News Archive | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Supersonic Waves May Help Electronics Beat the Heat

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory made the first observations of waves of atomic rearrangements, known as phasons, propagating supersonically through a vibrating crystal lattice—a discovery that may dramatically improve heat transport in insulators and enable new strategies for heat management in future electronics devices.

The Incredible Shrinking Data

At Argonne National Laboratory’s Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Tom Peterka is developing a multivariate functional approximation tool that reduces a mass of data at the expense of just a bit of accuracy. He’s designing his new method with the flexibility to operate on a variety of supercomputer architectures, including DOE’s next-generation exascale machines.

The U. S. Department of Energy Announces $34 Million for Small Business Research and Development Grants

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced that the Department of Energy will award 219 grants totaling $34 million to 183 small businesses in 41 states. Funded through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, today’s selections are for Phase I research and development.

Teaming Up to Help Solve Complex Problems in Biology

Brookhaven Lab software engineer Arfath Pasha is part of a collaborative multi-lab project focused on advancing our knowledge of plants and microbes to optimize sustainable energy production and improve the environment.

Delegation from the House Science Committee visits Fermilab

On May 12, a delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology visited the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, touring R&D facilities and discussing the laboratory’s flagship neutrino research program.

X-ray Laser Reveals Ultrafast Dance of Liquid Water

An international team led by researchers at Stockholm University probed the movements of molecules in liquid water that occur in less than 100 millionths of a billionth of a second, or femtoseconds, in experiments with the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Scientists Turn X-ray Laser Into World’s Fastest Water Heater

Experiments at SLAC heated water from room temperature to 100,000 degrees Celsius in less than a millionth of a millionth of a second, producing an exotic state of water that could shed light on Earth’s most important liquid.

Centuries-old Foundry Process Finds New High-Tech Use

Researchers from Virginia Tech University are using neutrons at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to study cast aluminum lattice structures produced at lower cost by using 3D printed sand molds combined with traditional foundry melting and pouring techniques.

Living Large: Exploration of Diverse Bacteria Signals Big Advance for Gene Function Prediction

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), including researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), have developed a workflow that enables large-scale, genome-wide assays of gene importance across many conditions.

Quarks Feel the Pressure in the Proton

Inside every proton in every atom in the universe is a pressure cooker environment that surpasses the atom-crushing heart of a neutron star. That’s according to the first measurement of a mechanical property of subatomic particles, the pressure distribution inside the proton, which was carried out by scientists at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

Steven Cowley Named Director of DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Steven Cowley, a theoretical physicist and international authority on fusion energy, has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), effective July 1.

Producing Beneficial Propylene While Consuming a Major Greenhouse Gas

Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a catalyst for the reaction of carbon dioxide and propane that could help meet the demand for an important chemical building block used to manufacture plastics, textiles, electronics, and more.