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

In Search of Dark Matter

Researchers, including a UC Riverside particle physicist, interpret new experimental data aimed at showing dark matter interacts with ordinary matter — an unmet challenge in modern physics.

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Nobel Prize-Winning Stanford Physicist Burton Richter Dies at 87

Burton Richter, the Paul Pigott Professor in the Physical Sciences, Emeritus, former director of the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in physics, died July 18 in Palo Alto. He was 87.

Low Energy Photons, High Energy Research

The U.S. Department of Energy announced that Luisa Whittaker-Brooks of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah is one of 84 recipients of the U. S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Program award. The award will assist Whittaker-Brooks in investigating the properties of two-dimensional hybrid organic-inorganic materials for their use as detectors of low-energy infrared photons.

Modeling Research Identifies Potentially Profitable Bioproducts

GLBRC researchers Christos Maravelias, Jennifer Reed, and the study’s first author Tony (Wenzhao) Wu, has developed and used a multi-scale modeling process to identify 32 biochemicals as economically promising if maximum yields can be achieved, and 22 biochemicals if the maximum productivities can be achieved.

Study Finds Climate Determines Shapes of River Basins

MIT scientists have discovered that a river basins shape is heavily influenced by the climate in which they form. The team found that in dry regions of the country, river basins take on a long and thin contour, regardless of their size. In more humid environments, river basins vary: Larger basins, on the scale of hundreds of kilometers, are long and thin, while smaller basins, spanning a few kilometers, are noticeably short and squat.

In Borophene, Boundaries Are No Barrier

When researchers synthesize borophene, the two-dimensional form of boron, in the laboratory, they often observe defects in the material. Northwestern University and Rice University researchers recently discovered that these defects surprisingly assemble into ordered structures that preserve the new material’s unique electronic properties.

Knope Receives Early Career Award

Professor Karah Knope of the Georgetown College Department of Chemistry has been named a recipient of a 2018 Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Rogue Neutrino Likely Came from Supermassive Black Hole, Scientists Say

The VERITAS Collaboration, including scientists at the University of Chicago, has confirmed the detection of very high-energy gamma rays from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole.

MSU Researchers Lead Team that Discovers Heaviest Known Calcium Atom; Eight New Rare Isotopes Discovered in Total

Researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) and the RIKEN Nishina Center in Japan discovered eight new rare isotopes of the elements phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, argon, potassium, scandium and, most importantly, calcium. These are the heaviest isotopes of these elements ever found.

‘Molecular Movie’ Captures Chemical Reaction on Atomic Scale

A team of physicists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Stanford University and Europe has captured the clearest glimpse yet of a photochemical reaction — the type of light-fueled molecular transformations responsible for photosynthesis, vision and the ozone layer.

Getting to Know the Microbes that Drive Climate Change

A new understanding of the microbes and viruses in the thawing permafrost in Sweden may help scientists better predict the pace of climate change. Microbes have significant influence over global warming, primarily through the production of – or consumption of – methane, and new details about these microscopic beings’ genetics is now available, thanks to a trio of studies from a project co-led by researchers at The Ohio State University.

DE Leon Receives Early Career Research Award to Investigate Diamond's Fundamental Properties

The Department of Energy has named Nathalie de Leon, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Princeton University, as a recipient of a 2018 Early Career Research Program award.