- Number 330 |
- February 7, 2011
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A hidden magnetic configuration in manganite thin films
Complex oxide materials are intriguing because their properties span an enormous range of distinct physical states, including conductors, insulators, superconductors, ferromagnets, anti-ferromagnets, ferro-electrics, piezo electrics, and multiferroics. Part of the attraction of these materials is that their properties can be modified by introducing a mixed valence state — that is, a composition that includes metal ions with more than one oxidation state.
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Coaxing bacteria to build cement prisons for old radioactive waste
Researchers at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, and other national labs and universities are working together to test an inexpensive method to sequester old strontium-90 contamination in the ground where it lies.
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Laboratories, universities, unite to build radioecology expertise
With the renewed and growing interest in nuclear energy, radioecology experts at DOE's Savannah River National Laboratory recognized an immediate need to build the pool of radioecology expertise both here and abroad.
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How now, inside the cow? 30,000 enzymes for biofuel
Cows eat grass—this has been observed for eons. But now, through massive-scale DNA sequencing at DOE's Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists have characterized thousands of genes from plant-digesting microbes isolated from the cow rumen for improvements in biofuels production.
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Even algae get stressed
Typically pampered to obtain fast, high-yield reactions, blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, rarely face real-world conditions in the laboratory; so, scientists from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and three universities conducted a large-scale analysis of an algae under 33 stressful environmental conditions.
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New tool may help unravel secrets of disease
Advancements in understanding rotational motion in living cells may shed light on the causes of deadly diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, according to scientists at the DOE’s Ames Laboratory.