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 12 September 2023
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CommUnique will soon be the DOE Office of Science Research News Update! Be sure to look for the new title in our next newsletter. |
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Imagine 60 extremely high-powered laser beams all aiming at a 1-millimeter ball. They blast into it from 216 feet away. The impact imposes extreme pressures on the ball, which is made up of specific isotopes of hydrogen. The ball implodes, collapsing in on itself at 360 kilometers per second. A controlled fusion reaction ignites. It mimics the very process that powers the sun.
But despite the presence of the lasers and the ball, that’s not what usually happens. Researchers on the OMEGA experiment want to find out why. Fusion could provide a sustainable energy source here on Earth if we can figure out how to start and maintain it.
Learn more about how research on plasma viscosity could inform the work towards producing energy from fusion.
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Muons: Scientists on the Muon g-2 experiment at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced a brand-new measurement of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment. It is far more precise than previous measurements. This measurement will help scientists discern whether and not it is a sign of physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics. |
Graphite: Graphite is the 3D material made of carbon found in pencils; graphene is a 2D material made of short stacks of carbon. A team led by researchers from the University of Washington found a way to make graphite have some of the same special properties as graphene. They think other types of 3D or bulk materials may be able to take on properties of their 2D counterparts. |
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Anti-ferromagnets: Ferromagnets are materials that contain iron and will stick to magnets. Anti-ferromagnets don’t respond to changes in magnetic fields the way that ferromagnets do. A team of researchers that included scientists from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory found an effect in anti-ferromagnets that could have important applications in devices that require very precise and very fast motion control. |
Strong and lightweight: Scientists from the University of Connecticut, Columbia University, and DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory developed a new material that combines DNA and glass. The researchers made a structure out of DNA and coated it in glass, making it extremely strong and lightweight. They used the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, a DOE Office of Science user facility. |
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Enzyme roadmap: A team led by researchers at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used X-rays and neutrons to map every atom, chemical bond, and electrical charge inside of a key enzyme. This enzyme belongs to a metabolic pathway that cancer cells overuse to reproduce. It could help develop new cancer drugs that cut off the supply of resources to cancer cells. The study used the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor, both DOE Office of Science user facilities. |
Demons: A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found evidence of a type of particle predicted 67 years ago. This particle is called a demon and comes about when electrons in a solid combine to form a composite particle that is massless, neutral, and doesn’t interact with light. Scientists have speculated this particle could play an important role in the behavior of many types of metals. |
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The Office of Science posted 21 new highlights between 7/24/23 and 9/11/23.
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Cancer treatments: The isotope radium-223 can destroy cancer cells. The Food and Drug Administration has approved radium-223 for treating prostate cancer patients whose cancer has spread to their bones. However, treatments need to be able to target cancer cells even more precisely. Researchers at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory investigated the chemistry of radium. They looked at how it interacts with two different binding molecules, which are used in cancer therapy. This work could expand the use of radium-223 in cancer treatments. |
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Vox: Why a “room-temperature superconductor” would be a huge deal
Scientists in South Korea claimed to have found a superconductor (a material that conducts electricity with no loss to heat) that works at room temperature, but many scientists were skeptical. Sinéad Griffin, a physicist at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, developed a computer model of the material.
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Wired: The winds that doomed Lahaina
Ruby Leung of DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory discussed the role that climate change played in the devastating wildfires in Hawai'i.
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National Labs Win R&D 100 Awards
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The R&D 100 Awards are often referred to as “the Oscars of Innovation.” This year, we’re proud that DOE national laboratories received 48 R&D 100 Awards, including several special recognition and professional awards. The technologies awarded ranged from a simulator for neuromorphic computing that mimics the brain to a hot roll process for producing certain types of magnets. Check out the press releases from DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ames National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for more information on the awards given to the Office of Science laboratories. |
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Improving Laboratories through Automation
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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. 110: 12 September 2023
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