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

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.

FSU Chemistry Professor Explores Outer Regions of Periodic Table

Florida State University Professor Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt captures the fundamental chemistry of the element berkelium, or Bk on the periodic table.

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.

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.

Study Reveals New Physics of How Fluids Flow in Porous Media

Lab experiments carried out by an MIT and Oxford University team provide detailed information about how a liquid moves through spaces in a porous material, revealing the key role of a characteristic called wettability.

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.

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.

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.

UTA Physicists to Upgrade Titan Supercomputer Software for Extreme Scale Applications Such as Biology and Materials Science Simulations

Physicists at The University of Texas at Arlington have been awarded a new $1.06 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to upgrade the software that runs on the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Tennessee to support extremely data-heavy scientific applications such as advanced biology and materials science simulations.

Nuclear Puzzle May Be Clue to Fifth Force

In a new paper, University of California, Riverside theoretical physicist Flip Tanedo and his collaborators have made new progress towards unravelling a mystery in the beryllium nucleus that may be evidence for a fifth force of nature.

Targeting Neglected Diseases

Researchers at MIT have for the first time identified the structure of class I fumarate hydratase enzyme, which could be a target for drugs combatting diseases prevalent in the developing world.

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UCI Physicists Confirm Possible Discovery of Fifth Force of Nature

A new theory proposed by theoretical physicists at the University of California, Irvine indicates the possible discovery of a previously unknown subatomic particle as evidence of a fifth fundamental force of nature and a key to understanding dark matter in the universe.