A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutron analysis to better understand a protein implicated in the replication of HIV, the retrovirus that causes AIDS. The enzyme, known as HIV-1 protease, is a key drug target for HIV and AIDS therapies. &nbs...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory's 25-megavolt Tandem Electrostatic Accelerator received an opportunity for one last hurrah in a series of experiments that ended in late March, nearly four years after the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) Facility at the Department of Energy national l...
Physicists studying stellar explosions, the origin of life and just about everything in between could gain light years in precision because of a system inspired by a team led by Kelly Chipps of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As the sophistication of rad...
Radioactive materials have long been a part of American history—from the Manhattan Project to the development of nuclear power. The materials central to these innovations are actinides, or elements 89–103 on the periodic table that release large amounts of energy when atoms are spli...
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are taking a closer look at how sturgeon, a prehistoric — and now imperiled — group of fish species may better be helped to get around the dams that block their migrations. Hydropower is a major renewable ener...
![In unbound calyx[4]pyrrole, two pyrrole “petals” are flipped up and two, down.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/anion_hr5_0.jpg?itok=sGtLzH0E "In unbound calyx[4]pyrrole, two pyrrole “petals” are flipped up and two, down.")
Atomic charges in chemical solutions are like Switzerland—they strive for neutrality. The tendency to balance charges drives dynamics when charged atoms or molecules, called ions, are present in solutions. Recently, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laborat...
Lipid molecules have split personalities—one part loves water, whereas the other avoids it at all costs. Lipids make up cell membranes, the frontline defense in preventing cellular access to bacterial and viral invaders.
Many researchers believe that the membrane is not just a scaf...
Rare earth elements are metals used in technologies from wind turbines and magnetic resonance imaging agents to industrial catalysts and high-definition televisions. Most are lanthanides, elements with atomic number from 57 to 71, lanthanum to lutetium, in the periodic table. The la...
Nearly 100 commercial nuclear reactors supply one-fifth of America’s energy. For each fuel rod in a reactor assembly, only 5 percent of its energy is consumed before fission can no longer be sustained efficiently for power production and the fuel assembly must be replaced. Power plan...
The global marketplace demands constant improvements in performance and efficiency of aircraft engines, power turbines and other modern mainstays of energy technology. This progress requires advanced structural materials, such as ceramic composites and metal alloys with higher-t...