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

Scientists at PPPL Further Understanding of a Process that Causes Heat Loss in Fusion Devices

Secondary electron emission - or SEE - cools the edge of plasma in tokamaks and dampens its overall performance; physicists working with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory recently advanced their understanding on how SEE is affected by different wall materials and structures.

Skyrmions Created with a Special Spiral

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have found a way to control the creation of special textured surfaces in magnetically ordered materials.

X-Ray Study Reveals Long-Sought Insights Into Potential Drug Target

X-ray studies done in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have produced surprising insights into the workings of a hormone receptor associated with blood pressure regulation. Researchers believe it could be a target for new medicines related to cardiovascular conditions, neuropathic pain and tissue growth.

Computer Simulations of DIII-D Experiments Shed Light on Mysterious Plasma Flows

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and General Atomics have simulated a mysterious self-organized flow of the superhot plasma that fuels fusion reactions.

New Measurements Suggest ‘Antineutrino Anomaly’ Fueled by Modeling Error

Results from a new scientific study may shed light on a mismatch between predictions and recent measurements of ghostly particles streaming from nuclear reactors—the so-called “reactor antineutrino anomaly,” which has puzzled physicists since 2011.

Suzanne Parete-Koon: Fostering Curiosity Through Science, Volunteerism

Suzanne Parete-Koon is a user support specialist for one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers—the Cray XK7 Titan, located at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Could This Enzyme Help Turn Biofuel Waste into Something Useful?

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Sandia National Laboratories working at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have resolved the protein structure of the enzyme LigM, which is utilized by the soil bacterium Sphingomonas to metabolize aryl compounds derived from lignin, the stiff, organic material that gives plants their structure.

Built From the Bottom Up, Nanoribbons Pave the Way to ‘On–Off’ States for Graphene

A new way to grow narrow ribbons of graphene, a lightweight and strong structure of single-atom-thick carbon atoms linked into hexagons, may address a shortcoming that has prevented the material from achieving its full potential in electronic applications.

New Device Produces Hydrogen Peroxide for Water Purification

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created a small device for hydrogen peroxide production that could be powered by renewable energy sources, like conventional solar panels.

Frozen in a Flash: Rapid Solidification Keeps Materials on Cooling Fast Track

Material scientists at the Ames Laboratory are cooling materials super-quickly to prevent the normal crystalline structures from forming, often creating materials with unique structures and properties.

PPPL and Max Planck Physicists Reveal Experimental Verification of a Key Source of Fast Reconnection of Magnetic Fields

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics found that variation in the electron pressure develops along the magnetic field lines in the region undergoing reconnection. This variation balances and keeps a strong electric current inside the plasma from growing out of control and halting the reconnection process.

Visualizing Scientific Big Data in Informative and Interactive Ways

Wei Xu, a computer scientist who is part of Brookhaven Lab¹s Computational Science Initiative, helps scientists analyze large and varied datasets by developing visualization tools, such as the color-mapping tool seen projected from her laptop onto the large screen.