Government Lab
Atom smasher hiatus sets stage for more discovery
January 7, 2013 1:22 pm | by John Heilprin, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe world's largest and most powerful atom smasher goes into a 2-year hibernation in March, as engineers carry out a revamp to help it reach maximum energy levels that could lead to more stunning discoveries following the detection of the so-called "God particle."
Computational model identifies potential pathways to improve plant oil production
October 8, 2012 8:21 am | News | CommentsUsing a computational model they designed to incorporate detailed information about plants' interconnected metabolic processes, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified key pathways that appear to "favor" the production of either oils or proteins. The research may point the way to new strategies to tip the balance and increase plant oil production.
A one-of-a-kind energy grid simulator
October 3, 2012 7:38 am | News | CommentsA one-of-a-kind, high-tech modeling tool designed to simulate different situations on the electric power grid will be on display at the White House. The result of a multi-year funding effort, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers will joining Energy Secretary Steven Chu to demonstrate how GridLAB-D can help power system operators, industry, innovators, and entrepreneurs understand how making a change to one part of the power system impacts other parts on the grid.
Agreement will lead to commercialization of batteries for renewable energy storage
October 2, 2012 1:50 pm | by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | News | CommentsA Washington state firm with a 27,000 square foot manufacturing and design facility in Mukilteo has signed a license agreement with Battelle to further develop and commercialize a type of advanced battery that holds promise for storing large amounts of renewable energy and providing greater stability to the energy grid.
Georgia Tech awarded $6 million to improve safety of nuclear reactors
October 1, 2012 10:39 am | News | CommentsThe Georgia Institute of Technology has won a $6 million federal grant to design improvements that strengthen the performance and safety of nuclear systems beyond today's capabilities. The three-year project will engage universities, industry partners, and international organizations to develop a novel concept of a light water reactor with inherent safety features.
Anti-flu proteins work as designed
October 1, 2012 10:05 am | News | CommentsUnderstanding why proteins interact with certain specific molecules and not with the myriad others in their environment is a major goal of molecular biology. Now, in a series of recent papers, researchers describe how they designed proteins from scratch to have a high affinity and high specificity for targets on flu viruses, and then validated the two best designs using X-ray diffraction data collected at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL).
Yearlong climate study launches
October 1, 2012 9:50 am | News | CommentsA Horizon Lines container ship outfitted with meteorological and atmospheric instruments installed by scientists from Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory will begin taking data for a yearlong mission aimed at improving the representation of clouds in climate models.
Nickelblock: An element's love-hate relationship with battery electrodes
September 27, 2012 12:30 pm | News | CommentsAnyone who owns an electronic device knows that lithium-ion batteries could work better and last longer. Now, scientists examining battery materials on the nanoscale reveal how nickel forms a physical barrier that impedes that shuttling of lithium ions in the electrode, reducing how fast the materials charge and discharge. The research also suggest a way to improve the materials.
100th shot for LLNL's 'gun in the desert'
September 27, 2012 3:50 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory's JASPER gas gun has fired its 100th shot. JASPER (the Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research) is a key scientific tool for the National Nuclear Security Administrations Stockpile Stewardship Program and its experiments have enabled scientists to understand important properties and behaviors of plutonium and other special nuclear materials without conducting underground nuclear tests.
Producing ethylene via photosynthesis
September 26, 2012 5:01 am | News | CommentsScientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have demonstrated a better way to use photosynthesis to produce ethylene, a breakthrough that could change the way materials, chemicals, and transportation fuels are made, and help clean the air. The scientists introduced a gene into a cyanobacterium and demonstrated that the organism remained stable through a least four generations, producing ethylene gas that could be easily captured.
Novel materials become multifunctional at ultimate quantum limit
September 25, 2012 9:17 am | News | CommentsA University of Arkansas physicist and his colleagues have examined the lower limits of novel materials called complex oxides and discovered that unlike conventional semiconductors the materials not only conduct electricity, but also develop unusual magnetic properties.
A clock that will last forever
September 24, 2012 9:03 am | News | CommentsImagine a clock that will keep perfect time forever or a device that opens new dimensions into the study of such quantum phenomena as emergence and entanglement. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers have proposed a space-time crystal based on an electric-field ion trap and the Coulomb repulsion of particles that carry the same electrical charge.
Small X-band photoinjector packs powerful punch
September 24, 2012 6:24 am | News | CommentsAccelerator physicists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have started commissioning the world's most compact photoinjector, a device that spits out electrons when hit by light. Photoinjectors are used to generate electrons for free-electron lasers (FELs) like the Linac Coherent Light Source, among other things, and this development could enable much more compact FELs, as well as other types of accelerator-based facilities.
Sandia shows why common explosive sometimes fails
September 21, 2012 5:05 am | News | CommentsThe explosive PETN has been around for a century and is used by everyone from miners to the military, but it took new research by Sandia National Laboratories to begin to discover key mechanisms behind what causes it to fail at small scales. By developing a novel technique based on physical vapor deposition to create samples with varying thickness, the researchers were able to study detonation behavior at the sub-millimeter scale and to determine that PETN detonation fails at a thickness roughly the width of human hair.
New use for old tools could boost biodiesel output
September 20, 2012 12:49 pm | News | CommentsTried-and-true techniques could help optimize oilseed yield for biodiesel production, according to studies conducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists. For more than 30 years, near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy has been used as a rapid and nondestructive method for measuring protein, moisture, and oil levels in whole grains. Now researchers are studying how to use remote sensing tools to quickly assess seed oil quality and quantity before and after harvest.
Fast, sensitive nanophotonic motion sensor developed for silicon microdevices
September 20, 2012 3:58 am | News | CommentsUsing a microscopic optical sensor that can be batch-fabricated on a silicon chip at low cost, researchers from NIST have measured the mechanical motion between two nanofabricated structures with a precision close to the fundamental limit imposed by quantum mechanics.
Computer model identifies candidate refrigerants to combat global warming
September 19, 2012 5:26 am | News | CommentsResearchers at NIST have developed a new computational method for identifying candidate refrigerant fluids with low global warming potential—the tendency to trap heat in the atmosphere for many decades—as well as other desirable performance and safety features. The NIST effort is the most extensive systematic search for a new class of refrigerants that meet the latest concerns about climate change.
Researchers brew up organics on ice
September 19, 2012 4:52 am | News | CommentsWould you like icy organics with that? Maybe not in your coffee, but researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are creating concoctions of organics, or carbon-bearing molecules, on ice in the laboratory, then zapping them with lasers. Their goal: to better understand how life arose on Earth.
Researchers to test alien soils for use in heat shield
September 17, 2012 8:19 am | News | CommentsAn important test is coming up next week to see whether a heat shield made from the soil of the moon, Mars, or an asteroid will stand up to the searing demands of a plunge through the Earth's atmosphere. At stake is the possibility that future spacecraft could leave Earth without carrying a heavy heat shield and instead make one on the surface of another world and ride it home safely.
Astrophysicists get first images for Dark Energy Camera
September 17, 2012 7:08 am | News | CommentsWhen the Dark Energy Camera opened its giant eye last week and began taking pictures of the ancient light from far-off galaxies, more than 120 members of the Dark Energy Survey eagerly awaited the first snapshots. Those images have now arrived.
Dry-run experiments verify key aspect of Sandia nuclear fusion concept
September 17, 2012 4:18 am | News | CommentsMagnetically imploded tubes called liners, intended to help produce controlled nuclear fusion at scientific "break-even" energies or better within the next few years, have functioned successfully in preliminary tests, according to a Sandia National Laboratories research paper accepted for publication by Physical Review Letters .
Researchers introduce method for imaging defects in magnetic nanodevices
September 14, 2012 5:24 am | News | CommentsAn international team of researchers have demonstrated a microscopy method to identify magnetic defects in an array of magnetic nanostructures. The method represents an important step towards identifying, measuring, and correcting the magnetic properties of defective devices in future information storage technologies.
SNS researchers overcome the freezing sample problem in biostudies
September 13, 2012 10:07 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Spallation Neutron Source BASIS beam line at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have successfully developed a method to study biomolecules (proteins) at temperatures far below freezing using a lithium chloride preparation in the aqueous solvent that prevents freezing.
LHC collides protons with lead ions for the first time
September 13, 2012 5:53 am | News | CommentsThis morning the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collided protons with lead ions for the first time. This week's short run will give the experiments a first taste of proton-nucleus collisions before the main run in January to February 2013, the last LHC physics before the accelerator is shut down for maintenance.
Real-world levitation to inspire better pharmaceuticals
September 13, 2012 5:15 am | News | CommentsIt's not a magic trick and it's not sleight of hand—scientists really are using levitation to improve the drug development process, eventually yielding more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects. Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a way to use sound waves to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing different pharmaceuticals.
