University Research | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

A Bright Future: New Material Smashes Light-Splitting Records

A team of scientists and engineers led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Southern California have created a crystal that has a higher degree of optical anisotropy than all other solid substances on earth—especially for light in the infrared region of the spectrum.

From Beaker to Solved 3-D Structure in Minutes

In a new study that one scientist called jaw-dropping, a joint UCLA/Caltech team has shown that it is possible to obtain the structures of small molecules, such as certain hormones and medications, in as little as 30 minutes. That's hours and even days less than was possible before.

New Study Finds Half of the World's Annual Precipitation Falls in Just 12 Days

An analysis of rainfall measured at weather stations across the globe between 1999 and 2014 found that the median time it took for half of a year’s precipitation to fall was just 12 days. A quarter of annual precipitation fell in just six days, and three-quarters fell in 27 days.

National Clean Energy Week: Cutting Waste, Fossil Fuel Use, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Turning Unused Food into Biofuel

Funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant, a team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is creating a better way to convert waste food into biofuels that are environmentally friendly, a project that would have an impact on global problems like crude oil dependence, food waste, and water pollution.

A Key to Climate Stabilization Could be Buried Deep in the Mud, FSU Researchers Suggest

Earth’s peatland soils store a lot of carbon — about as much as currently flows freely through the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. As global temperatures rise, scientists worry that the planet’s grip on these carbon reservoirs could weaken, unleashing a “carbon bomb” that could further destabilize Earth’s climate systems. But a new study led by Florida State University offers some hope that Earth’s carbon reservoirs might not be quite as vulnerable as experts predict.

Nucleation a Boon to Sustainable Nanomanufacturing

Calcium carbonate is found nearly everywhere, in sidewalk cement, wall paint, antacid tablets and deep underground. Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have used a unique set of state-of-the-art imaging techniques to discover how calcium carbonate nanoparticles nucleate, which is important for those manufacturing the carbonate nanomaterials and controlling metal carbonation during CO2 sequestration.

$120 Million to Support Next-generation Battery Research

he U.S. Department of Energy announced its decision Sept. 18 to renew the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, which is led by Argonne National Laboratory and focused on advancing battery science and technology. The department plans to fund the center for a total of $120 million over the five-year renewal period. The University of Chicago is one of the partners in the center, known as JCESR.

Record Year for UT Grad Students Earning Awards to Work at National Labs

Four UT graduate students have received Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) awards. This is the highest number of SCGSR awardees UT has had in one year.

Yale to Help Develop Particle Detector Assemblies via $1.6M Grant

A $1.6 million planning grant from the National Science Foundation will be divided among Yale, the University of Chicago, Syracuse University, and the University of Wisconsin. The four institutions will develop engineering and design plans to help the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) meet its goal of starting to collect data in 2026.

DOE Grants Propel Physics Research at MU

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding cutting-edge research into new magnetic materials and the theory of spinning electrons that could lead to better data storage and processing and more efficient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for radiologists, and it may even have implications for quantum computing.

University to Lead $2.25 Million Grant for Developing Next-generation Quantum Computer

The University of Minnesota announced today that it will lead a $2.25 million grant over the next three years from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science for developing materials and device knowledge necessary for creating the next-generation of computing—the quantum computer.

Understanding How Plants Use Sunlight

Researchers at MIT along with collaborators at the University of Verona, Italy, worked to develop a new understanding of the mechanisms by which plants reject excess energy they absorb from sunlight so it doesn’t harm key proteins.