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

Scientists Predict Cool New Phase of Superionic Ice

Scientists have predicted a new phase of superionic ice, a special form of ice that could exist on Uranus and Neptune, in a theoretical study performed by a team of researchers at Princeton University.

New ‘Geospeedometer’ Confirms Super-Eruptions Have a Short Fuse

A team of geologists from Vanderbilt University have developed a new “geospeedometer” that they argue can help resolve this controversy by providing direct measurements of how long the most explosive types of magma existed as melt-rich bodies of crystal-poor magma before they erupted

Mother-of-Pearl’s Genesis Identified in Mineral’s Transformation

A team of Wisconsin scientists reports the first direct experimental observations of nacre formation at its earliest stages in a mollusk.

Olivier Delaire: Designing Thermoelectric Materials One Atom at a Time

A joint appointment for researcher Olivier Delaire between Duke University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a win-win as he builds bridges between the two institutions and continues his work bombarding materials with beams of neutron to probe their atomic structures.

Why Scientists are Teaming up to Study the Microbiome: A Q&A with Jack Gilbert

Jack Gilbert, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago and group leader for microbial ecology at Argonne, is one of the founding members of the Unified Microbiome Initiative (UMI) governing board.

Dartmouth-Led Study Explores Wave-Particle Interaction in Atmosphere

A Dartmouth-led study sheds light on the impact of plasma waves on high-energy electrons streaking into Earth's magnetic field from space.

Positrons are Plentiful in Ultra-Intense Laser Blasts

Physicists from Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin have found a new recipe for using intense lasers to create positrons — the antiparticle of electrons — in record numbers and density.

Researchers Create Better Algorithm for Simulating Particles in Fermi Sea

A North Carolina State University physicist and his German colleagues have created a new, more precise algorithm for simulating particle interactions when a single impurity is introduced into a Fermi sea.

How Bacteria Vaccinate Themselves Against Viruses

Working off data acquired at the DOE’s Advanced Light Source, researchers have discovered the structural basis by which bacteria are able to capture genetic information from viruses and other foreign invaders for use in their own immunological system.

Ocean Temperatures of the Past May Tell Us About Global Climate Patterns of the Future

In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a Yale-led research team explored differences in ocean temperatures over the last 5 million years.

UT-Led Research Benefiting Alternate Fuels and Materials

As interest in biofuels has surged in recent years, the question about how to best handle lignin—a material found in the cell walls of plants that is a byproduct of biofuel production—has become a primary concern. Thanks to ongoing research being led in part by Art Ragauskas, UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Biorefining, an answer to that problem could be just over the horizon.

DOE Funding Leads to New Technology that is Revolutionizing Chemical Analysis

A universal carbon detection technology discovered by researchers at the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences, is the basis for a newly developed reactor technology commercialized by Activated Research Company (ARC).