News Releases

Homes and public places where people smoke may have high levels of harmful trace metals from cigarettes, even after smoking stops, Berkeley Lab researchers have found. These metals include cadmium, arsenic, and chromium, and the levels may be above safety limits set by California.

 

Scientists have the first direct evidence that the powerful magnetic fields created in off-center collisions of atomic nuclei induce an electric current in “deconfined” nuclear matter. The study used measurements of how charged particles are deflected when they emerge from the collisions. The study provides proof that the magnetic fields exist and offers a new way to measure electrical conductivity in quark-gluon plasma.

A paper in the journal Science Advances describes how the moving parts of a particular plant protein control whether plants can grow and make energy-intensive products such as oil — or instead put in place a series of steps to conserve precious resources. The study focuses specifically on how the molecular machinery is regulated by a molecule that rises and falls with the level of sugar — plants’ main energy source.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that a protein responsible for the synthesis of a key plant material evolved much earlier than suspected. This new research explored the origin and evolution of the biochemical machinery that builds lignin, a structural component of plant cell walls with significant impacts on the clean energy industry.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing battery technologies to fight climate change in two ways, by expanding the use of renewable energy and capturing airborne carbon dioxide. ORNL researchers recently created and tested two different formulations for batteries that store renewable energy; when the energy is later used, an electrochemical reaction converts industrial carbon dioxide emissions into a solid form that has the potential to be used in other products.

A team led by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored training strategies for one of the largest artificial intelligence models to date with help from Frontier, the world’s fastest supercomputer.The findings could help guide training for a new generation of AI models for scientific research.