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

Drawing of real charged particle tracks from a collision of two uranium nuclei, shown exaggerated in size and flattened by the effects of traveling close to the speed of light, over a sketch of the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

Imaging Nuclear Shapes by Smashing them to Smithereens

Scientists use high-energy heavy ion collisions in a new way to reveal subtleties of nuclear structure with implications for many areas of physics.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Biruk Feyissa, left, holds a five-month-old poplar tree expressing high levels of the BOOSTER gene, while former colleague Wellington Muchero holds a tree of the same age expressing lower levels of the gene.

Landmark Photosynthesis Gene Discovery Boosts Plant Growth, Advances Crop Science

A novel gene, BOOSTER, enhances plants’ photosynthesis efficiency and productivity.

In nuclear beta decay an up quark ‘u’ in a proton converts into an up down quark ‘d,’ turning the proton into a neutron and emitting a positron and a neutrino. This work affects interpretation of beta decay measurements across the chart of nuclides.

New Precise Calculation of Nuclear Beta Decays Paves the Way to Uncover Physics Beyond the Standard Model

Theorists identify new effects needed to compute the nuclear beta decay rate with a precision of a few parts in ten thousand.

The image using Coherent Correlation Imaging shows the areas where the borders of magnetic domains (called domain walls) accumulate over time and thus maps the presence of pinning sites. The image field of view is 700 nanometers.

Watching Magnetic Materials Get Organized in Real Time

A revolutionary Coherent Correlation Imaging method visualizes electronic ordering in magnetic materials and opens a path to new data storage technologies.

A depiction of proposed four-quark structures and their sizes relative to the proton. The labels u and c represent the up and charm quarks, respectively, while the labels u and c with bars indicate the corresponding antiquarks.

Can Four-Quark States Arise from Inside the Proton Itself?

Theoretical calculations suggest charm tetraquarks may be less compact than previously thought.

An artist’s impression of a quantum electrodynamics simulation using 100 qubits of an IBM quantum computer. The spheres and lines denote the qubits and connectivity of the IBM quantum processor; gold spheres denote the qubits used in the simulation.

Nuclear Physicists Create Scalable Quantum Circuits to Simulate Fundamental Physics

Researchers developed and executed algorithms for preparing the quantum vacuum and hadrons on more than 100 qubits of IBM quantum computers.

An artist’s impression of an analog quantum computer in which atoms are manipulated by lasers to simulate quantum many-body systems.

Scientists Take an Important Step toward Mitigating Errors in Analog Quantum Simulations of Many-Body Problems

A new framework for quantifying uncertainties increases the predictive power of analog quantum simulations.

Simulated predicted shape distribution for magic-sized silver clusters (purple insets) assembled at different solvent temperatures. These predictions can guide experiments to target seeds for crystal growth.

Molecular Modeling Reveals How Nanocrystals Take Shape

The shape of tiny silver seeds made of fewer than 200 atoms depends on their precise size and temperature and defines the shape of the final nanoparticle.

In a strange metal (translucent box), electrons (blue marbles) lose their individuality and melt into a featureless, liquid-like stream.

Can Electricity Flow Without Electrons?

Strange metals defy the 60-year-old understanding of electric current as a flow of discrete charges.

A cartoon of robot-enabled inorganic materials synthesis. The robot selects powder precursors based on new criteria, mixes them by ball milling, moves them to an oven, and measures the results with X-ray diffraction to determine the phase purity.

New Approach to Materials Synthesis—with Quick Validation by a Robotic Lab

Inorganic precursors chosen based on new criteria led to higher phase purity for 32 out of 35 target materials synthesized in a robotic laboratory.

Illustration of an idealized extraction chromatographic resin using DGA or LN extractants. By studying the adsorption properties of terbium on these DGA and LN resins, scientists gain insights into these properties for the entire lanthanide series.

Understanding the Adsorption Properties of Terbium for Future Medical Use

Scientists investigate the adsorption, thermodynamics, and kinetic properties of terbium on two popular resins for lanthanide separations: DGA and LN.

Structure of Iridium (Ir) dimer complex showing an Ir-Ir bonding molecular orbital populated (left) and an Ir-Ir anti-bonding molecular orbital depopulated (right) by optical excitation.

Advanced Techniques Paint a More Accurate Picture of Molecular Geometry in Metal Complexes

Ultrafast X-ray scattering and advanced numerical simulations decode distinct molecular structures and their equilibration dynamics in metal-metal complexes.