2015 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Are Data Security Breaches Becoming Larger and More Frequent?

Researchers at Berkeley National Lab and the University of New Mexico have found that digital information may be no more at risk than it was a decade ago.

One Direction: Researchers Grow Nanocircuitry with Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons

In a development that could revolutionize electronic ciruitry, a research team from the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has confirmed a new way to control the growth paths of graphene nanoribbons on the surface of a germainum crystal.

Field Widens for Environments, Microbes That Produce Toxic Form of Mercury

Thawing permafrost and contaminated sediment in marine coastal areas pose some of the greatest risks for the production of highly toxic methylmercury, according to researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

SLAC Experiment Finds Key to Natural Detoxifier’s Reactivity

Researchers working at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered that a mere 9-trillionths-of-a-meter reduction in the length of a chemical bond dramatically boosts the reactivity of a family of molecules that helps keep humans and many other organisms healthy.

Mapping the Protein Universe

A collaboration of scientists from five national laboratories – led by Argonne – are building a computer program to provide researchers with an extensive library of proteins in order to better understand how they interact; ultimately being able to pull in basic data about DNA sequences and turning them into a complete set of good predictions about proteins and their potential functions.

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Laser Spectroscopy of Ultrathin Semiconductor Reveals Rise of ‘Trion’ Quasiparticles

Insights by Oak Ridge scientists into the dynamics of these exotic-sounding particles may spur real-life applications such as improved materials for solar energy and quantum computing.

Newly Discovered ‘Design Rule’ Brings Nature-Inspired Nanostructures One Step Closer

Computer sims and microscopy research at Berkeley Lab yield first atomic-resolution structure of a peptoid nanosheet.

Neutrons Help Understand Enzymes That Could Produce Improvements in Biomass Processing

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using neutron crystallography to understand enzymes and learn how to bioengineer those enzymes for large-scale improvements in the efficiency of biomass processing.

Way Cheaper Catalyst May Lower Fuel Costs for Hydrogen-Powered Cars

Sandia National Laboratories researchers seeking to make hydrogen a less expensive fuel for cars have upgraded a catalyst nearly as cheap as dirt — molybdenum disulfide, “molly” for short — to stand in for platinum, a rare element with the moonlike price of $1,500 a gram.

DOE Creates New Center for Computational Materials at Argonne

The revolution of computational materials design is in the making, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has taken a firm step toward achieving it by creating the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials (MICCoM) at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory.

Not Shaken, Not Stirred: New Molecular Modeling Techniques for Catalysis in Unmixed Systems

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have developed molecular modeling simulations and new theoretical formulations to help understand and optimize catalytic reactions that take place in chemical environments where the reactant “ingredients” for catalysis are not well mixed.

Brookhaven Lab's Links to 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

Brookhaven scientists contributed to both Nobel-recognized experiments demonstrating that neutrinos change flavors, part of the Lab's legacy of groundbreaking neutrino research.