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

ORNL Scientists Show Charged Salts Can Extract Specific Central Lanthanide Elements

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers made a molecule that could selectively bind to metals in the middle of the lanthanide series. The accomplishment proves selective extraction of central lanthanides is possible and eventually could provide future materials for technologies such as strong magnets in wind turbines.

Nature-Inspired Nanotubes That Assemble Themselves, With Precision

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a family of nature-inspired polymers that, when placed in water, spontaneously assemble into hollow crystalline nanotubes.

Platinum Catalyst Savings on Any Support

New, inexpensive, and more efficient industrial catalysts for fuel processing and chemical manufacture could emerge from new studies, carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, into the different ways in which the active metal sites in a catalyst can be prepared when the catalyst metal is on an active or an inert support material.

Novel Water-Removal Technique Boosts Performance of Carbon Nanomaterials

New research illuminating water’s critical role in forming catalysts for oxygen reduction in materials has revealed the key to designing next-generation carbon nanomaterials with enhanced performance for fuel cells and batteries.

NSLS-II User Profiles: Pankaj Sarin

Pankaj Sarin, an assistant professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Oklahoma State University, traveled to Brookhaven Lab recently to conduct research at the X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XPD) beamline. He and his group studied ceramic materials that can withstand extremely high temperatures and may be used to protect spacecraft during re-entry, descent, and landing.

Unlocking the Secrets of Gene Expression

Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientist Eva Nogales and her team have made a significant breakthrough in our understanding of how our molecular machinery finds the right DNA to copy, showing with unprecedented detail the role of a powerhouse transcription factor known as TFIID.

Moving Microswimmers With Tiny Swirling Flows

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a way to use a microscopic swirling flow to rapidly clear a circle of tiny bacteria or swimming robots.

Physicist Tyler Abrams Models Lithium Erosion in Tokamaks

Abrams conducted the research as a doctoral student in the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics substantially based at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

New Carbon Capture Membrane Boasts CO2 Highways

A new, highly permeable carbon capture membrane developed by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could lead to more efficient ways of separating carbon dioxide from power plant exhaust, preventing the greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.

Replacement for Silicon Devices Looms Big with ORNL Discovery

Two-dimensional electronic devices could inch closer to their ultimate promise of low power, high efficiency and mechanical flexibility with a processing technique developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Meet Intern Cecilia Osorio: Merging Multiscale Images at NSLS-II

Cecilia Osorio, a 20-year-old sophomore from California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB), and current intern with the Office of Educational Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is tackling a significant software challenge at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II).

‘Disruptive Device’ Brings Xenon-NMR to Fragile Materials

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a device that enables NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy, coupled with a powerful molecular sensor, to analyze molecular interactions in viscous solutions and fragile materials such as liquid crystals.