Direct Kinetic Measurements of a Criegee Intermediate “Criegee intermediates” are elusive molecules that play a pivotal role in atmospheric chemistry and are also byproducts of key combustion reactions. At the Chemical Dynamics Beamline, the reaction rates of one form of Criegee intermediate was directly measured for the first time, with some surprising results. Read more…Read More Read more »

Dynein’s Motor Domain Shows Ring-Shaped Motor, Buttress Following a previous study that revealed the structure of dynein’s microtubule binding domain, a new study from ALS Beamline 8.3.1 now shows details of dynein’s motor domain. In addition to defining a large, ring-shaped motor, researchers found an intriguing and unanticipated feature called the buttress which may beRead More Read more »

2011 ALS User Meeting Draws Record Numbers Siegfried S. Hecker regales the audience with stories from his visits to North Korea, working with plutonium. A record 461 people registered for the 2011 ALS User Meeting, packing the plenary sessions, workshops, and meals. Berkeley Lab Deputy Director Horst Simon welcomed guests to the meeting, touching onRead More Read more »

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Bioactive Glass Scaffolds for Bone Regeneration Natural materials are renowned for their unique combination of outstanding mechanical properties and exquisite microstructure. Researchers at Beamline 8.3.2 have created bioactive glass scaffolds that mirror nature’s efficient materials and may provide a means for previously problematic bone regeneration in large, load-bearing limbs. Read more… Contact:  Q. Fu DirectRead More Read more »

Large Magnetization at Carbon Surfaces From organic matter to pencil lead, carbon is a versatile element. Now, another use has been found: magnets. Researchers studying the effects of protons on the electronic structure of graphite found very strong magnetization when hydrogen atoms are incorporated at the surface of graphite. Read more… Contact: Hendrik Ohldag MineralRead More Read more »

ALS Featured as One of Popular Science’s 10 Most Epic Projects The Advanced Light Source is featured in Popular Science magazine this month as part of “Big Science: The 10 Most Ambitious Experiments in the Universe Today.” The article touts the ALS’ scientific utility, citing contributions to the fields of chemistry, astrophysics, biomedicine, material science,Read More Read more »

Direct-Write of Silicon and Germanium Nanostructures A new strategy to “write” electronic silicon and germanium nanostructures could simplify nanomaterial electronic circuit fabrication by circumventing the difficult assembly step. PEEM-2 and PEEM-3 confirm the quality of the written nanostructures. Read more… Contact: Marco Rolandi Two Novel Ultra-Incompressible Materials Materials that are mechanically, thermally, and chemically stableRead More Read more »

Cool Magnetic Molecules Certain materials are known to heat up or cool down when they are exposed to a changing magnetic field. This is known as the magnetocaloric effect. All magnetic materials exhibit this effect, but in most cases, it is too small to be technologically useful. Recently, however, an international collaboration of researchers fromRead More Read more »

Heterogeneous Morphology Found in Organic Solar Cells Organic solar cell models traditionally assume a morphology with discrete interfaces between pure electron donor and acceptor materials, but recent studies found a substantial amount of molecular mixing between model materials. To uncover organic solar cells’ maximum potential, the paradigm of device operation may need to be refined.Read More Read more »