DOE has granted Critical Decision 1 (CD-1) for the Electron-Ion Collider, a one-of-a-kind nuclear physics research facility to be built at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory. DOE’s approval of CD-1 provides the authorization to begin the project execution phase, starting with preliminary design.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; and their partners have found a new way to connect 2D materials to conventional electronic parts. This discovery will help make it easier to use 2D materials and further the miniaturization of components in electronics.

From 1979 to 2019, increases in greenhouse gases and reductions in human-generated aerosols triggered about a four-day delay in seasonal rainfall over tropical land and the Sahel, according to research from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. That lag could result in delayed crop production, exacerbated heat waves, and worsened wildfires.

While the prevailing hypothesis was that intense, wide-spread melting events in Greenland are causing much of its ice loss, research from the University of California, Irvine shows that they only account for a small portion of the ice sheet’s deterioration. Instead, most of the ice loss and resulting sea level rise is from more gradual, day-to-day processes.

Using powerful computers to simulate the solar atmosphere, researchers from DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory found that swirls and flashes of X-ray light in the sun’s outer atmosphere could be caused by globs of plasma emerging from the sun in ball shapes. They used NERSC, a DOE Office of Science user facility, for the simulations.

Fatty acids, compounds that provide benefits through diets rich in leafy greens and fish, can also be used in biofuels. Scientists at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered how to use bacteria to make one kind of fatty acid that can substitute for petroleum-based products.  

The isotope Aluminum-26 provides rare insight into the processes inside stars. The daughter isotope that Aluminum-26 decays into is in matter that carries the fingerprints of ancient stars. But Aluminum-26 is difficult to study in the laboratory. Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Surrey created an isotope of silicon that has a similar excited quantum state as Aluminum-26, allowing them to study it in more detail.

Forbes: Why you should care about federally funded science

This op-ed by Fermilab’s Don Lincoln describes how science funded by the federal government – particularly basic science – has formed the foundation for numerous innovations.

A beam of particles is a very useful tool. It can diagnose a disease, destroy a tumor, improve a chip, clean up dirty drinking water, scan containers for suspicious content, and much more. Check out this video featuring Sam Posen from DOE’s Fermilab describing how the Office of Science is a world leader in particle accelerator science and technology.