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

ASU Team Shines New Light on Photosynthesis

A team of scientists from ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences and Pennsylvania State University has taken us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis, and possibly to cleaner fuels.

Purdue Researchers Explore New Chapter of Physics

Purdue University professor Alexandra Boltasseva works with optical metamaterials to create tiny objects: nanotweezers, metasurfaces, and other nanostructures, and studies light interaction in both natural materials and new metamaterials, such as transparent conducting oxides and transition metal nitrides.

Cyborg Bacteria Turn Into Tiny, Zero-Waste Solar Panels

To help humans capture more of the sun’s energy than natural photosynthesis can, UC Berkeley scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to produce useful chemical compounds.

New Computational Model of Chemical Building Blocks May Help Explain the Origins of Life

A research team from the Stony Brook University Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a computational model explaining how certain molecules fold and bind together to grow longer and more complex, leading from simple chemicals to primitive biological molecules.

Researchers Discover New Chemical Process that Could Reduce Nitrogen Oxides from Diesel Exhaust

Chemical engineers at the University of Notre Dame have discovered a catalytic process that could help curb emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel-powered vehicles, a priority air pollutant that is a key ingredient in smog.

Researchers Report Breakthrough in Magnesium Batteries

Researchers at the University of Houston report the discovery of a new design for the battery cathode, drastically increasing the storage capacity and upending conventional wisdom that the magnesium-chloride bond must be broken before inserting magnesium into the host.

Texas A&M Physicist Rupak Mahapatra Earns DOE Grant for Detector Research

Mahapatra, a 2010 DOE Early Career Research Award recipient and a principal investigator since 2003 with SuperCDMS and the affiliated SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment, will receive $460,000 through the Office of High Energy Physics in support of his proposal, Ultra-low Threshold Cryogenic High Voltage Detectors for WIMP Search and Coherent Neutrino Scattering Experiments.

Toward “Valleytronic” Devices for Data Storage or Computer Logic Systems

Faster, more efficient data storage and computer logic systems could be on the horizon thanks to a new way of tuning electronic energy levels in two-dimensional films of crystal, discovered by researchers at MIT.

New Study Shows FRIB Significantly Impacts Michigan’s Economy

A new economic impact study shows the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University is expected to have a significant impact on Michigan’s economy and job creation.

Best of Both Worlds

Metallic glass – with the best properties of glass and metal – offers advantages that will define the future as silicon has defined the information age, according to Takeshi Egami, UT-ORNL Distinguished Scientist and professor of materials science and engineering.

SBU Students Test a Magnetic Cloak at Argonne National Laboratory

In December, students from Stony Brook University visited Argonne with research professor Nils Feege to test a prototype of a magnetic cloak — a crucial piece of equipment for a next-generation particle collider — at Argonne’s 4-Tesla Magnet Facility.

New Study Shines Light on Photosynthesis

Terry Bricker, Moreland Family Professor in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, and colleagues at LSU, the Palacký University in the Czech Republic and at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio have solved a longstanding mystery in photosynthesis, a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy.