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7 March 2022
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For as long as researchers have applied artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, they’ve had an insatiable demand to manage and store big data. Use of AI – an iterative process in which algorithms train computers to recognize patterns in data – has skyrocketed over the past decade. It will continue to contribute even more to science and society while accelerating demand for, and innovation in, storage and memory.
Now, researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, and Micron, a Boise, Idaho, memory and storage semiconductor company, are developing an advanced memory system to support AI for scientific computing.
Read more about how this partnership will help assess technologies for computer memory that could be used for DOE Office of Science projects that use AI.
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Researchers from DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Heidelberg University in Germany have vastly increased the speed of imaging infected cells. Using a microscopic imaging technique called soft X-ray tomography, they’re able to gather data in minutes that requires weeks with other methods. This technique gives scientists a faster way to examine how cells respond to infections and medications. |
When artificial intelligence programs gain knowledge, they tend to ‘forget’ information they have already learned. New research from Purdue University, DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and their partners offers a way for computer chips to dynamically rewire themselves. This discovery could help scientists develop AI that learns more over time. |
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Most soil viruses infect bacteria and play an important role in maintaining microbial populations. Researchers from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and their partners used three DOE Office of Science user facilities to unearth previously unknown soil viruses from samples in Washington, Iowa, and Kansas. In drier climates, they found fewer but more diverse soil microbes. |
Algae have two main states for the cycle of their cells: a state in which cells divide and one in which they rest. Michigan State University researchers at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory have found the protein that flips the switch between states in a specific algae. In addition to improving processes for developing biofuels, this finding could help inform cancer research, which involves regulation of the cell cycle. |
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Bacteria break down lactose to make yogurt and sugar to make beer. Researchers at Northwestern University, DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and LanzaTech have harnessed bacteria to break down waste carbon dioxide and make valuable industrial chemicals. The new carbon-negative process could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 160 percent compared to conventional processes. |
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The Office of Science posted four new highlights between 2/23/22 and 3/7/22.
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When cooled to very low temperatures, superconducting materials allow electricity to flow without resistance. Scientists from DOE’s Berkeley Lab used the supercomputers at two DOE Office of Science user facilities to research superconductors. They found that negative particles in the superconductors interact strongly with the smallest units of light in them. This interaction leads to sudden changes in the superconducting materials’ behavior. Analyzing this interaction will expand scientists’ knowledge of how a certain type of copper-based superconductor works. |
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NBC: Global health has improved for decades. Climate change could change that.
Climate change is already a risk to public health that will only increase into the future, according to a new report from the International Panel on Climate Change. This article quotes Brian O’Neill from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory about how climate change could reverse progress.
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COVID-19 in the Classroom: Simulating the Spread
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Knowing how viral particles – like those that cause COVID-19 – spread through a room could help inform engineers about the most effective ways to improve ventilation. A team led by researchers at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory used supercomputers at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Leadership Computing Faculty to model how those particles move through an elementary school classroom. The traditional arrangement of the HVAC outlet and classroom door on opposite walls creates “dead zones” in the air. In these dead zones, air moved so little that aerosol particles that can carry the virus lingered. In contrast, placing the HVAC unit and classroom door on the same wall reduced these dead zones and made ventilation more effective. The team is now in the process of modeling air flow on moving buses, trains, and other vehicles.
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Video: Science 101 - What is X-Ray Light?
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DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory has a series of Science 101 videos, which provide plain-language explanations for major scientific topics. In the Science 101: What is X-Ray Light? video, scientists Jessica McChesney and Gilberto Fabbris explain what X-ray light is and how they use it at DOE's Advanced Photon Source user facility. |
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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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