Researchers demonstrated the synthesis of a thermodynamically stable compound of argon and nickel at temperatures and pressures representative of the Earth’s core. The ability of argon, a noble gas, to react with other elements under these conditions may help solve outstanding geological questions, including the “missing argon paradox.” Read more »
Scientists Explore Egyptian Mummy Bones With X-Rays and Infrared Light to Gain New Insight on Ancient Life
Researchers from Cairo University worked with teams at the ALS to study soil and bone samples dating back 4,000 years. The experiments are casting a new light on Egyptian soil and ancient mummified bone samples that could provide a richer understanding of daily life and environmental conditions thousands of years ago. Read more »
Custom-Designed Models Reveal How Proteins Assemble on Minerals
Seashells, bone, and other hard tissues form through a little-understood process combining proteins and minerals. Researchers gained insight using a model system of proteins they designed and synthesized from scratch, characterizing how these building blocks assemble on mica. Read more »
Nobumichi Tamura Receives 2019 Klaus Halbach Award
Nobumichi Tamura received the 2019 Klaus Halbach Award in recognition for the software he developed to analyze microdiffraction data. The first version of the software was completed just before Christmas 1999 and has been a gift for many in the community ever since. Read more »
In Memoriam: Dave Humphries, Staff Engineer
We are saddened by the death of our friend and colleague, Dave Humphries. During his long tenure at Berkeley Lab and at the ALS in particular, Dave contributed in many outstanding ways to the success of the Laboratory and of our facility. Dave was at home with his family and passed away peacefully on September 13, 2019. Read more »
Multiple Levels of Chirality from Achiral Molecules
Liquid crystal samples were found to exhibit up to four levels of chirality, despite being made up of achiral molecules. The work sheds light on how molecular properties and competing interactions “propagate” order from the molecular level up to the microscale, leading to complexity similar to that found in biological materials. Read more »
X-Ray Experiments Contribute to Studies of a Drug Now Approved to Combat Tuberculosis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new antibiotic that, in combination with two existing antibiotics, can tackle one of the most formidable and deadly treatment-resistant forms of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Studies exploring the structure and function of the new drug benefited from x-ray experiments at the ALS. Read more »
Curtis Gomez, Electrical Safety Officer
Curtis Gomez recently became the ALS electrical safety officer. Besides looking out for hazards, his work in motor controls coordination draws from a TV and radio background—and working for a local band that made it big. Read more »
Infrared Nano-Mapping of Local Strain in 2D Materials
Researchers have demonstrated an infrared technique to map and analyze strain in atomically thin crystals of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) at the nanoscale. This ultrasensitive strain-imaging method could be a promising tool for the examination of low-dimensional materials of interest for electronic and photonic devices. Read more »
Fundamental Property of Arginine Revealed Through Solvation
Just 20 amino acids act as building blocks for all our proteins, but their chemical properties have been difficult to study at the most fundamental level. Combining experiments and theory at the ALS, researchers have now determined the ionization energy of arginine, an amino acid with over 100 isomers. Read more »