From Brookhaven Lab: “Soaking Up Sun at the Long Island Solar Farm for Energy Research at Brookhaven Lab”

Brookhaven Lab

May 16, 2013
Pat Looney

“Bring on the sunshine! April showers are behind us and the sun is shining a little longer each day in the northern hemisphere. That means the 200-acre Long Island Solar Farm (LISF) at Brookhaven Lab is producing increasing amounts of renewable energy for Long Islanders and data for our researchers.

The 200-acre Long Island Solar Farm (LISF) is located at the east end of Brookhaven Lab. By hosting the LISF and future Northeast Solar Energy Research Center on site, Brookhaven Lab has positioned itself at the forefront of new research to help develop real-world solar energy technologies.

The LISF is the largest solar array in the eastern U.S. and is located at the east end of the Lab site. It contains 164,312 photovoltaic panels grouped and mounted onto more than 6,800 racks. The LISF can produce peak power output of 32 megawatts (MW) of alternating current that powers homes and businesses. Operations began in November 2011, and during its first 12 months, the LISF produced a total of about 54,000 megawatt-hours (MWH) of energy. That’s 23 percent more than the design estimates for 44,000 MWH, which is equivalent to the power usage for about 4,500 homes.

LISF, LLC—a joint venture between BP Solar and Met Life—owns the array and LIPA purchases the electrical output, distributes it, and sells it to customers. BP Solar has announced its intention to exit the solar energy business and we expect it to sell its share to another party, but this would not affect operations or agreements with Brookhaven and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). While the Laboratory doesn’t get any electricity from the LISF, it does get large amounts of data from operations. The Lab will get both electricity and research data from the Northeast Solar Energy Research Center (NSERC) being developed on site. By hosting both arrays here, the Lab has positioned itself at the forefront of new research to help develop real-world solar energy technologies.”

See the full and very enlightening article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven : “DNA-Guided Assembly Yields Novel Ribbon-Like Nanostructures”

Brookhaven Lab

Approach could be useful in fabricating new kinds of materials with engineered properties

May 16, 2013
Contacts: Karen McNulty Walsh, (631) 344-8350 or Peter Genzer, (631) 344-3174

“Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that DNA “linker” strands coax nano-sized rods to line up in way unlike any other spontaneous arrangement of rod-shaped objects. The arrangement—with the rods forming “rungs” on ladder-like ribbons linked by multiple DNA strands—results from the collective interactions of the flexible DNA tethers and may be unique to the nanoscale. The research, described in a paper published online in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society, could result in the fabrication of new nanostructured materials with desired properties.

DNA-tethered nanorods link up like rungs on a ribbonlike ladder—a new mechanism for linear self-assembly that may be unique to the nanoscale.
‘This is a completely new mechanism of self-assembly that does not have direct analogs in the realm of molecular or microscale systems,’ said Brookhaven physicist Oleg Gang, lead author on the paper, who conducted the bulk of the research at the Lab’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN).

Alexei Tkachenko, the CFN scientist who developed the theory to explain the exceptional arrangement, elaborated: ‘Remarkably, the system has all three dimensions to live in, yet it chooses to form the linear, almost one-dimensional ribbons. It can be compared to how extra dimensions that are hypothesized by high-energy physicists become hidden, so that we find ourselves in a 3-D world.’

Schematic of how gold nanorods link up when complementary strands of DNA attached to each rod (A, A’)—or DNA linker strands with ends complementary to two different types of DNA tethers on adjacent rods (B, C)—are used as “glue.”

See the full article here. There is much more.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven: “Revolutionary Muon Experiment to Begin With 3,200-mile Move of 50-Foot-Wide Particle Storage Ring”

Brookhaven Lab

May 8, 2013

Massive device will travel from New York to Illinois by barge and truck this summer

Media contacts:
Andre Salles, Fermilab Office of Communication: 630-840-6733, asalles@fnal.gov.
Peter Genzer, Brookhaven Media & Communications Office: 631-344-3174, genzer@bnl.gov

“Scientists from 26 institutions around the world are planning a new experiment that could open the doors to new realms of particle physics. But first, they have to bring the core of this experiment, a complex electromagnet that spans 50 feet in diameter, from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York to the DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.

The Muon g-2 storage ring, in its current location at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The ring, which will capture muons in a magnetic field, must be transported in one piece, and moved flat to avoid undue pressure on the superconducting cable inside. No image credit.

The experiment is called Muon g-2 (pronounced gee-minus-two), and will study the properties of muons, tiny subatomic particles that exist for only 2.2 millionths of a second. The core of the experiment is a machine built at Brookhaven in the 1990s, and the centerpiece of that machine is a circular electromagnet made of steel and aluminum, 50 feet wide, with superconducting cable inside.

‘It costs about 10 times less to move the magnet from Brookhaven to Illinois than it would to build a new one,’ said Lee Roberts of Boston University, spokesperson for the Muon g-2 experiment. “So that’s what we’re going to do. It’s an enormous effort from all sides, but it will be worth it.’

A model of the truck that will be used to transport the Muon g-2 ring, placed on a streetscape for scale. The truck will be escorted by police and other vehicles when it moves from Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York to a barge, and then from the barge to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. Credit: Fermilab

While most of the machine can be disassembled and brought to Fermilab in trucks, the massive electromagnet must be transported in one piece. It also cannot tilt or twist more than a few degrees, or the complex wiring inside will be irreparably damaged. The Muon g-2 team has devised a plan to make the 3,200-mile journey that involves loading the ring onto a specially prepared barge and bringing it down the East Coast, around the tip of Florida and up the Mississippi River to Illinois.

‘The transport of the ring from Brookhaven to Fermilab is a great example of the cooperation that exists between national laboratories,’ said James Siegrist, associate director of science for high-energy physics with the U.S. Department of Energy. “The Muon g-2 experiment is an important component of the future of particle physics in the United States.”

See the full article here.

I am just the blogger, it is not my business. It just seems to me if I had a job like this to plan I would have enlisted the aid of ESO, probably the most sophisticated movers of complex machinery anywhere in the world.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Multilayer Laue Lenses Enable Studies of Nanostructures with Ultra-high Resolution”

Brookhaven Lab

April 16, 2013
Angela Leroux-Lindsey

“Microscopes have been a centerpiece of experimental science since at least the 16th century, providing a window into the material world at extraordinarily small scales. As the structures examined decrease in size – some measuring just billionths of a meter – capturing an x-ray image at high spatial resolution while retaining sufficient imaging contrast becomes more difficult.

(a) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) specimen adhered on a Si3Ni4 window with Pt welding. (b-d) are horizontal phase-gradient scanning x-ray microscope images obtained by differential intensity, moment analysis and Fourier-shift fitting algorithms, respectively. Artifacts and blurring effects can be seen in (b) and (c), as compared to (d). No image credit

One method of addressing this challenge is scanning x-ray microscopy, which uses a highly focused x-ray beam to produce spatial images of a specimen. In keeping with the scientific mission of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)., an advanced nanofocusing optic dubbed multilayer Laue lens (MLL) is being developed by the optics fabrication group for nanoscale imaging.”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Temperature-dependent Radiolysis Reveals Dynamics of Bound Protein Waters”

Brookhaven Lab

April 18, 2013
Chelsea Whyte

“Water is crucial to the functioning of the body, even on very small scales. The ubiquitous liquid is key to the structure, folding and stability of proteins, but one of the still unanswered questions in the study of the structure and function of proteins and DNA is their exact relationship to their water environment. All of the molecules in our bodies function in water, but until now, we haven’t had a lot of experimental techniques to understand what water is doing or where it is binding to the interior surfaces of proteins.

Cyt c 18O-labeling map. The sites of 18O-modifications are visualized from the crystal structure 1HRC (27) using PyMOL. The 18O-labeled residues (light blue) in and around the heme (light pink) crevices, and the position of residue T78 (gray) and conserved waters (cyan spheres) HOH112, HOH139 are shown in two orientations of the cyt c molecule.

A team of scientists from Case Western Reserve University used the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory to develop a technique that pinpoints the location and motion of water molecules bound to proteins. Using temperature-dependent radiolysis and mass spectroscopy, they are able to identify where water is binding tightly or loosely on the surface of a protein and how it is influencing a protein’s function.

‘It’s as if there were a window ledge with a pebble stuck in it, so the window doesn’t shut tightly,’ said Mark Chance, director of the Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics at Case Western University. ‘The water is like that pebble. It could be an obstacle to the formation of the protein complex, just like the pebble stops the window closing. Or, it could be in just the right position, as if the window had a small notch carved in just the shape of the pebble. Both of those situations could occur in nature.’”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Lights, Chemistry, Action: New Method for Mapping Brain Activity”

Brookhaven Lab

PET scans monitor brain circuits activated by light, opening new window to brain diseases

April 10, 2013
No Writer Credit

” Building on their history of innovative brain-imaging techniques, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators have developed a new way to use light and chemistry to map brain activity in fully-awake, moving animals. The technique employs light-activated proteins to stimulate particular brain cells and positron emission tomography (PET) scans to trace the effects of that site-specific stimulation throughout the entire brain. As described in a paper published online today in the Journal of Neuroscience, the method will allow researchers to map exactly which downstream neurological pathways are activated or deactivated by stimulation of targeted brain regions, and how that brain activity correlates with particular behaviors and/or disease conditions.

Peter Thanos

‘This technique gives us a new way to look at the function of specific brain cells and map which brain circuits are active in a wide range of neuropsychiatric diseases — from depression to Parkinson’s disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and drug addiction — and also to monitor the effects of various treatments,’ said the paper’s lead author, Panayotis (Peter) Thanos, a neuroscientist and director of the Behavioral Neuropharmacology and Neuroimaging Section — part of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Laboratory of Neuroimaging at Brookhaven Lab — and a professor at Stony Brook University. ‘Because the animals are awake and able to move during stimulation, we can also directly study how their behavior correlates with brain activity,’ he said.”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: "Doors Open at New Interdisciplinary Science Building for Energy Research at Brookhaven Lab"

Brookhaven Lab

April 11, 2013
Joe Gettler

“Doors opened today, April 11, 2013, at the , a new world-class research facility at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory where scientists will work to drive breakthrough solutions to the nation’s energy challenges. Representatives from DOE, Brookhaven Lab, and Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) joined elected officials and members of the Brookhaven Lab community at the ISB for a dedication ceremony to celebrate the facility’s opening.

The new world-class Interdisciplinary Science Building at Brookhaven Lab is an 87,700-square-foot facility containing 60 standard laboratories, four specialty labs, and offices, where researchers will collaborate to tackle America’s most pressing energy challenges.

Scientists at the ISB will engineer and optimize materials with the goal of developing breakthrough technologies for batteries, biofuels, and solar panels.

‘Energy innovation plays a direct role in the continued prosperity and security of the United States, and the ISB is at the forefront of the Department of Energy’s investment in a vibrant future,’ said DOE Office of Science Director Bill Brinkman. ‘The research done here will have long-lasting and far-reaching impacts’”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Structure Helps Yield Drug ‘Hypersensitivity’ Tests for Patients”

Brookhaven Lab

April 8, 2013
Laura Mgrdichian

“From a patient’s point of view, one of the unsettling things about taking a new drug is the possibility of unwelcome side effects or worse, dangerous allergic reactions. As drugs are being developed and then enter clinical trials, these issues play a huge role in the process, increasing costs and sometimes determining whether a drug will get to market at all.

In this “ribbon diagram,” the HIV/AIDS drug abacavir (orange, blue and red spheres) interacts with a protein (grey) made by a particular gene that causes a hypersensitivity to the drug. The protein “shows” the body’s immune system a peptide (light blue) it has never seen, causing an allergic reaction. No image credit.

One type of severe reaction is ‘hypersensitivity,’ in which the immune system over-reacts to a substance that is foreign but not infectious, producing symptoms that can be mild (such as rashes) to severe (organ failure, even death). In this study, researchers studied an antiviral drug known to cause hypersensitivity in patients who carry a particular gene. Using x-rays at Brookhaven Lab’s National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), they were able to ‘see’ how at the molecular level, the drug binds to the protein created from the gene, triggering the immune response. Their work has produced new ways to predict whether a drug is likely to induce a gene-based allergic reaction.”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Researchers Find Surprising Similarities Between Genetic and Computer Codes”

Brookhaven Lab

March 28, 2013
Contacts: Chelsea Whyte, (631) 344-8671 or Peter Genzer, (631) 344-3174

“The term ‘survival of the fittest’ refers to natural selection in biological systems, but Darwin’s theory may apply more broadly than that. New research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory shows that this evolutionary theory also applies to technological systems.

Sergei Maslov

Computational biologist Sergei Maslov of Brookhaven National Laboratory worked with graduate student Tin Yau Pang from Stony Brook University to compare the frequency with which components ‘survive’ in two complex systems: bacterial genomes and operating systems on Linux computers. Their work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Linux Mascot Tux

Maslov and Pang set out to determine not only why some specialized genes or computer programs are very common while others are fairly rare, but to see how many components in any system are so important that they can’t be eliminated. ‘If a bacteria genome doesn’t have a particular gene, it will be dead on arrival,’ Maslov said. ‘How many of those genes are there? The same goes for large software systems. They have multiple components that work together and the systems require just the right components working together to thrive.’

Using data from the massive sequencing of bacterial genomes, now a part of the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase), Maslov and Pang examined the frequency of usage of crucial bits of genetic code in the metabolic processes of 500 bacterial species and found a surprising similarity with the frequency of installation of 200,000 Linux packages on more than 2 million individual computers. Linux is an open source software collaboration that allows designers to modify source code to create programs for public use.

The most frequently used components in both the biological and computer systems are those that allow for the most descendants. That is, the more a component is relied upon by others, the more likely it is to be required for full functionality of a system.

It may seem logical, but the surprising part of this finding is how universal it is. ‘It is almost expected that the frequency of usage of any component is correlated with how many other components depend on it,’ said Maslov. ‘But we found that we can determine the number of crucial components – those without which other components couldn’t function – by a simple calculation that holds true both in biological systems and computer systems.’”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world.Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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From Brookhaven Lab: “Beamline Hutches Filling NSLS-II Experimental Floor”

Brookhaven Lab

March 21, 2013
Mona S. Rowe

“In an April 2012 celebration, hundreds of walkers circled the NSLS-II ring building soon after Brookhaven Lab took official occupancy of the fifth and final wedge of space. Back then, they had the entire width of the experimental floor in which to enjoy their half-mile jaunt. Today, the path around is circuitous, as walkers now would have to wend their way around hutches – a good sign of continued construction progress.

Seven beamlines and their hutches have defined locations on the NSLS-II experimental floor. Acronyms for the beamlines – CSX1 and CSX2, XPD, HXN, SRX, IXS and CHX – are colored green. The hutches are outlined in red around the beamline components in magenta. HXN has a satellite hutch exterior to the ring building. The drawing is oriented with north at the top, and the lobby is the rectangle jutting beyond the outer perimeter of the ring to the left of LOB1 (first lab-office building). Drawing by Brian Mullany and Kelly Roy, both senior designers in the Accelerator Division.

NSLS-II will produce x-rays 10,000 times brighter than NSLS. To keep people safe from intense x-rays in the new facility, the hutches will enclose particular sections of beamlines.

Under a contract to build 17 complete hutches for an initial set of beamlines, Global Partners in Shielding (GPS) started shipping hutch pieces to NSLS-II in the spring of 2012. The balance of the year saw hutch assembly on the experimental floor – a tantalizing promise of beamlines to come.”

See the full article here.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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