ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Peptoid Nanosheets Offer a Diversity of Functionalities Researchers at the ALS have recently observed peptoid nanosheets—two-dimensional biomimetic materials with customizable properties—as they self-assemble at an oil-water interface. This new development opens the door to designing peptoid nanosheets of increasing structural complexity and chemicalRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Protein Instability and Lou Gehrig’s Disease A new study uses small-angle x-ray scattering as well as several advanced biophysical techniques to link protein instability to the progression of a lethal degenerative disease: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ReadRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory In Situ X-Ray Scattering Helps Optimize Printed Solar Cells Printable plastic solar cells are a potential source of inexpensive renewable energy, but the transition from lab to factory results in decreased efficiency. Now, for the first time, a miniature solar-cell printer installed inRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ALS Director’s Update: Reflections on Our Past, Present, and Future We are looking forward to an exciting and productive year at the ALS, with plans for new beamlines and capabilities coming online, and more users taking advantage of our technical and scientific expertiseRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory From CO2 to Methanol via Novel Nanocatalysts Researchers have found novel nanocatalysts that lower the barrier to converting carbon dioxide—an abundant greenhouse gas—into methanol—a key commodity used to produce numerous industrial chemicals and fuels. In one case, it worked almost 90 times fasterRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory   An Iridate with Fermi Arcs Researchers have discovered that “Fermi arcs,” which are much-debated features found in the electronic structure of high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprates, can also be found in an iridate (iridium oxide) compound–strontium iridate. Read more… Contact: Yeongkwan Kim ALSRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory   Skyrmion Behavior Revealed by Two X-Ray Studies Two research groups have recently published separate studies in which soft x-rays reveal how skyrmions—quasiparticles made up of spin vortices—react to external fields. Their work lays the foundation for understanding these fascinating constructs and eventuallyRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory   Infrared Mapping Helps Optimize Catalytic Reactions A pathway to more effective and efficient synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other flow-reactor chemical products has been opened by a study in which, for the first time, the catalytic reactivity inside a microreactor was mapped inRead More Read more »

ALSNews Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory   Intriguing DNA Editor Has a Structural Trigger The molecular structures of two proteins from a family of genome-editing enzymes reveal how they target and cleave DNA. The results point the way to the rational design of new and improved versions of theRead More Read more »