Brookhaven National Laboratory (DOE)
Activated graphene makes superior supercapacitors for energy storage
May 13, 2011 5:38 am | News | CommentsScientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have helped to uncover the nanoscale structure of a novel form of carbon, contributing to an explanation of why this new material acts like a super-absorbent sponge when it comes to soaking up electric charge. The material, which was recently created at The Univ. of Texas, Austin, can be incorporated into "supercapacitor" energy-storage devices with high storage capacity while retaining other attractive attributes.
Largest 3D map of distant universe created
May 2, 2011 4:53 am | News | CommentsScientists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) have created the largest ever three-dimensional map of the distant universe by using the light of the brightest objects in the cosmos to illuminate ghostly clouds of intergalactic hydrogen. The map provides an unprecedented view of what the universe looked like 11 billion years ago.
New technique could lead to superconducting transistors for power-saving electronics
April 28, 2011 4:25 am | News | CommentsLike atomic-level bricklayers, researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory are using a precise atom-by-atom layering technique to fabricate an ultrathin transistor-like field effect device to study the conditions that turn insulating materials into high-temperature superconductors.
Physicists nab new record for heaviest antimatter
April 25, 2011 4:28 am | News | CommentsMembers of the international STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have detected the antimatter partner of the helium nucleus: antihelium-4. This new particle, also known as the anti-alpha, is the heaviest antinucleus ever detected.
Pumping up the polarization of protons for RHIC
April 6, 2011 4:50 am | News | CommentsThe competition may have been slim, but the feat was great. With custom-built power supplies built from old inventory and 1960s quadrupole magnets pulled from storage, Brookhaven Lab's Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) can now provide researchers with five to eight percent more protons that are polarized—breaking its own world record set in 2009 for the highest polarization, energy, and intensity beams at BNL’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).
Expanding the degrees of surface freezing
March 31, 2011 6:29 am | News | CommentsAs part of the quest to form perfectly smooth single-molecule layers of materials for advanced energy, electronic, and medical devices, researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that the molecules in thin films remain frozen at a temperature where the bulk material is molten.
Tiny 'wearable' PET scanner ready for use
March 14, 2011 4:22 am | News | CommentsScientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook Univ., and collaborators have demonstrated the efficacy of a “wearable,” portable PET scanner they’ve developed for rats. The device will give neuroscientists a new tool for simultaneously studying brain function and behavior in fully awake, moving animals.
Hyperactive nerve cells may contribute to depression
February 24, 2011 4:57 am | News | CommentsScientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the Univ. of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have identified hyperactive cells in a tiny brain structure that may play an important role in depression. The study, conducted in rats, is helping to reveal a cellular mechanism for depressive disorders that could lead to new, effective treatments.
New probe of proton spin structure
February 15, 2011 4:41 am | News | CommentsScientists hoping to unravel the mystery of proton spin at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a 2.4-mile-circumference particle accelerator at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, have a new tool at their disposal—the first to directly explore how quarks of different types, or “flavors,” contribute to the overall spin of the proton.
Fleeting fluctuations in superconductivity disappear close to transition temperature
February 14, 2011 3:28 am | News | CommentsAs part of an ongoing effort to uncover details of how high-temperature superconductors carry electrical current with no resistance, scientists at Johns Hopkins Univ. and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have measured fluctuations in superconductivity across a wide range of temperatures using terahertz spectroscopy.
Glass implosion tests help design stronger neutrino detectors
February 8, 2011 4:21 am | News | CommentsAt a once defunct Navy facility in Rhode Island, Brookhaven scientists working on the proposed Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) have set up a death trap for the key components of the project’s future neutrino catchers. There, under the stress of 500,000 gallons of pressurized water, glass bulbs called photomultiplier tubes come to their end in super-fast and super-dramatic implosions.
Developing radioactive 63Ni to target explosives
January 5, 2011 3:20 am | News | CommentsWhen Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspectors swipe a cloth over your luggage and then place it in an analyzer to check for explosives residue, they are using a device containing 63 Ni, a radioactive isotope of nickel, made at ORNL.
Quark-gluon plasma card game developed
January 4, 2011 3:43 am | News | CommentsHappy New Year! Like the sprays of confetti and streamers exploding in Times Square at midnight on December 31, millions of subatomic particles will soon be streaming from heavy ion collisions at RHIC, Brookhaven Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Linking subatomic particles with New Year’s Eve celebrations may not be so strange: Two years ago, a group of Hungarian secondary school students rang in the New Year while playing with particles, literally.
Govt. Labs See Bright Future, For Now
December 22, 2009 9:40 am | by Paul Livingstone | Articles | CommentsTo say that the outlook for government R&D laboratory executives is brighter for 2010 than 2009 would be a great understatement. At this time last year most laboratories were scrambling to adjust to a short-term financial upheaval brought about by an across-the-board freeze on budgets until March 2009.
Focus your x-rays
August 31, 2006 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThe availability of powerful third generation synchrotron radiation sources, such as the Advanced Photon Source in the U.S., the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, and Spring-8 in Japan, has pushed the spectrum of x-rays to much higher energies than those available decades ago. That said, the ability to adequately/efficiently harness these rays is paramount. To that end, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, N.Y.) have created a Sagittal Focusing Laue Monochromator for High-energy X-rays, a device that focuses divergent high-energy x-rays while maintaining good energy resolution, increasing the useful flux one thousandfold over existing techniques.
Tubes self-heal with coating
August 31, 2002 8:00 pm | Award WinnersManufacturers of heat-exchanger tubes no longer have to turn to expensive titanium alloys and stainless steel to deal with corrosion problems. With the help of the Smart, High-Performance Polyphenylenesulfide (PPS) Coating System, they can go back to using carbon-steel tubes. By lining internal and external tube walls with PPS coating, makers can transform the tubes highly susceptible to corrosion into well-protected ones.
