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

Tiny Particles Have Outsize Impact on Storm Clouds and Precipitation

Tiny particles fuel powerful storms and influence weather much more than has been appreciated, according to a study in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Science.

Scientists Discover Material Ideal for Smart Photovoltaic Windows

Researchers at Berkeley Lab, a Department of Energy (DOE) national lab, discovered that a form of perovskite, one of the hottest materials in solar research currently due to its high conversion efficiency, works surprisingly well as a stable and photoactive semiconductor material that can be reversibly switched between a transparent state and a non-transparent state, without degrading its electronic properties.

New Discovery Could Improve Organic Solar Cell Performance

Scientists who are members of the Center for Computational Study of Excited-State Phenomena in Energy Materials (C2SEPEM) a new energy materials-related science center based at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) unravel the mystery of a multiplier mechanism in an organic crystal.

Researchers Reveal How Microbes Cope in Phosphorus-Deficient Tropical Soil

A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has uncovered how certain soil microbes cope in a phosphorus-poor environment to survive in a tropical ecosystem. Their novel approach could be applied in other ecosystems to study various nutrient limitations and inform agriculture and terrestrial biosphere modeling.

All in the Family: Focused Genomic Comparisons

A team led by researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and the DOE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), report the first results of a long-term plan to sequence, annotate and analyze the genomes of 300 Aspergillus fungi.

Electrons in the Water

Argonne researchers and their collaborators sought to understand what happens when an electron is injected into water. They found that the electron binds with the water; however, its binding energy is much smaller than previously thought.

Superconducting X-Ray Laser Takes Shape in Silicon Valley

The first cryomodule has arrived at SLAC. Linked together and chilled to nearly absolute zero, 37 of these segments will accelerate electrons to almost the speed of light and power an upgrade to the nation’s only X-ray free-electron laser facility.

Coupling Experiments to Theory to Build a Better Battery

A team of researchers led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported that a new lithium-sulfur battery component allows a doubling in capacity compared to a conventional lithium-sulfur battery, even after more than 100 charge cycles at high current densities, which are key performance metrics for their adoption in electric vehicles (EVs) and in aviation.

The Biggest Little Detectors

Two test detectors being installed and tested at CERN are the prototypes of the much larger detectors planned for DUNE, the biggest international science project ever conducted in the United States and hosted by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Read more about The Biggest Little Detectors

DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar Visits Berkeley Lab

Paul Dabbar’s visit on Jan. 18 focused on the Lab’s user facilities and industry engagement programs. He toured the Integrative Genomics Building construction site, JBEI, NERSC, the Molecular Foundry, and the Advanced Light Source, and heard presentations on the proposed science to be conducted at the Lab’s Biocampus site, and high-performance computing.

On the Rebound

New research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and Stanford University has found that palladium nanoparticles can repair atomic dislocations in their crystal structure.

DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar Visits SLAC

Paul Dabbar, the Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science, visited SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Jan. 17 for a day of tours and discussions on how the lab is driving scientific innovation. His visit included meetings with SLAC and Stanford leadership, as well as researchers and scientists involved in the lab’s X-ray science, particle physics and astrophysics, technology innovation and applied energy programs.