Research
Highlights...
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Rohit
Trivedi bridges the art-science gap.
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| Number 61 |
August 7, 2000 |
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Ames Lab
expands analytical arsenal
A unique
Auger electron spectroscopy microscope at DOE's
Ames Laboratory is giving researchers new insights into
critical materials used in semiconductors, automobiles, catalysts,
optics, thin films, computer hard disks and elsewhere. The instrument
allows scientists to understand the composition of surface layers
as well as the distribution of elements in materials. Such capability
is important to researchers evaluating material properties,
failure, corrosion, surface cleanliness and other factors. The
system, which has a spatial and energy resolution 10 times greater
than older instruments, is operated by Ames Lab's Materials
Preparation Center and is the first of its kind in the United
States.
Fermilab
finds first direct evidence for tau neutrino
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| Fermilab
physicist Byron Lundberg, spokesman for the DONUT experiment,
announces the first direct evidence for the tau neutrino
at a colloquium at Fermilab on Friday afternoon, July
21, 2000. |
An international
collaboration of scientists at DOE's
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has seen the first
direct evidence for the subatomic particle called the tau
neutrino, the third kind of neutrino known to particle physicists.
On July 21, the collaboration reported four instances of a
neutrino interacting with an atomic nucleus to produce a charged
particle called a tau lepton, the signature of a tau neutrino.
Although earlier experiments had produced convincing indirect
evidence for the particle's existence, no one had directly
observed the tau
neutrino, a massless or almost massless particle carrying
no electric charge and barely interacting with surrounding
matter.
[Mike Perricone,
630/840-5678,
mikep@fnal.gov]
New
test for radiation-induced damage clusters in DNA
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| BNL's
Paula Bennett and Betsy Sutherland hold electrophoretic
gels used in the analysis of radiation-damaged DNA. |
Brookhaven
biologists have devised a method for measuring radiation damage
to DNA, including clusters of oxidized bases, strand breaks
and abasic sites, which may turn out to be more harmful than
breaks through both strands of the DNA double helix. Such forms
of clustered damage have long been hypothesized, but no one
had a way to measure them until now. The technique, which uses
special enzymes to cut and count the kinds of damage, could
help distinguish low-level radiation damage from changes caused
by normal living, assess the radiation risks faced by astronauts,
and improve the cancer-killing potential of radiation therapy.
[Karen McNulty,
631/344-8350,
kmcnulty@bnl.gov]
Population
distribution a click away
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| Click
for the whole world. |
Emergency responders have a
new tool developed by DOE's
Oak Ridge National Laboratory that could save perhaps
thousands of lives around the world. The LandScan
Global Population Database is a worldwide source of population
data with spatial precision to assess local impacts from floods,
airborne contamination and other natural or manmade disasters.
The database, available on a compact disc, boasts resolution
of approximately one square kilometer. It will help emergency
responders identify, locate and estimate the size of populations
at risk from nuclear, biological or chemical threats. Once
the affected people are identified, emergency management personnel
can take appropriate action.
[Ron
Walli, 865/546-0550,
wallira@ornl.gov]
Reactor-based
system to manufacture hydrogen fuel
DOE's
Argonne National Laboratory will spearhead development
of a proliferation-resistant and economical nuclear-based
energy supply system for use in industrialized and developing
nations after the year 2020. "The basic concept is to use
clean nuclear energy as the heat source for manufacturing
hydrogen, a clean chemical fuel that burns without releasing
carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases that contribute to
global warming," said Dave Wade, director of Argonne's Reactor
Analysis Division. Working with Argonne are Texas
A&M University, General Electric,
and research institutes from Japan and Italy. The three-year
project will receive about $465,000 for the first year's work
under DOE's Nuclear Energy
Research Initiative.
[Catherine
Foster, 630/252-5580,
cfoster@anl.gov]
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The
science of art
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| Rohit
Trivedi |
When
Rohit Trivedi gazes at a metal sculpture, he
appreciates more
than its aesthetic qualities.
His
eye discerns processing techniques handed down from generation
to generation. Today's artists and artisans use these techniques
with metals and ceramics, although many aren't aware of the
science involved.
Trivedi,
a senior scientist at DOE's
Ames Laboratory and a professor of materials science and
engineering at Iowa State
University, is trying to bridge that gap. He wrote, "Materials
in Art and Technology," a book describing the evolution of materials-processing
techniques dating back to the discovery of fire.
"Many
of the techniques we use today were developed very early in
civilization," Trivedi says. "Casting, joining, forging-all
of these techniques were nicely developed by the early artisans.
We have only perfected these techniques."
Trivedi
notes that craftsmen-not scientists-were the first to take advantage
of the properties of metals and ceramics. He marvels at their
ingenuity in learning to manipulate the materials. "In some
cases, they did things that we could not reproduce," he says.
His
1998 book is based on a college course he taught for 20 years
after listening to an ISU art teacher describe problems in producing
metal castings on cloudy days. Trivedi explained that the problem
wasn't the clouds-it was the humidity that absorbed hydrogen,
causing bubbles in the castings. The teacher asked Trivedi to
teach his students the basics of materials science, and the
class soon gained popularity throughout the campus.
"The
challenge was to put together this course without using mathematics
or complex science because the students hadn't taken those types
of courses," he notes. "I tried to separate scientific concepts
from mathematical equations so that they could learn science
through the ideas rather than formulas, and that's what appealed
to them."
Submitted
by DOE's Ames Laboratory
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