2017 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Converting Carbon Dioxide to Carbon Monoxide Using Water and Electricity

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis have determined how electrocatalysts can convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide using water and electricity. The discovery can lead to the development of efficient electrocatalysts for large scale production of synthesis gas — a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Navigational View of the Brain Thanks to Powerful X-Rays

A research team led by Eva Dyer, a computational neuroscientist and electrical engineer, has imaged brains at that map-like or “meso” scale using the most powerful X-ray beams in the country. The imaging scale gives an overview of the intercellular landscape of the brain at a level relevant to small neural networks, which are at the core of the brain’s ability to compute.

UNM grad student selected for Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program

University of New Mexico graduate student Jacek Ksawery Osinski was one of 52 students across the nation selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science for its 2017 Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program.

Artificial Intelligence Aids Materials Fabrication

A team of researchers at MIT, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of California at Berkeley hope to close the materials-science automation gap, with a new artificial-intelligence system that would pore through research papers to deduce “recipes” for producing particular materials.

Transformation of Graphite into Hexagonal Diamond Documented by WSU Researchers

A new study by Washington State University researchers answers longstanding questions about the formation of a rare type of diamond during major meteorite strikes.

New Technique Makes Light Metallic Nanofoam

UC Davis physicists Dustin Gilbert, Kai Liu and colleagues have come up with a new method to make a nanofoam of palladium. The foamy metal could be used to store hydrogen in vehicles or for other purposes.

Georgia State Physicist Gets $400,000 Grant to Study Solar Energy Conversion

Dr. Gary Hastings, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University, has received a two-year, $400,000 federal grant to study solar energy conversion in photosynthesis.

Mapping the Microbiome of … Everything

In the Earth Microbiome Project, an extensive global team co-led by researchers at University of California San Diego, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory collected more than 27,000 samples from numerous, diverse environments around the globe.

Computer Scientists Aid in Major Astronomical Discovery

In a major advance in astronomy, scientists announced last month that they had observed two neutron stars colliding, a never-before-seen cosmic event that made headlines the world over — and two UC Merced computer scientists were instrumental in making it happen.

Penn Researchers Demonstrate How to Control Liquid Crystal Patterns

When Lisa Tran, a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences, set out to investigate patterns in liquid crystals, she didn’t know what to expect. When she first looked through the microscope, she saw dancing iridescent spheres with fingerprint-like patterns etched into them that spiraled and flattened as the solution they were floated in changed.

Researchers Discover Super-Elastic Shape-Memory Material

UConn materials science and engineering researcher Seok-Woo Lee and his colleagues have discovered super-elastic shape-memory properties in a material that could be applied for use as an actuator in the harshest of conditions, such as outer space, and might be the first in a whole new class of shape-memory materials.

Mapping 'Damage Trails' Lets Researchers Follow the Water in Photosystem II

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have traced the paths of three water channels in an ancient photosynthetic organism to provide the first comprehensive, experimental study of how that organism uses and regulates water to create energy.