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

Genes Found in Drought-Resistant Plants Could Accelerate Evolution of Water-Use Efficient Crops

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a common set of genes that enable different drought-resistant plants to survive in semi-arid conditions, which could play a significant role in bioengineering and creating energy crops that are tolerant to water deficits.

Live Via Satellite: A Global Perspective on Plant Health

With the help of an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researcher who has been studying photosynthesis at canopy height, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions have discovered a way to observe the process on a global scale, with implications for research in areas such as crop yield, drought response, and carbon cycle modeling.

Watching a Quantum Material Lose Its Stripes

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have now disentangled the intriguing dynamics of how such atomic-scale stripes melt and form, providing fundamental insights that could be useful in the development of novel energy materials.

Scaling Deep Learning for Science

Using the Titan supercomputer, a research team led by Robert Patton of the US Department of Energy’s(DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed an evolutionary algorithm capable of generating custom neural networks that match or exceed the performance of handcrafted artificial intelligence systems.

Blowing in the Stellar Wind: Scientists Reduce the Chances of Life on Exoplanets in So-called Habitable Zones

Researchers led by space physicist Chuanfei Dong of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University have recently raised doubts about water on — and thus potential habitability of — frequently cited exoplanets that orbit red dwarfs, the most common stars in the Milky Way.

World’s Smallest Fidget Spinner Showcases Access to Serious Science Facility

The tiny whirligig was created by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences to illustrate the facility’s unique resources and expertise available to scientists across the world. The microscale fidget spinner measures only 100 microns wide, or one tenth of a millimeter, but the capabilities it represents are enormous.

“Holy Grail” for Batteries: Solid-State Magnesium Battery a Big Step Closer

A team of Department of Energy (DOE) scientists at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) has discovered the fastest magnesium-ion solid-state conductor, a major step towards making solid-state magnesium-ion batteries that are both energy dense and safe.

Addition of Tin Boosts Nanoparticle’s Photoluminescence

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have developed germanium nanoparticles with improved photoluminescence, making them potentially better materials for solar cells and imaging probes.

Researchers Compare ‘New’ and ‘Aged’ Catalytic Converter at the Nanoscale Level

Diesel vehicles today emit far fewer pollutants than older vehicles, thanks to a zeolite (hydrous silicate) catalytic converter that was invented around 10 years ago to reduce pollutants that cause the formation of acid rain and smog.

The Right Mix: Water and Neutrons with Eugene Mamontov

Eugene Mamontov’s background in both basic and applied science has made him a valued partner for scientists who come to the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL in search of a better understanding of the water dynamics in their research—projects as diverse as studying plant cellulose or analyzing nanostructured membranes for desalination.

SLAC-led Study Shows Potential for Efficiently Controlling 2-D Materials With Light

In experiments with the lab’s ultrafast ‘electron camera,’ laser light hitting a material is almost completely converted into nuclear vibrations, which are key to switching a material’s properties on and off for future electronics and other applications.

DOE to Award $99 Million for Energy Frontier Research Centers

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced a proposed $99 million in Fiscal Year 2018 funding for Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to accelerate transformative scientific advances for the most challenging topics in materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and biosciences. Research supported by this initiative will provide fundamental understanding to enable future advances in energy production and use.