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

Major Advance in ‘Synthetic Biochemistry’ Holds Promise for Industrial Products and Biofuels

UCLA biochemists have devised a way to convert sugar into a variety of useful chemical compounds without using cells, which could lead to the production of biofuels and new pharmaceuticals.

Study Finds Unexpected Long-Range Particle Interactions

A team of researchers at MIT have found a new kind of long-range interaction between particles, in a liquid medium, that is based entirely on their motion.

UW-led Field Project Watching Clouds From a Remote Island Off Antarctica

Clouds play a key role, influencing the transfer of heat and light to the surface, but knowledge of these clouds’ properties and their impacts on the surface is hazy.

Stanford Scientists Improve Perovskite Solar-Cell Absorbers by Giving Them a Squeeze

Stanford University scientists have found that adding pressure could improve the performance of solar cells made of perovskites, a promising photovoltaic material.

New Material Combines Useful and Typically Incompatible Properties

Most materials, too, are capable of being only one thing at a time, but a team of engineers and physicists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have created an entirely new material in which completely contradictory properties can coexist.

Study Involving CU-Boulder Shows Fertilizer Can Be Made From Sunlight

A group of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden and involving the University of Colorado Boulder and Utah State University has developed a new, eco-friendly method to produce ammonia, the main ingredient of fertilizer, using light.

Theorists Smooth the Way to Solving One of Quantum Mechanics Oldest Problems

Theoretical chemists at Princeton University have pioneered a strategy for modeling quantum friction, or how a particle’s environment drags on it, a vexing problem in quantum mechanics since the birth of the field.

Printing Metal in Midair

Increasing demand for flexible, wearable electronics, sensors, antennas and biomedical devices has led a team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to innovate an eye-popping new way of printing complex metallic architectures – as though they are seemingly suspended in midair.

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Chemistry Researchers Unveil New, Detailed Images of Initial Stages of DNA Transcription

An unprecedented molecular view of the critical early events in gene expression, a process essential for all life, has been provided by researchers at Georgia State University, the University of California at Berkeley and Northwestern University.

Researchers Find Unexpected Magnetic Effect

A new and unexpected magnetic effect in a topological insulator made of Bi2SE3 layers with a EuS layer has taken MIT researchers by surprise and could open up a new pathway to advanced electronic devices and even robust quantum computer architecture.

New Microbiome Center to Combine UChicago, MBL and Argonne Expertise

The University of Chicago, the Marine Biological Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory announced on May 13 a new partnership called The Microbiome Center, which will combine the three institutions’ efforts to understand the identity and function of microbes across environments.

Scientists Develop Synchronized Molecular Motors

An international team of scientists led by physicist Saw-Wai Hla of Ohio University has created molecular motors that can communicate and synchronize their movements.