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 29 June 2021
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CommUnique provides a biweekly review of recent Office of Science Communications and Public Affairs work, including feature stories, science highlights, social media posts, and more. This is only a sample of our recent work promoting research done at universities, national labs, and user facilities throughout the country. Please note that some links may expire after time.
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Bacteria have the ability to “read” viral DNA and adapt accordingly. Back in 2008, that bizarre process attracted the attention of Jennifer Doudna, a University of California, Berkeley researcher who also did research at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She and Jill Banfield, another University of California, Berkeley researcher, submitted a proposal to study this mechanism to the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Berkeley Lab. Their resulting discovery laid the groundwork for the creation of the CRISPR-Cas9 method of gene editing. Years later, this method has revolutionized biology and medicine. In 2020, Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier jointly received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing CRISPR-Cas9.
Doudna’s research may be among the most prominent LDRD success stories, but it’s far from the only one. The LDRD program at DOE’s national laboratories has supported hundreds of projects on the cutting edge of their fields.
Read more about the LDRD program and the impact it has made in science and innovation.
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The Office of Science posted 70 news pieces between 6/15/2021 and 6/29/2021.
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Scientists at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have revealed the molecular details of how a key protein from the virus that causes COVID-19 links up to form a paired-structure with a human protein. Understanding how the two proteins interact could aid in developing therapeutic drug treatments that prevent its formation.
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Researchers from Texas A&M University have developed a metal-free battery that breaks down on demand. The discovery marks significant progress toward creating sustainable, recyclable batteries that reduce our dependence on critical materials such as cobalt.
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When lithium ions flow in and out of a battery electrode during charging and discharging, the battery’s voltage fades. Researchers at DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have measured this process with unprecedented detail. This could help scientists figure out how to create electrodes that don’t have this problem.
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Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Engineering have developed a soft material that could be 3D printed to be used in health care. Their material, called an elastomer, is both stretchable and 10,000 times softer than conventional rubber. The scientists used the NSLS-II DOE user facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory to analyze the material.
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To spot rare neutrino events, detectors on the surface must be able to accurately spot neutrinos within a huge number of particles streaming from space. Physicists from DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and their partners have developed a new technique to tone down the cosmic noise in the MicroBooNE detector at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
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A material created by Caltech scientists has tiny structures inspired by the shape of cactus spines. This design allows it to gather drinkable water from the air both day and night using two different water collecting techniques. The work was supported by the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub. |
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The Office of Science posted four new highlights between 6/15/2021 and 6/29/2021.
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Phosphorus is a building block of all living cells. In the earth’s current environment, most phosphorous occurs as phosphate. In ancient oceans and soils, another form—phosphite—was also abundant. Microbes can gain energy by converting phosphite to phosphate. However, most models of the phosphorus cycle leave out possible biological activity that cycles phosphorous in this way. A study from the University of California, Berkeley suggests that the ability to use phosphite in energy metabolism is widespread in nature. It expands scientists’ understanding of biological cycling of chemical elements. |
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Leaf-cutter ants tend gardens of fungi that deconstruct plant biomass. This process converts lipids in the leaves into lipids the ants use. A team that included researchers from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory studied how lipid content varied at the top, middle, and bottom regions of these fungal gardens. They found that the leaves and fungal garden components were enriched with different lipids. This can help scientists develop microbial systems that produce useful compounds from plants. |
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Because most electronic devices deliberately charge batteries at slower, controlled rates, it can take several hours to fully recharge a lithium-ion battery. Safer, faster-charging batteries could increase consumer adoption of electric vehicles. Scientists at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of California, San Diego used the Spallation Neutron Source (a DOE user facility) to analyze lithium vanadium oxide. They revealed that the material can rapidly charge and discharge energy without growing the “dendrites” that can cause short circuits in batteries.
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Physics World: Solving the proton puzzle
This article describes the efforts to solve the discrepancy between different sets of results to measure the proton’s radius. It mentions an upgrade to the Proton Radius Experiment at DOE’s Jefferson Lab.
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The Office of Science sent out 121 tweets between 6/15/2021 and 6/29/2021.
Here are the two most popular:
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SciPEP’s Communicating the Future Conference Agenda Available Now!
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The Communicating the Future conference organized by the Science Public Engagement Partnership between the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the Kavli Foundation is coming up soon! We've just announced the full agenda, with 9 plenary sessions, 13 deeper dive discussion sessions, and 2 live poster sessions with a combined total of 70 posters. There’s also several opportunities for networking and brainstorming about the future of basic science communication. Be sure to sign up now for this free, virtual conference on July 27-28.
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Video: Basics2Breakthroughs: Harnessing quantum mechanics for real world applications
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Research at the DOE’s national laboratories start with basic science that leads to breakthroughs that have changed the world. Berkeley Lab’s Basics2Breakthroughs video series focuses on early career scientists discussing their research and what they hope for the future in that research. Check out Berkeley Lab Postdoc Researcher Mekena Metcalf talk about her work to control quantum systems with electromagnetic waves. This work could allow scientists to use quantum algorithms for high-performance computing, develop accurate sensors to measure elusive properties of the universe, and teleport quantum information from one facility to another.
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