2017 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Amy Elliott: Manufacturing an Impact on Science Culture

Researcher Amy Elliott studies inkjet-based additive manufacturing at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory—specifically how new materials can improve end products.

Mountain Clouds: From Rain Makers to Snow Makers

Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Colorado State University found that mountainous, water-ice (a.k.a. mixed-phase) clouds have a dual response when injected with numerous tiny pollution particles.

Scientists Set Record Resolution for Drawing at the One-Nanometer Length Scale

An electron microscope–based lithography system for patterning materials at sizes as small as a single nanometer could be used to create and study materials with new properties.

Special Delivery: First Shipment of Magnetic Devices for Next-Gen X-Ray Laser

The first shipment of powerful magnetic devices for a next-generation laser project arrived at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory on Wednesday after a nearly 3,000-mile journey from a factory in New York to California in a customized delivery truck.

Unexpected Damage Found Rippling Through Promising Exotic Nanomaterials

Scientists have developed a new method to probe three-dimensional, atomic-scale intricacies and chemical compositions with unprecedented precision. The breakthrough technique—described February 6 in the journal Nano Letters—combines atomic-force microscopy with near-field spectroscopy to expose the surprising damage wreaked by even the most subtle forces.

Where Scientist Meets Machine: A Fresh Approach to Experimental Design at SLAC X-Ray Laser

To make sure experimenters can get the most out of a major X-ray laser upgrade that will produce beams that are 10,000 times brighter and pulses up to a million times per second, the lab has created a new position – head of experimental design at the Linac Coherent Light Source – and hired a world-renowned X-ray scientist to fill it.

For First Time, Researchers Measure Forces that Align Crystals and Help Them Snap Together

Like two magnets being pulled toward each other, tiny crystals twist, align and slam into each other, but due to an altogether different force. For the first time, researchers have measured the force that draws them together and visualized how they swivel and align.

Study Offers New Theoretical Approach to Describing Non-Equilibrium Phase Transitions

Two Argonne physicists offered a way to mathematically describe a particular physics phenomenon called a phase transition in a system out of equilibrium (that is, with energy moving through it) by using imaginary numbers.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Discover New Atomically Layered, Thin Magnet

It may not seem like a material as thin as an atom could hide any surprises, but a research team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) discovered an unexpected magnetic property in a two-dimensional material.

Battling Infectious Diseases with 3-D Protein Structures

An international team of scientists led by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has determined the 3-D atomic structures of more than 1,000 proteins that are potential targets for drugs and vaccines to combat some of the world’s most dangerous emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

ALCF Seeking Proposals to Advance Big Data Problems in Big Science

The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility Data Science Program (ADSP) is now accepting proposals for projects hoping to gain insight into very large datasets produced by experimental, simulation, or observational methods.

New Study Reveals the Mystery Behind the Formation of Hollowed Nanoparticles During Metal Oxidation

Argonne and Temple University researchers describe the behavior of metal nanoparticles by watching them in real time as they oxidized. By using a combination of X-ray scattering and computational simulation, the researchers were able to observe and model the changes in nanoparticle geometry as they occurred.