University Research | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

MIT Chemists Characterize a Chemical State Thought to be Unobservable

For the first time, MIT chemists have measured the energy of the transition state of a chemical reaction — a fleeting, unstable state that is a reaction’s point of no return.

'Hydricity' Concept Uses Solar Energy to Produce Power Round-the-Clock

Researchers at Purdue University are proposing a new "hydricity" concept aimed at creating a sustainable economy by not only generating electricity with solar energy but also producing and storing hydrogen from superheated water for round-the-clock power production.

World’s Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Gets Even Better

The world’s most sensitive experimental search for dark matter has gotten 20 times more sensitive thanks to new techniques that reduce the background interfering with efforts to catch these mysterious particles that comprise 85 percent of all matter in the universe.

Researchers Correlate Incidences of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Giant Cell Arteritis With Solar Cycles

New findings show a “highly significant” correlation between periodic solar storms and incidences of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and giant cell arteritis (GCA), two potentially debilitating autoimmune diseases.

Unlocking the Biofuel Energy Stored in Plant Cell Walls

Penn State scientists are studying how the cell walls are made, information that could lead to better ways of harvesting the energy stored in their chemical bonds.

Research Findings Point Way to Designing Crack-Resistant Metals

A research team at Arizona State University is uncovering new knowledge about the causes of stress-corrosion cracking in alloys used in pipelines for transporting water, natural gas and fossil fuels — as well as for components used in nuclear power generating stations and the framework of aircraft.

Newfound Groups of Bacteria Are Mixing Up the Tree of Life

University of California, Berkeley, scientists have identified more than 35 new groups of bacteria, clarifying a mysterious branch of the tree of life that has been hazy because these microbes can’t be reared and studied in the lab.

Bacteria Could Help Clean Groundwater Contaminated by Uranium Ore Processing

Scientists at Rutgers University have discovered a bacterium in soil at an ore mill in Colorado that essentially breathes uranium and renders it immobile.

Witness to Chemical Alchemy

Scientists at Tufts University are the first ever to see elements transform at atomic scale, and their research may yield therapies for cancer that are both more powerful and less risky.

Read more about Witness to Chemical Alchemy

Penn Research Simplifies Recycling of Rare-earth Magnets

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have now pioneered a process that could enable the efficient recycling of two of these metals, neodymium and dysprosium. These elements comprise the small, powerful magnets that are found in many high-tech devices.

Staying Cool: Saharan Silver Ants

Nanfang Yu, assistant professor of applied physics at Columbia Engineering, and colleagues from the University of Zürich and the University of Washington, have discovered two key strategies that enable Saharan silver ants to stay cool in one of the hottest terrestrial environments on Earth.

High Efficiency Concentrating Solar Cells Move to the Rooftop

Ultra-high efficiency solar cells similar to those used in space may now be possible on your rooftop thanks to a new microscale solar concentration technology developed by an international team of researchers.