Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Left: Scanning electron microscope and X-ray (EDX) images of microbe consortia (yellow) and silica (blue). Right: transmission electron microscope image of microbe consortia with silica spheres of silica.

Scientists Confirm that Methane-Processing Microbes Produce a Fossil Record

Microorganisms and their metabolisms help silica to mineralize near deep ocean methane seeps.

FAIR data principles aim to automate data management, paving the way to link data sources, AI, extreme scale, and edge computing with modern scientific data infrastructure to automate and accelerate discovery.

Fair Play for Data: Researchers Develop Practical FAIR Principles for Data Sets

FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles facilitate the use of large data sets by human and machine researchers.

Theoretical calculations predict a complex excited state (0+) for helium-4 (4He) at the 20.21 MeV energy level. This state involves a coupling of three cluster configurations: helium-3 and a proton, helium-3 and a neutron, and two helium-2 nuclei.

New Calculations Solve an Alpha Particle Physics Puzzle

A new experimental measure of Helium-4’s transition from its ground energy state to an excited state closes an apparent gap with theoretical predictions.

Data on Lambda particle formation came from experiments in Experimental Hall B, shown here, part of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility.

Teasing Strange Matter from Ordinary

New insights reveal details of how strange matter forms.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory chemist Isaac Arnquist examines the ‘coupons’ of ultra-low radiation copper cables specially created for sensitive physics detection experiments.

Creating Quiet Cables for Rare Physics Events

Researchers design ultra-low radiation cables to reduce background noise for highly sensitive nuclear decay and dark matter detectors.

Understanding Charged-Particle Bound States in Periodic Boxes

Finite geometry reveals fundamental properties of charged quantum systems.

The floating block method pictured as ice blocks and the sea. The method applies a filtering process called imaginary time evolution to two Hamiltonians, represented by ice and sea. It gives the overlap between the two Hamiltonians’ lowest energy states.

Computing How Quantum States Overlap

The floating block method provides the tools to compute how quantum states overlap and how to build fast and accurate emulators of those systems.

Image of the emission of 4 neutrons (blue spheres) from the exotic nucleus oxygen-28, which consists of 8 protons (red spheres) and 20 neutrons.

Not-Quite “Magic” Oxygen-28 Observed for the First Time

An almost-bound isotope of oxygen undergoes four-neutron decay that challenges theory.

The weight of antihydrogen atoms (a positively charged positron or anti-electron orbiting a negatively charged antiproton) balances the weight of hydrogen atoms (a negatively charged electron orbiting a positively charged proton).

Antihydrogen Falls Downward!

Settling a long-standing question, scientists have proven that antihydrogen falls downward in a first-ever direct experiment.

Negative triangularity shaping in the DIII-D tokamak (left) produced plasmas with no observed instabilities for triangularities less than approximately -0.15, even at high heating power and core performance (right).

Inverting Fusion Plasmas Improves Performance

Plasmas with negative triangularity show reduced gradients that develop into instabilities, including under conditions relevant to fusion power plants.

The interior of the SPRUCE experimental chamber showing instruments to monitor climate changes.

In Peatland Soil, a Warmer Climate and Elevated Carbon Dioxide Rapidly Alter Soil Organic Matter

Experiments find increased temperatures and carbon dioxide rapidly altered peatland carbon stocks, highlighting peatlands’ vulnerability to climate change.

Composite of geopotential heights [m] (contours) and anomalies (colors) at 700 Hectopascal (hPa) of air pressure for each SOM node. These nodes help unpack how high- and low-pressure systems and other climate factors contribute to Texas rainstorms.

High-Pressure Systems Favor Sea-Breeze Convection Over Southeastern Texas

AI reveals relationships between weather systems and cloud physics.