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December 10, 2012
Unraveling the complexities of spin-orbital coupling could someday lead to new high-temperature superconductors and workable quantum computers via an elusive phase of matter called a “quantum spin liquid.” Two groups of researchers utilizing x-ray beamlines at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon are delving into the new physics required to develop just such a material.
November 30, 2012
The key to developing a better and more efficient battery technology may lie in designing and building batteries not from the top down, but from the bottom up — beginning at the nanoscale. A team of researchers has taken such an approach by developing titanium dioxide (TiO2) electrodes that can actually improve their own electrochemical performance as they are used.
November 20, 2012
The human enterovirus 71 (or EV71) can, in infants and young children, cause polio-like paralysis and fatal encephalitis. The virus is now considered an emerging threat to public health. By unveiling the crystal structure of EV71, researchers working at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source have taken the essential first step in finding ways to prevent the virus from creating fatal disease, providing strong impetus for therapeutics and drug design to prevent and cure EV71 infection.
November 19, 2012
The nucleic acid RNA is an essential part of the critical process by which the cells in our bodies manufacture proteins. Utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, researchers investigated the unique folding behavior of ribozyme, which is an RNA that acts as a catalyst. Their work provides a path for predicting the structures of newly discovered noncoding RNAs, and will ultimately enhance understanding of how noncoding RNAs take on important biological functions.
November 15, 2012
In many physical processes, substances undergo phase transitions, where they are transformed from one state (solid, liquid, or gas) to another. Utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, researchers investigated interactions between engineered multivalent substances. Understanding this research will be important in guiding future studies to further evaluate the role of phase transitions in biological systems.
November 12, 2012
Research at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source provides new insights about a material that might form the basis for an alternative to conventional silicon-based semiconductor technology.
November 9, 2012
Research at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source has shown that by using complex oxides with correlated electrons confined to quantum well geometry, a new dimension can be added to the mix, moving us closer to everyday electronics that become smaller and faster than they are today.
October 9, 2012
A method for neutralizing influenza B viruses has been discovered by researchers working at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source and two other U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science synchrotron light sources. Their breakthrough results pave the way for development of a universal vaccine for all influenza A and B viruses.
October 10, 2012
The reliability and longevity of electronics is critical to our world that is dependent upon Internet and telecommunications technology. Research at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon is bringing new information about thermal fatigue in environmentally friendly, lead-free solder joints. These insights bring scientists a step closer to developing useful models for making reliability predictions about solder-joint failure in this important new material.
September 24, 2012
Technologies such as microelectronics and lithography require nanoscale polymer films that sit on other materials. An understanding of the interplay between the dynamics of thin film and underlying substrate is crucial in determining the appropriate materials to be utilized for new and improved applications. Experiments at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source provide important new insights about thin polymer films on various substrates.
September 11, 2012
Drug resistance has become an increasing problem in the treatment of tuberculosis, posing a significant challenge for combating a disease that has been a leading cause of death worldwide for more than 5,000 years. Utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source, researchers unlocked the secrets of a protein that plays an important role in tuberculosis’s multidrug resistance, helping guide future research toward new ways of controlling this disease.
September 7, 2012
Metals such as copper, zinc, and iron are important nutrients and are technologically useful. More than one-third of all proteins are thought to bind metals, so knowing which metals are bound and how that binding changes in response to the environment could have big implications. Researchers working at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source developed a new experimental approach that helps researchers identify which proteins bind metals and what roles they play in life.
August 27, 2012
Researchers working at U.S. Department of Energy facilities at Argonne National Laboratory including the Advanced Photon Source, have synthesized and characterized monodisperse gold-core silver-shell nanoparticles using a bio-template that has potential as a water soluble catalyst for creating fuel from biomass such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps, yard clippings, wood chips, and even municipal solid waste.
August 21, 2012
Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Nanjing University have demonstrated the principles of a novel and advanced design of x-ray Fabry-Perot resonators, which are shown illustrated to have extremely high finesse, sharp tails, and ultrahigh contrast and can achieve unprecedented high resolution and (temporal) coherence, for use with hard x-rays at large incidence angles.
August 14, 2012
Hydrogen is a clean fuel, but how can we generate hydrogen in large quantities and in a “green” fashion? One way is biological photosynthesis, which includes an efficient reaction step that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen with the help of certain catalysts. Working at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, a team of Argonne scientists has determined the structure of one such catalyst, a complex cobalt oxide.
August 9, 2012
New techniques for imaging with unprecedented detail and resolution the complex, tree-like branching nature of neuronal networks have been developed by researchers utilizing by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source, opening the door to three-dimensional tomographic reconstructions, a vital tool for studying the brain and nervous system.
August 2, 2012
Nature makes science fun by never failing to surprise. The bond-valence model has for years been used to relate the number of nearest neighbors of the central atom of a molecule or crystal and the interatomic distances between the atoms to the valence state. Now research at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory shows that gaining valence information requires a lot more work when it comes to mixed-valence systems.
July 6, 2012
The workings of a molecular switch that activates plant hormones, tags them for storage, or marks them for destruction have been revealed by an international collaboration of researchers carrying out experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
June 25, 2012
The field of organofluorine chemistry has been shaken up by the findings of a research team whose experiments at two U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science facilities including the Advanced Photon Source are challenging some long-held theoretical assumptions.
June 18, 2012
Proteins that are found in nature, but do not normally bind the influenza virus, can be engineered to act as broad-spectrum antiviral agents against a variety of flu virus strains, including the H1N1 pandemic influenza, according to research at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
June 14, 2012
In biological systems, membranes are as important as water. They form the barrier between our cells, where we perform the chemical reactions of life, and the outside environment. New research at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory promises to change the way we think about lipid-protein interactions and to open new avenues for the study of important membrane-driven processes.
May 18, 2012
What makes bird feathers so colorful? Research at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source reveals the complex three-dimensional nanostructures responsible for non-iridescent colors in bird feathers. These nanostructures could serve as a source of new photonic devices such as remote controls, optical data recorders, and much more.
May 16, 2012
Multiferroics have attracted increased interest due to their potential use in technologies such as improved electronic memory chips and highly sensitive magnetic field sensors. Researchers utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne have unmasked the exact source of the purported ferroelectric behavior in a multiferroic material of great technological interest, overturning the conventional wisdom.
May 8, 2012
A team of physicists employed high-energy x-rays from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory to penetrate the everyday mystery of a splash, revealing previously hidden structures and dynamics.
April 11, 2012
Researchers utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory used high-resolution x-ray scattering to demonstrate how pressure can be used to dial-in different magnetic states in a two-dimensional magnetic material, offering new insights into a possible path to undiscovered exotic materials with a range of controllable properties.
February 24, 2012
Researchers working at two synchrotron light sources, including the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory have demonstrated unexpected superconductivity in a type of compounds called iron selenium chalcogenides.
February 10, 2012
A better understanding of gene function in model plant and animal systems could be used to develop useful traits in livestock and crop plants, and might someday lead to developments in stem cell research and new treatments for human genetic disorders. Those are the projected outcomes of experiments carried out at two U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science synchrotron x-ray facilities, including the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
January 25, 2012
Understanding the high-pressure behavior of the transition-metal monoxide FeO is important for both solid-state physics and Earth science. Despite considerable study over the past 30 years, the origin of the well-known and important ferroic transition has been not well understood. Now the first imaging of this transition has been reported by researchers utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
January 6, 2012
The development of polymer nanostructures and nanoscale devices for a wide variety of applications could emerge from new information about the interplay between nanoscale interfaces in polymeric materials, thanks to research carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
January 3, 2012
The highest-pressure vibrational spectrum of iron has been obtained by researchers working at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, providing important new clues to the behavior of iron in the Earth’s core.
