2016 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

The Dark Side of Cold Clouds

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that highly irregular and chemically complex soot particles transform into compacted shapes under different atmospheric conditions, affecting their ability to absorb and scatter sunlight.

Read more about The Dark Side of Cold Clouds

Coupling 2 ‘Tabletop’ Laser-Plasma Accelerators, a Decisive First Step Toward Tomorrow’s Ultrapowerful Compact Machines

In an experiment packed with scientific firsts, Berkeley Lab scientists have now demonstrated that a laser pulse can accelerate an electron beam and couple it to a second laser plasma accelerator, where another laser pulse accelerates the beam to higher energy—a fundamental breakthrough in advanced accelerator science.

Two New Biologists at Brookhaven National Lab are Looking at Plant Genomes to Address Energy Challenges

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory welcomes two new biologists, Crysten and Ian Blaby, who have been brought to the Lab to explore the many genes that play a role in a plant’s ability to harness energy and what those genes could mean for enhancing bioenergy crops.

Tiniest Particles Shrink Before Exploding When Hit With SLAC’s X-Ray Laser

New finding provides a glimpse of the unusual world of superheated nanomaterials that could eventually also help scientists further develop X-ray techniques for taking atomic images of individual molecules.

NSLS Research Leads to New Discoveries About Structure of Human Hair

Scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) resolved the molecular structure of each of the three known regions of human hair—the cuticle, the cortex and the medulla—and discovered a new region between the cortex and the cuticle.

Seagrass Genome Sequence Lends Insights to Salt Tolerance

A team of researchers from around the world has sequenced the eelgrass (Zostera marina) genome to better understand how the plant adapts to climate change and to explore clues it could provide on how crops could adapt to saline environments.

Simplifying Solar Cells with a New Mix of Materials

An international research team led by Berkeley National Lab has simplified the steps to create highly efficient silicon solar cells by applying a new mix of materials to a standard design.

Hydrogen Uptake Causes Molecular “Avalanches” in Palladium

Unlike any other element, palladium, a precious metal closely related to platinum, takes up hydrogen at room temperature and pressure. In a recent study, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have gained new insight into how this uptake of hydrogen occurs, realized how it impacts the atomic structure of the palladium, and identified key properties of how this form of hydrogen storage could work in the future.

Polar Vortices Observed in Ferroelectric

A team of scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have recorded the first ever observations of rotating topologies of electrical polarization that are similar to the discrete swirls of magnetism known as “skyrmions.”

Uncovering Hidden Microbial Lineages from Hot Springs

A team led by researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, utilized the largest collection of metagenomic datasets to uncover a completely novel bacterial phylum that they have dubbed “Kryptonia.”

Bringing New Light to a Transformative Protein

By understanding the underlying physics of the fluorescent behavior of GFP, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and colleagues at Louisiana State University will be able to further exploit it as an essential tool for unraveling molecular-level details of processes in molecular biology and genetics.

Mira Supercomputer Simulations Give a New “Edge” to Fusion Research

Using Mira, physicists from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory uncovered a new understanding about electron behavior in edge plasma. Based on this discovery, improvements were made to a well-known analytical formula that could enhance predictions of and, ultimately, increase fusion power efficiency.