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

Energy Award Supports Research on New Method of Making Ammonia

University of Arkansas engineering professor Lauren Greenlee and her colleagues at Case Western Reserve and Pennsylvania State universities have received a $599,373 award from the U.S. Department of Energy to study an alternative method for making ammonia.

USU Biochemists Describe Light-Driven Conversion of CO2 to Fuel

By way of a light-driven bacterium, Utah State University biochemists are a step closer to cleanly converting harmful carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion into usable fuels.

Sponge Creates Steam Using Ambient Sunlight

MIT engineers have invented a bubble-wrapped, sponge-like device that soaks up natural sunlight and heats water to boiling temperatures, generating steam through its pores.

New Approach to Determining How Atoms Are Arranged in Materials

Researchers from North Carolina State University, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a novel approach to materials characterization, using Bayesian statistical methods to glean new insights into the structure of materials.

Light and Matter Merge in Quantum Coupling

Rice University physicists probe photon-electron interactions in vacuum cavity experiments which could help advance technologies like quantum computers and communications by revealing new phenomena to those who study cavity quantum electrodynamics and condensed matter physics.

Scripps Florida Study Finds 'Missing Evolutionary Link' of a Widely Used Natural Drug Source

A study from scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has now filled in a missing piece of the evolutionary puzzle, determining a previously unknown structure of a family of proteins that are key to making these compounds.

A Rare Iodine Polymer Discovery is Key to Starch-Iodine Mystery

In the pursuit of a new class of photovoltaic materials, UC Santa Barbara researchers used Raman spectroscopy to study the crystalline structure of polyiodide chains.

Research by MIT Undergrad Helps Crack Chemical Mystery

Researchers at MIT and Penn State University have discovered the sulfur atom needed to produce lipoic acid – an important cofactor – is cannibalized from an iron-sulfur cluster already contained within the LipA enzyme.

Neutrinos, Ever Bizarre, Enjoy the Spotlight

Two separate, international scientific collaborations studying neutrinos, the T2K experiment in Japan, and the NOvA experiment at Fermilab, have reported new insights into how neutrinos behave. Colorado State University researchers have played a significant role in both.

Stanford-led Experiments Point Toward Memory Chips 1,000 Times Faster Than Today’s

Stanford-led research shows that an emerging memory technology, based on a new class of semiconductor materials, could deliver the best of both worlds, storing data permanently while allowing certain operations to occur up to a thousand times faster than today’s memory devices.

Plants Have Their Cake and Eat it Too

Scientists have thought for a long time now that plants don’t do a good job growing and defending at the same time. The Howe lab at Michigan State University has created a plant that does both.

Next-Generation Thermoelectrics

Funded by a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, UC Santa Barbara chemical engineering professor Rachel Segalman and materials professor Michael Chabinyc will investigate ways of improving thermoelectric performance in polymeric materials.