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

The Highs and Lows of Scientific Research

Scientists at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab discuss how their work with microbes and plant interactions can be unpredictable and take them in unexpected directions – a journey of failures and successes.

Ultrafast Lasers Reveal Light-Harvesting Secrets of Photosynthetic Algae

Researchers at Princeton University have revealed a mechanism that enhances the light harvesting rates of the cryptophyte algae Chroomonas mesostigmatica.

Working Under Pressure: Diamond Micro-Anvils Made by UAB Will Produce Immense Pressures to Make New Materials

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers will use tiny nanocrystalline-diamond anvils to produce pressures greater than those found at the center of the Earth to potentially create as yet unknown new materials.

First Self-Assembled Superconductor Structure Created

Building on nearly two decades’ worth of research, a multidisciplinary team at Cornell has blazed a new trail by creating a self-assembled, three-dimensional gyroidal superconductor.

Researchers Seek Efficient Means of Splitting Water

Researchers at Cornell University have observed the catalytic reactions that pull apart water molecules are not distributed evenly across the surface of the semiconductor titanium dioxide, occurring only at “hotspots.”

MSU's 'Little Gadget that Could' Becoming Game-Changer for International Researchers

Researchers at the MSU Global Center for Food Systems have built a low-cost, handheld device and a cloud-based data aggregating platform to measure and analyze plant, soil, water, and environmental parameters.

HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory Reveals New Look at the Very-High-Energy Sky

UMD physicists pioneered development of observatory that has located new high-energy sources in the universe and provided more detail on known sources in first year of full operation.

Princeton Graduate Student Creates Computer Program to Help Stabilize Fusion Plasmas

A Princeton University graduate student has worked with physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) to develop a method for limiting instabilities that reduce the performance of fusion plasmas.

Biochemists Solve the Structure of Cell's DNA Gatekeeper

Caltech scientists have produced the most detailed map yet of the massive protein machine that controls access to the DNA-containing heart of the cell.

‘Weirdest Martensite’: Century-old Smectic Riddle Finally Solved

Using the latest computer game technology, a Cornell-led team of physicists has come up with a “suitably beautiful” explanation to a puzzle that has baffled researchers in the materials and theoretical physics communities for a century.

Probing the Transforming World of Neutrinos

Every second, trillions of neutrinos travel through your body unnoticed. Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, but they are difficult to study because they very rarely interact with matter.

Iowa State Physicist Analyzes First Electron Neutrino Data from NOvA Experiment

Iowa State physicists are part of the huge NOvA Neutrino Experiment that just published two papers about the first experimental observations of muon neutrinos changing to electron neutrinos. The discovery could offer insight into fundamental neutrino properties such as mass and could help explain the dominance of matter in the universe.