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 20 March 2023
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The Early Career Research Program provides financial support that is foundational to early career investigators, enabling them to define and direct independent research in areas important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions. The Early Career Award Winner series provides awardees with an opportunity to explain the results of their research in their own words.
My work focuses on understanding the physics governing the second half of the age of the universe, using imaging data from large sky surveys. These sky surveys are undertaken over a period of many years with powerful telescopes. They let us ask questions like “Why has the universe’s expansion started to accelerate in the past ~7 billion years?” Current answers to this question point to “dark energy,” a dominant but mysterious energy component in the universe.
Learn how Rachel Mandelbaum used her Early Career award to support the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time’s effort to answer fundamental questions about the universe.
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Solar flares: Energetic electrons from a process that underlies solar flares have been detected for the first time in an experiment by researchers at DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University. Solar flares are explosive bursts of plasma particles that can disrupt satellites, cell phone service, and powerlines on Earth. |
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Moon telescope: Scientists at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are leading a new effort with NASA to land a radio telescope on the moon, called Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night). If successful, the project will mark the first step towards exploring an early era of cosmological history starting about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is providing key technical support. |
Earth’s outer core: The outer core of Earth is located 3,000 kilometers below the surface and is where the planet’s magnetic field is generated. A team including researchers from Arizona State University used the Advanced Photon Source DOE user facility to recreate the high pressure and temperature conditions in the outer core. In these conditions, they observed silicon-rich crystals resembling snow forming in an iron-hydrogen alloy liquid. |
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Bacteriophages: As pathogens evolve, conventional antibiotics become less effective. Scientists are keen to use the bacteria-killing techniques perfected by bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria. Researchers at DOE’s Berkeley Lab have developed a new genetic screening technique that can make studying bacteriophages faster and easier. |
Graphene: Physicists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have directly measured the fluid-like flow of electrons in graphene. It is the first time that scientists have made this measurement at nanometer resolution. The results could help scientists develop new, low-resistance materials that could conduct electricity more efficiently. |
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The Office of Science posted five new highlights between 3/7/23 and 3/20/23.
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Soils and forest warming: Soils contain twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. Scientists think that soils deeper than 20 centimeters account for about half of this stored carbon. Researchers at DOE’s Berkeley Lab, Dartmouth College, University of Zurich, and University of California, Berkeley, ran a field experiment where they artificially heated the soil. They found that five years of warming led to a significant reduction in the carbon stock in deep forest soils. These results provide evidence that climate change could lead to deep forest soils releasing carbon, which would further accelerate climate change. |
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New Yorker: Can AI treat mental illness?
This feature on the use of AI for mental health discusses a project at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility DOE user facility to help predict childhood anxiety.
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Neutron Sciences Help Investigate Potential Cancer Treatment
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A scientific instrument at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory could help create a noninvasive cancer treatment derived from a common tropical plant. Pancratistatin is a chemical compound found in the spider lily, a native Hawaiian flower. Unlike traditional treatments, it kills cancer cells while keeping healthy cells intact.
Until recently, pancratistatin’s workings have mystified scientists. But after conducting neutron experiments at the lab, students from the University of Windsor have gained fundamental insights into the mechanics of pancratistatin. This research could open new doors to much-improved cancer treatments. The researchers used both the Spallation Neutron Source and the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, both DOE Office of Science user facilities.
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Podcast: Who Cares About Quantum?
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Quantum is everywhere these days — in the news, on TV, in the titles of blockbuster action films — but what even is it? Why is it important to understand it?
With the support of the Office of Science, DOE’s Direct Current podcast got philosophical with quantum scientists Anna Grassellino from Fermilab and David Awschalom from Argonne National Lab. They discussed their brain-bending research, the massive impacts it could have on our lives, and the joy and frustration of chasing breakthroughs that can take decades to arrive.
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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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