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20 September 2021
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The Office of Science posted 66 news pieces between 9/8/2021 and 9/20/2021.
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To study unconventional superconductors, scientists use simplified theoretical models. They developed a one-dimensional model of a key class of superconductors called cuprates. But for 20 years, scientists couldn’t carry out a key process in these models. Researchers at DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, and Clemson University recently solved that problem, lifting a big barrier to research. |
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Being able to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol fuel could lower greenhouse gas emissions. An international team led by DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory used the National Synchrotron Light Source II user facility to find the components and interactions needed to develop an industrial catalyst for this process. They’ve also laid out a chemical roadmap for the process.
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Creating and screening materials for specific purposes is time-consuming and inefficient. Coupling computer automation with an ink-jet printer, researchers at Caltech and Google have developed a high-throughput method of identifying new materials with interesting properties.
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Using perovskites in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) could make devices even more efficient. But perovskites had been too unstable to use in LEDs. Researchers from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory recently made stable perovskite nanocrystals that can be used in LEDs.
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Finding a low-cost, environmentally-friendly, large-scale system for storing energy would make it cheaper and easier to use renewable energy. Cornell University scientists have described how a certain microbe can take electrons into its system and metabolize them. This discovery could help them engineer a bacteria that uses electricity and carbon dioxide to make biofuels.
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The Office of Science posted three new highlights between 9/8/2021 and 9/20/2021.
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Nuclear power plants produce highly radioactive waste. While plant operators currently store this waste in pools and dry casks, it’s not a permanent solution. To safely store nuclear waste underground, scientists need to understand how it will chemically change over time. Research at Clemson University found that if operators process one such type of waste (neptunium dioxide) in a way that results in bigger grains, the waste dissolves less in water. This information could help managers develop better ways of storing waste.
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DOE Explains... Quantum Computing and Machine Learning
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Machine learning and quantum computing could radically change how researchers conduct science. Machine learning is the process of using computers to detect patterns in massive datasets and then making predictions based on what the computer learns from those patterns. Quantum computing may make it far easier to solve problems that even the most powerful supercomputers can’t do today. Learn more about both and what DOE’s Office of Science is doing to support research in these areas in the DOE Explains… entries on Machine Learning and Quantum Computing.
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Video: First-ever “Bedrock to Atmosphere” Climate Observatory
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The Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL), led by scientists at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is an unprecedented climate observatory located in the Upper Colorado River Basin. This collaborative research effort is a campaign to collect a vast array of measurements that will allow scientists to better understand the future of water in the West. Learn more in this video from Berkeley Lab.
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CommUnique provides a review of recent Office of Science Communications and Public Affairs stories and features. This is only a sample of our recent work promoting research done at universities, national labs, and user facilities throughout the country.
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Please see the CommUnique archive on Energy.gov for past issues.
No. 64: 20 September 2021
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