Skip to main content

ALS

Home / News / Science Briefs

Science Briefs

A Bullfrog’s Powerful Defense Against Toxic Red Tides

Working as a “molecular sponge,” a bullfrog protein known as saxiphilin provides powerful, yet little understood, protection against deadly neurotoxins produced in red tides. Crystallography studies at the ALS have clarified saxiphilin’s function, potentially enabling better ways to monitor and combat toxins in our oceans and food supplies. Read more »PPT-icon-35

Catalyst Improves Cycling Life of Magnesium/Sulfur Batteries

Magnesium/sulfur batteries hold promise as a safer, energy-dense advancement, but previous iterations have suffered from extremely limited recharging capabilities. Studies at the ALS provided electrochemical insights into battery polarization and revealed how a titanium catalyst activates magnesium/sulfur compounds to improve battery performance. Read more »

A Crackling Analysis of Stripe and Skyrmion Phases

Through statistical analysis of “crackling” (a system’s jerky response to slowly changing conditions), researchers demonstrated fundamental differences between skyrmion and stripe phases in a layered heterostructure. The method has broad applicability to many complex materials of interest for emerging information technologies. Read more »

Clues to the Early Solar System Preserved in a Meteorite

Scientists analyzing a tiny carbon-rich pocket inside a meteorite found unexpected chemical signatures. Their findings are the first direct evidence that material from the outer solar system may have traveled inward long before planets formed, providing insight into the early solar system. Read more »

Mirror, Mirror, in the Optimal Spot

Researchers have developed a fast, systematic way to get the best performance out of x-ray mirrors by optimizing their positioning in beamlines. The system does in a day what used to take many days, by combining precise surface metrology with computer analysis of the optimal alignment of a mirror in a beamline. Read more »

Chiral Crystals Give Rise to Topological Conductors

Researchers have discovered materials whose chiral crystal structures produce chirality in their electronic behavior. These topological conductors retain their unique electronic properties regardless of defects and open new possibilities in materials research. Read more »

Infrared Light Reveals Microstripes at Insulator-Metal Transition

In this study of a current-driven insulator-to-metal transition, a distinctive stripe pattern develops between the insulating and metallic phases. The work reveals remarkable new features of electrically induced insulator-to-metal transitions in materials with potential applications in energy-efficient memory and transistor devices. Read more »PPT-icon-35

Evidence of a Long-Predicted Magnet

Half a century ago, theorists proposed a novel way for materials to produce a magnetic field. Now, scientists have discovered a uranium compound that bears out that long-ago theory—a new type of magnet that holds promise for enhancing the performance of data storage technologies. Read more »

A Nanoscale View of Defect Effects on Band Structure

In the first comprehensive study at the ALS involving nanoARPES, researchers probed the electronic effects of defects in monolayer tungsten disulfide at the nanoscale. The extremely small scale of the measurements makes nanoARPES a great discovery tool that will be particularly useful for understanding new materials as they are invented. Read more »

Salt in the Amazon Air Comes from Local Fungi

The abundant salt in the atmosphere above the Amazon basin has long been attributed to the Atlantic Ocean. But now, using the Advanced Light Source, scientists have found that much of it originates much more locally: fungal spores in the rainforest. Pinpointing the origin will improve climate models and understanding of rainforest ecosystems. Read more »