2018 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

MSU Professor Awarded Grant to Harvest Medical Isotopes at FRIB

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Office of Nuclear Physics awarded nearly $357,000 to a Michigan State University chemist to look into new methods of gathering rare isotopes.

"Folded" Optical Devices Manipulate Light in a New Way

The next generation of electronic devices, ranging from personal health monitors and augmented reality headsets to sensitive scientific instruments that would only be found in a laboratory, will likely incorporate components that use metasurface optics, according to Andrei Faraon, professor of applied physics in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science.

Vanderbilt Physicists Help Find Compelling Evidence for Small Drops of Perfect Fluid

Scientists from Vanderbilt University and the University of Colorado have discovered that surprisingly small droplets of a nearly perfect fluid appear in nuclear collisions recorded by the PHENIX detector. Tiny projectiles seem to be creating a quark-gluon plasma, a primordial cosmic soup from which all the visible matter and energy in the universe originally formed.

Synthetic Microorganisms Allow Scientists to Study Ancient Evolutionary Mysteries in the Laboratory

Scientists at Scripps Research and their collaborators have created microorganisms that may recapitulate key features of organisms thought to have lived billions of years ago, allowing them to explore questions about how life evolved from inanimate molecules to single-celled organisms to the complex, multicellular lifeforms we see today.

Naturally Occurring “Batteries” Fueled Organic Carbon Synthesis on Mars

Mars’ organic carbon may have originated from a series of electrochemical reactions between briny liquids and volcanic minerals, according to new analyses of three Martian meteorites from a team led by Carnegie’s Andrew Steele published in Science Advances.

UT Austin Selected for New Nationwide High-Intensity Laser Network

The University of Texas at Austin will be a key player in LaserNetUS, a new national network of institutions operating high-intensity, ultrafast lasers. The overall project, funded over two years with $6.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, aims to help boost the country's global competitiveness in high-intensity laser research.

Chemistry Professor's Research Shocking the Battery Field

Feng Lin, an assistant professor in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, has had a productive year with over 10 published papers on battery research in 2018. Lin’s work covers the gamut of chemistry and materials science battery research, looking at micro-scale and basic science aspects, as well as macro-scale and applied science.

Overspending on Defense Arsenal Bankrupts a Plant's Economy

Defend or grow? Can plants do both at the same time? Michigan State University scientists might be inching closer to answering these questions. The answers matter. They could someday help us understand natural ecosystems or help farmers increase yields, without increasing dependence on chemicals to resist pests.

Atomic Path from Insulator to Metal Messier than Thought

Researchers have peeked behind the curtain of the ultrafast phase transition of vanadium dioxide and found its atomic theatrics are much more complicated than they thought. It’s a material that has fascinated scientists for decades for its ability to shift from being an electrical insulator to a conductor.

Shedding New Light on Photosynthesis

University of Michigan researchers have developed a powerful microscope that can map how light energy migrates in photosynthetic bacteria on timescales of one-quadrillionth of a second.

Naturally Occurring “Batteries” Fueled Organic Carbon Synthesis on Mars

A natural “battery” of briny liquids and volcanic minerals may have produced Mars’ organic carbon, according to new analysis of three Martian meteorites by a team including researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Visualizing “Unfurling” Microtubule Growth

Microtubule fibers are hollow rods made of much smaller tubulin subunits that spontaneously assemble at one end of the rod, but exactly how they do this inside the crowded environment of living cells has been a mystery. Now researchers at UC Davis have uncovered the mechanism that puts these blocks in place, illustrated in a new animation.