Pulse radiolysis experiments help reveal how unpaired electrons at one end of a molecule can initiate chemistry at ‘distant’ locations. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory helped measure how unpaired electrons in atoms at one end of a molecule can drive chemical reactivity on the molecule’s opposite side. As described in a paper recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, this work, in collaboration with  Princeton University, shows how molecules containing these so-called free radicals…

Findings may point to a previously unknown influence of the strong force—and a way to measure its local fluctuations. Given the choice of three different “spin” orientations, certain particles emerging from collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), an atom smasher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, appear to have a preference. As described in a paper just published in Nature by RHIC’s STAR collaboration, the results reveal a preference in global spin alignment of particles called phi mesons….

Findings provide evidence for ‘deconfinement’ and insight into seething temperature of the hottest matter on Earth. Scientists using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to study some of the hottest matter ever created in a laboratory have published their first data showing how three distinct variations of particles called upsilons sequentially “melt,” or dissociate, in the hot goo. The results, just published in Physical Review Letters, come from RHIC’s STAR detector, one of two large particle tracking experiments at this U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)…

Study is first to document reefwide dynamics of viruses that infect coral symbionts. The breathtaking colors of reef-building corals come from photosynthetic algae that live inside the corals. A groundbreaking three-year study has found that viruses may increase their attacks on these symbiotic algae during marine heat waves. Few studies have examined how heat and other forms of stress affect coral virus outbreaks, and fewer still have looked at the reef-scale dynamics of those outbreaks. The study published online today…

Using advanced in-situ spectroscopy techniques, scientists at Binghamton University and Brookhaven Lab gain new insights into catalytic oxidation. Researchers at Binghamton University led research partnering with the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory—to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions. They were able…

Pulse radiolysis experiments at Brookhaven Lab revealed rapid reactivity that has never been observed before. Hydrogen, the simplest element on Earth, is a clean fuel that could revolutionize the energy industry. Accessing hydrogen, however, is not a simple or clean process at all. Pure hydrogen is extremely rare in nature, and practical methods to produce it currently rely on fossil fuels. But if scientists find the right chemical catalyst, one that can split the hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules…

Scientists decode the chemical profile of tantalum surface oxides to understand loss and improve qubit performance. Whether it’s baking a cake, building a house, or developing a quantum device, the quality of the end product significantly depends on its ingredients or base materials. Researchers working to improve the performance of superconducting qubits, the foundation of quantum computers, have been experimenting using different base materials in an effort to increase the coherent lifetimes of qubits. The coherence time is a measure…

Frank Geurts named co-spokesperson of the STAR collaboration. Rice University physicist Frank Geurts is one of two scientists elected to lead the world’s longest-running nuclear physics experiment at a particle collider facility, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Together with Brookhaven Lab physicist Lijuan Ruan, Geurts will serve a three-year term as co-spokesperson for the STAR collaboration. This group of over 740 scientists from 74 institutions across 15 countries uses a 1,200-ton, building-sized instrument ⎯ the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC, or…

KIT researchers use deep learning for non-invasive localization of ventricular extrasystoles. Worldwide, cardiovascular diseases cause more than 17 million deaths per year. Of these, about 25 percent are deemed sudden cardiac deaths. They may be caused by ventricular tachycardias, i.e. quick cardiac dysrhythmias from the ventricles that are frequently caused by ventricular extrasystoles. These additional heartbeats from the heart chambers feel like skipped heartbeats. Normal heartbeat is controlled by the sino-atrial node in the left atrium. Extrasystoles, by contrast, are…

KIT researchers use deep learning to enhance the spatial and temporal resolution of coarse precipitation maps. Strong precipitation may cause natural disasters, such as floodings or landslides. Global climate models are required to forecast the frequency of these extreme events, which is expected to change as a result of climate change. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed a first method based on artificial intelligence (AI), by means of which the precision of coarse precipitation fields generated…

Data from heavy ion collisions give new insight into electromagnetic properties of quark-gluon plasma. A new analysis by the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle collider at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, provides the first direct evidence of the imprint left by what may be the universe’s most powerful magnetic fields on “deconfined” nuclear matter. The evidence comes from measuring the way differently charged particles separate when emerging from collisions of atomic nuclei…

Room-temperature, ambient-pressure conversion reaction for carbon monoxide could be part of a larger cascade strategy for efficiently turning atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into liquid fuel. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) have demonstrated the selective conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into methanol using a cascade reaction strategy. The two-part process is powered by sunlight, occurs at room temperature and at ambient pressure, and employs a recyclable…

EIC project passes Critical Decision 3A (CD-3A), official OK to procure key components for building state-of-the-art collider. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science and Innovation has approved Critical Decision 3A (CD-3A) for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a state-of-the-art particle collider for nuclear physics research that will be located at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and built in partnership with DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). This milestone gives the project the formal go-ahead to purchase “long-lead procurements”…

Microstructure simulations reveal strong influence of elastic deformation on the charging behavior of layered oxides used as cathode of sodium-ion batteries. Research into new battery materials is aimed at optimizing their performance and lifetime and at reducing costs. Work is also underway to reduce the consumption of rare elements, such as lithium and cobalt, as well as toxicconstituents. Sodium-ion batteries are considered very promising in this respect. They are based on principles similar to those of lithium-ion batteries, but can…

KIT researchers are investigating climate change’s impact on groundwater resources and its follow-on effects. Earth’s climate system is heating up due to the atmosphere’s increased concentration of greenhouse gases, which limits the amount of heat that can be radiated away. The oceans absorb a substantial fraction of this heat, but soil and groundwater also act as heat sinks. However, little is known thus far about the effects Earth’s surface warming has on groundwater over space and time. “To close this…

Scientists demonstrated that a materials characterization technique can be successful at a new type of facility, and they used it to discover a hidden materials phase. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have created the first-ever atomic movies showing how atoms rearrange locally within a quantum material as it transitions from an insulator to a metal. With the help of these movies, the researchers discovered a new material phase that settles a yearslong scientific debate…

UFZ study demonstrates for the first time the toxicological relevance of chemical mixtures as they occur in humans. “In our everyday lives, we are exposed to a wide variety of chemicals that are distributed and accumulate in our bodies. These are highly complex mixtures that can affect bodily functions and our health,” says Prof Beate Escher, Head of the UFZ Department of Cell Toxicology and Professor at the University of Tübingen. “It is known from environmental and water studies that…

Experiments at KIT show virtually no PFAS emissions when household waste containing Fluoropolymers is incinerated according to European standards. In contrast to fluoropolymers, which are also referred to as “polymeric PFAS” and are considered to be non-mobile and non-bioaccumulative, used e.g. in medical products, semiconductors, aerospace, automotive and chemical processing, “low-molecular PFAS” are integrated in a wide range of dispersive consumer applications. They are found, for instance, as water-repellent impregnation in textiles, garments, paper (pizza boxes, burger boxes, baking backpaper)….

KIT researchers produce metamaterial with different extension and compression properties than conventional materials. With this material, the working group headed by Professor Martin Wegener at KIT’s Institute of Applied Physics (APH) has overcome a limitation of metamaterials. Lead author Dr. Yi Chen compares this with human communication and an effect known from the “telephone game”: When people communicate through a chain of intermediaries, the message received by the last person can be completely different than if the first and last…

UFZ researchers detect microscopic plastic particles on alpine glaciers with the help of mountaineers Nanoplastics – plastic particles smaller than 1 µm – are widely dispersed because of their low weight. A research team coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has now published an article in Scientific Reports that shows the extent to which glaciers at an altitude of more than 3,000 m in the Alps are polluted by nanoplastics. The researchers relied on citizen science to…