -- namely the production of vitamin D, which protects against the lethal effects of many forms of cancer and other diseases -- may outweigh the risk of developing skin cancer in populations deficient in vitamin D.

A detailed analysis of soil samples taken from a forest ecosystem with artificially elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide reveals distinct changes in the mix of microorganisms living in the soil below trembling aspen. These changes could increase the availability of essential soil nutrients, thereby supporting increased plant growth and the plants' ability to "lock up," or sequester, excess carbon from the atmosphere.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have unveiled important details about a class of catalysts that could help improve the performance of fuel cells. With the goal of producing "clean" hydrogen for fuel cell reactions in mind, the researchers determined why two next-generation catalysts including gold, cerium, titanium, and oxygen nanomaterials exhibit very high activity. Their results will be published online in the Dec. 14, 2007, edition of the journal Science.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that in a class of materials called manganites, the electronic behavior at the surface is considerably different from that found in the bulk. Their findings, which were published online in the Nov. 18, 2007, issue of Nature Materials, could have implications for the next generation of electronic devices, which will involve increasingly smaller components.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new tool for quantitatively measuring elusive atmospheric chemicals that play a key role in the formation of photochemical smog. Better measurements will improve scientists' understanding of the mechanisms of smog formation and their ability to select and predict the effectiveness of various mitigation strategies.

New measurements of brain activity made at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory confirm that cocaine-addicted individuals have compromised sensitivity to monetary rewards. This altered sensitivity may help explain why some drug-addicted individuals are unable to modify their drug-taking behavior, even in the face of well-understood negative consequences and/or positive incentives for behavioral change.