News Archive | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Electrifying Neutrons: Monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscope is used to distinguish between molecules that differ only by a single neutron on a single atom. The electron beam can capture changes to the minute molecular vibrations of an amino acid caused by the extra neutron without damaging the sample and with unprecedented spatial resolution. Credit: Andy Sproles/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Novel Electron Microscopy Offers Nanoscale, Damage-free Tracking of Isotopes in Amino Acids

A new electron microscopy technique that detects the subtle changes in the weight of proteins at the nanoscale—while keeping the sample intact—could open a new pathway for deeper, more comprehensive studies of the basic building blocks of life.

Louisiana State University researchers used RF fields to heat iron oxide nanoparticles attached to petroleum molecules to achieve more energy efficient catalytic reactions. Image Credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin

Radio Frequency Energy Heats Up Interest in Low-temperature Nanocatalysts

Scientists from Louisiana State University (LSU) are using neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to study the effects of employing an alternating electromagnetic field to produce low-temperature catalytic reactions by heating iron oxide nanoparticles with hydrocarbon molecules attached to the nanoparticle surface.

(From left to right) Cole Freniere and Michael Reynolds of Microway, Alex Volkov of NVIDIA, and Chris Layton and Brian Zachary of ORNL pose with a newly arrived DGX-2. The NVIDIA appliances connect ORNL researchers with a platform that excels at machine learning, a type of artificial intelligent that could automate some of the time-intensive analysis inherent in scientific research.

ORNL Adds Powerful AI Appliances to Computing Portfolio

As home to three top-ranked supercomputers of the last decade, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has become synonymous with scientific computing at the largest scales. Getting the most out of these science machines, however, requires a willingness to experiment with problems and systems of every size and scale. This is especially important as technology vendors introduce new system architectures and as scientists’ problem-solving toolkit expands to include artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced data analysis.

The empty interior of ProtoDUNE takes on a golden hue. Photo: CERN

Success After a Three-year Sprint

When scientists plan to build a new particle detector, they run simulations to get a picture of what the particle interactions will look like. After constructing and starting up the real thing, they expect a period of tuning, adjusting, fiddling and fixing to get things running smoothly. They normally don’t expect to turn the detector on and see particle tracks of a quality that exceeds their idealized simulations, especially when it is a prototype detector. And then there is ProtoDUNE.

A team from Brookhaven Lab has deployed a sensor-equipped truck that will drive around urban and coastal areas in the Northeastern United States over the next few years to collect atmospheric data. These data will advance our understanding of the hard-to-predict microclimates—local climates that differ from the climate of the surrounding area—affecting such areas.

Predicting Urban and Coastal Microclimates

A mobile laboratory containing sensors that measure wind speed and direction, air quality, precipitation, and other atmospheric variables is being deployed in urban and coastal areas as part of a larger effort to improve local forecasting capabilities in complex environments

Catching Atoms in Action: Watching Next-gen Materials Crystallize

One of the many possible routes to next-gen materials-- ones that enable new advances in data storage, electronic devices, and lighter and stronger structural building materials-- is through supercooling of metals into a category of alloys called ‘metallic glass,’ with no regular or crystalline pattern of atomic structure (scientists call it “amorphous”). Unlike common or window glass, however, these metallic glasses are excellent electrical conductors, making them promising for all sorts of tech applications.

Jon Poplawsky of Oak Ridge National Laboratory combines atom probe tomography (revealed by this LEAP 4000XHR instrument) with electron microscopy to characterize the compositions, structures, and functions of materials for energy and information technologies. Credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Jon Poplawsky—Probing Materials to Improve Energy and Information Technologies

Jon Poplawsky, a materials scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, develops and links advanced characterization techniques that improve our ability to see and understand atomic-scale features of diverse materials for energy and information technologies.

Berkeley Lab scientists tell the story of these incredible scientific discoveries.

16 Elements: Berkeley Lab’s Contributions to the Periodic Table

A century ago, the periodic table looked much different than it does today. It had empty spots for elements that had not yet been found, and ended at uranium (element 92), the heaviest known element until 1940. But scientists were dreaming about artificially creating even heavier elements.

Deep convective clouds will be the focus of an upcoming ARM field campaign in Texas. Photo is courtesy of the National Weather Service.

New Campaign Will Track Deep Convective Clouds Over Houston

Deep convective clouds—the kind that often pack lightning and pour rain—occur nearly everywhere in the world. They are an important feature of the atmosphere, especially in storm systems that dominate the tropics and midlatitudes.

Prototype of EPI at center-left of image. (Photo courtesy of Roger Raman.)

Fast Action: A Novel Device May Provide Rapid Control of Plasma Disruptions in a Fusion Facility

Scientists seeking to capture and control on Earth fusion energy, the process that powers the sun and stars, face the risk of disruptions — sudden events that can halt fusion reactions and damage facilities called tokamaks that house them. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), and the University of Washington have developed a novel prototype for rapidly controlling disruptions before they can take full effect.

This visualization of a general-relativistic collisionless plasma simulation shows the density of positrons near the event horizon of a rotating black hole. Plasma instabilities produce island-like structures in the region of intense electric current. (Credit: Kyle Parfrey et al./Berkeley Lab)

How to Escape a Black Hole: Simulations Provide New Clues to What’s Driving Powerful Plasma Jets

Black holes are known for their voracious appetites, binging on matter with such ferocity that not even light can escape once it’s swallowed up. Less understood, though, is how black holes purge energy locked up in their rotation, jetting near-light-speed plasmas into space to opposite sides in one of the most powerful displays in the universe. These jets can extend outward for millions of light years.

Clifford Gerlak, an intern in the chemistry division, is researching fundamental reactions of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and the behavior of catalysts that can produce useful chemicals.

Cliff Gerlak: From U.S. Marine Veteran to Chemical Engineer

At very different ends of the career spectrum, it may seem difficult to transition from a United States Marine to a chemical engineer, but that’s exactly Cliff Gerlak’s plan.