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With more and more protein sequence data available, scientists are increasingly looking for ways to extract the small subset of information that determines a protein's function. Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have written a computer program that makes comparisons of groups of related proteins and flags individual amino acid positions that are likely to control function.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified how billionth-of-a-meter sized metal particles -- gold-atom clusters within carbon-atom shells -- can mesh together to form larger particles and have also found a way to control this process. The results, published in the September 27, 2005, online edition of Nano Letters, may help scientists determine how these "nanoparticles," which have unique physical, chemical, and electronic properties, could be incorporated into new technologies.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a way to significantly increase the amount of electric current carried by a high-temperature superconductor, a material that conducts electricity with no resistance. This is an important step in the drive to create superconductor-based electric and power-delivery devices, such as power transmission lines, motors, and generators. The results are explained in the September 12, 2005, online edition of Applied Physics Letters.

A new set of experiments in mice confirms that a brain receptor associated with the reinforcing effects of marijuana also helps to stimulate the rewarding and pleasurable effects of alcohol. The research confirms a genetic basis for susceptibility to alcohol abuse and also suggests that drugs designed to block these receptors could be useful in treatment.

Smoking appears to reduce a key enzyme in the lungs, possibly contributing to some of smoking's deleterious health effects, according to a study by scientists at Brookhaven Lab. The study also suggests that smokers and nonsmokers may respond differently to a variety of substances administered by inhalation or intravenously, including therapeutic, anesthetic, and addictive drugs.

As part of ongoing research to make hydrogen a mainstream source of clean, renewable energy, scientists from the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have determined how titanium atoms help hydrogen atoms attach to an aluminum surface. Their study isolates the role of titanium, which is used as a catalyst in the crucial first step to trap hydrogen within a particular class of hydrogen-storage materials.

An international team of scientists that includes a researcher from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has determined the three-dimensional molecular structure of a promising malaria-vaccine component. This research may help lead to a successful vaccine for the disease, which currently infects approximately 400 million people worldwide and kills about two million people each year -- mostly children. The study is described in the August 29, 2005, online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As part of the search for better ways to track and clean up soil contaminants, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new way to "image" the internal chemistry of bacteria. The technique will allow scientists to "see" at the molecular level how soil-dwelling microbes interact with pollutants, help scientists better understand and prevent bacterial diseases, and possibly find ways to detect or disable bacteria used in a terror attack.

At the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists have developed a new chemical "writing" technique that can create lines of "ink" only a few tens of nanometers, or billionths of a meter, in width. This new 'writing' method opens up many new possibilities for creating nanoscale patterns and features on surfaces. This may have a significant impact on developing nanotechnologies that involve nanopatterning, such as molecular electronics -- tiny circuits built using single organic molecules.

A collaboration led by scientists at BNL has revealed a new mechanism that explains why adding calcium to a high-temperature superconductor increases its current-carrying capacity.