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

Hyperlens Crystal Capable of Viewing Living Cells in Unprecedented Detail

Construction of instruments with an optical lens so powerful that it lets you view features the size of a small virus on the surface of a living cell in its natural environment is now possible because of a fundamental advance in the quality of an optical material used in hyperlensing, a method of creating lenses that can resolve objects much smaller than the wavelength of light.

Discovery About Rare Nitrogen Molecules Offers Clues to Makeup of Other Life-Supporting Planets

A team of scientists using a state-of-the-art UCLA instrument reports the discovery of a planetary-scale “tug-of-war” of life, deep Earth and the upper atmosphere that is expressed in atmospheric nitrogen.

X-Ray Detector for Studying Characteristics of Materials

Modern synchrotron x-ray sources, such as the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron (CHESS), produce x-ray beams with unprecedented capabilities. Scientists and engineers use the beams to study the properties of materials as they are subjected to rapid changes in environmental conditions.

U.S. Department of Energy Honors UW VP Synakowski

Edmund “Ed” Synakowski received the DOE’s Meritorious Service Award Wednesday in a ceremony at UW, “for strong and insightful leadership” as the agency’s associate director of science for the past eight years. He began his work at UW in August.

Researchers Model Optimal Amount of Rainfall for Plants

A team of researchers, led by Stephen Good, a hydrologist at Oregon State University, have determined what could be considered a “Goldilocks” climate for rainfall use by plants: not too wet and not too dry.

MACHOs are Dead. WIMPs are a No-show. Say Hello to SIMPs.

The intensive, worldwide search for dark matter, the missing mass in the universe, has so far failed to find an abundance of dark, massive stars or scads of strange new weakly interacting particles, but a new candidate is slowly gaining followers and observational support.

‘Magnetoelectric’ Material Shows Promise as Memory for Electronics

University of Wisconsin-Madision researchers and international collaborators have created a unique process for making a high-quality magnetoelectric material and are now able to view the changing electric and magnetic properties switching in real time.

Researchers Discover Breakthrough Process for Directly Converting Methane to Methanol

The direct oxidation of methane—found in natural gas—into methanol at low temperatures has long been a holy grail. Now, researchers at Tufts have found a breakthrough way to accomplish the feat using a heterogeneous catalyst and cheap molecular oxygen.

Study Sheds Light on Turbulence in Astrophysical Plasmas

Theoretical analysis by Nuno Loureiro, an associate professor of nuclear science and engineering and of physics at MIT, and Stanislav Boldyrev, a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, uncovers new mechanisms in plasma turbulence.

First-of-its-Kind Mummy Study Reveals Clues to Girl’s Story

Researchers from Northwestern University brought a mummy to Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source for an all-day x-ray scattering experiment to probe the materials and objects, while leaving the mummy and her wrappings intact.

Quantum Leap: Novel Computational Approach Launches New Paradigm in Electronic Structure Theory

A group of Michigan State University (MSU) researchers specializing in quantum calculations has proposed a radically new computational approach to solving the complex many-particle Schrödinger equation that holds the key to explaining the motion of electrons in atoms and molecules.

New Technique Allows Rapid Screening for New Types of Solar Cells

A team at MIT and other institutions has come up with a way to bypass the time-consuming steps currently needed to test new photovoltaic materials.