From Symmetry: "Moniz confirmed as Energy Secretary"

May 16, 2013
Mike Ross

“The US Senate has unanimously confirmed MIT physics professor Ernest Moniz as the next Secretary of Energy.

Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz, an MIT physics professor with extensive experience with particle accelerators and national energy policies, has been confirmed in a unanimous vote by the US Senate as the next Secretary of Energy.

The Department of Energy is the single largest supporter of particle physics, and of basic research in the physical sciences, in the United States.

Moniz succeeds Steven Chu, also a physicist, who served during the Obama administration’s first term and who announced Feb. 1 that he would be stepping down. After the transition, Chu will be joining the faculty of Stanford University.

Coincidentally, Moniz also has a Stanford connection. He earned his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics there in January 1972.

After postdoctoral research stints in Saclay, France, and the University of Pennsylvania, Moniz joined MIT’s physics faculty in 1973. He was director of the DOE-funded Bates Linear Accelerator Center from 1983 to 1991. In the 1990s, Moniz became more active in the national energy policy discussion. He served the Clinton Administration as associate director for science in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (1995-97) and then as DOE undersecretary (1997-2001). In 2006, he was named director of the MIT Energy Initiative and the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment.

‘Taken together, these roles have given me a deep appreciation of DOE’s importance to American leadership in science,’ Moniz said in his April 9 written statement to the Senate committee reviewing his nomination. ‘DOE is the lead funder of basic research in the physical sciences and provides the national research community with unique research opportunities at major facilities for nuclear and particle physics, energy science, materials research and discovery, large-scale computation and other disciplines. DOE operates an unparalleled national laboratory system and partners with both university and industry at the research frontier.

‘The Secretary of Energy has the responsibility for stewardship of a crucial part of the American basic research enterprise. If confirmed, I will work with the scientific community and with Congress to assure that our researchers have continuing access to cutting-edge research tools for scientific discovery and for training the next generation.’

With a 21-1 vote, the committee approved Moniz’s nomination on April 18.”

See the full article here. Best of luck to the new Secretary and to us here in the embattled scientific community.

Symmetry is a joint Fermilab/SLAC publication.

From CERN: "First result from the AMS experiment"

30 March 2013
No Writer Credit

“The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) Collaboration announces the publication of its first physics result in Physical Review Letters. The AMS Experiment is the most powerful and sensitive particle physics spectrometer ever deployed in space. As seen in Figure 1, AMS is located on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) and since its installation on 19 May 2011 it has measured over 30 billion cosmic rays at energies up to trillions of electron volts. Its permanent magnet and array of precision particle detectors collect and identify charged cosmic rays passing through AMS from the far reaches of space. Over its long duration mission on the ISS, AMS will record signals from 16 billion cosmic rays every year and transmit them to Earth for analysis by the AMS Collaboration. This is the first of many physics results to be reported.

From its vantage point ~260 miles (~400 km) above the Earth, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) collects data from primordial cosmic rays that traverse the detector.

In the initial 18 month period of space operations, from 19 May 2011 to 10 December 2012, AMS analyzed 25 billion primary cosmic ray events. Of these, an unprecedented number, 6.8 million, were unambiguously identified as electrons and their antimatter counterpart, positrons. The 6.8 million particles observed in the energy range 0.5 to 350 GeV are the subject of the precision study reported in this first paper.

Electrons and positrons are identified by the accurate and redundant measurements provided by the various AMS instruments against a large background of protons. Positrons are clearly distinguished from this background through the robust rejection power of AMS of more than one in one million.

Currently, the total number of positrons identified by AMS, in excess of 400,000, is the largest number of energetic antimatter particles directly measured and analyzed from space.”

From AMS at NASA
“The AMS-02 experiment is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that is constructed, tested and operated by an international team composed of 56 institutes from 16 countries and organized under United States Department of Energy (DOE) sponsorship. The JSC (Johnson Space Center) AMS project office oversaw the overall payload integration activities and ensured that the payload is safe and ready for launch on the Space Shuttle and and continues to be safe since its deployment onto the ISS. The AMS Experiment uses the unique environment of space to advance knowledge of the universe and lead to the understanding of the universe’s origin. AMS was launched on Space Shuttle Endeavour on May 16, 2011.” Operations on the ISS began three days later, and AMS continues operations onboard the ISS today.”

Meet CERN in a variety of places:

Cern Courier

THE FOUR MAJOR PROJECT COLLABORATIONS

ATLAS

ALICE

CMS

LHCb

LHC

Quantum Diaries

ScienceSprings is powered by MAINGEAR computers

From Argonne Lab: “FDA approves first bionic eye for the blind”

News from Argonne National Laboratory

February 14, 2013
Tona Kunz

“The U.S. Department of Energy announced today the approval of the first bionic eye for use in the United States. The creation of this retinal prosthesis stems, in part, from DOE support for a decade of revolutionary research with Argonne National Laboratory and several other national labs, universities and companies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the bionic eye for use by individuals with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa.

The Argus II can partially restore the sight of blind individuals after surgical implantation. Clinical trials demonstrated that totally blind individuals could safely use the device to successfully identify the position and approximate size of objects and detect movement of nearby objects and people. Photo courtesy Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.

‘The development of the artificial retina is just one more example of the unique value of our National Laboratories and research universities,’ said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. ‘While no one can predict a breakthrough before it happens, the investments we’re making in research pay enormous dividends for our economy and improve our lives.’”

See the full article here.

Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

ScienceSprings is powered by MAINGEAR computers

Is Astronomy Taking Over This Blog?

Does it seem to the reader of this blog that Astronomy is taking over? Nothing could be further from the truth.

But the output of good and interesting stories from ESO and NASA continues unabated, while the output of new research articles from our great D.O.E. labs, such as Berkeley, Fermilab, Brookhaven, Argonne, and SLAC has become desperately reduced. It is probably to be expected that CERN will be quiet for a while as it digests the findings from the LHC announced last July.

This blog will continue to tell the stories from all of its sources as they become available.

Especially is ESO aware that it is a publicly funded organization. So, too, are our D.O.E. labs publicly funded. Maybe it is time for people to go back and watch Energy Secretary Chu’s “Sputnik Moment” speech, featured here December 1, 2010.

From SLAC News Center: “Extreme Plasma Theories Put to the Test”

August 6, 2012
Andy Freeberg

“The first controlled studies of extremely hot, dense matter have overthrown the widely accepted 50-year-old model used to explain how ions influence each other’s behavior in a dense plasma. The results should benefit a wide range of fields, from research aimed at tapping nuclear fusion as an energy source to understanding the inner workings of stars.

The peaks on this chart represent key energy signatures produced in a dense ultrahot plasma, which for the first time allow detailed measurements of the effects of this plasma environment.

The study also demonstrates the unique capabilities of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. While researchers have created extremely hot and dense plasmas before, LCLS allows them to measure the detailed properties of these states and test a fundamental class of plasma physics for the first time ever.

See the full article here.

‘We don’t think this could have been done elsewhere, said Justin Wark, leader of a group at Oxford University that participated in the study. ‘Having an X-ray laser is key.’”

SLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, California, SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the DOE’s Office of Science.

From SLAC Today: “SLUO Members Take Physics Message to Congress”

[This is the complete article. You can find it at SLAC Today here.]

April 10, 2012
Jack Singal

“It isn’t every day that phrases such as Higgs boson and the cosmic frontier echo through the halls of government. But when physicists from around the country descend upon our nation’s capital each year to talk with Congressional offices and government officials, the tone amongst the cherry blossoms becomes a little more scientific.

The federal government funds almost all basic science research in the United States, including high-energy physics (HEP) and its two subfields, particle physics and particle astrophysics, which are major components of SLAC’s science portfolio. So it is crucial that physicists communicate with elected officials and the public about how important HEP is for the nation’s economic, technological, educational and national security development.

This year, 35 scientists from all over the country, representing the Fermilab Users’ Executive Committee, the U.S. LHC Users Organization and the SLAC User’s Organization (SLUO), participated in the March 21-23 HEP trip to Washington. The group included three postdoctoral researchers and four graduate students from SLUO.

In more than 240 meetings with Congressional offices, the teams discussed the benefits HEP brings to the country through advancing the frontiers of knowledge, providing a backbone for technological innovation and training the nation’s high-tech workforce. The workforce training message was especially well received, as there seems to be a major focus in Congress on addressing shortcomings in “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education and workforce development at all levels.

‘Scientific discovery excites students and encourages them to enter STEM fields – this was certainly true for me, and I see it first-hand in the student groups that come for tours of SLAC,’ said Stanford graduate student Keith Bechtol. ‘And the majority of students trained in high-energy physics ultimately apply their technical and problem-solving skills in careers beyond the academic setting.’

The teams also arranged five meetings with officials from the executive branch, including officials at the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters, the DOE HEP directorship, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Many participants cited the meeting at DOE Headquarters with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Undersecretary William Brinkman as especially interesting. ‘It gave the visitors a chance to hear about the Department’s – and by extension the Administration’s – research priorities from the secretaries themselves,’ said visiting KIPAC postdoctoral researcher Mandeep Gill.

The SLUO team would like to recruit a few more members for next year’s trip, especially particle physicists and astrophysicists with personal or family connections to other areas of the country, and those at the faculty or senior scientist level. ‘The time spent preparing for the trip was well worth it,’ KIPAC postdoc Matthew Kerr said of his experience this year. ‘The level of response from the Congressional offices – both in their willingness to set up meetings during a busy time and in their receptiveness to our message about the importance of funding HEP – was gratifying.’” [Really? Can we have our appropriations cuts reversed?]

Participants in the Washington, D.C., high-energy physics trip on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, including three SLUO representatives: Keith Bechtol (front row, second from left), Matthew Kerr (back row, second from right) and Steven Ehlert (back row, fourth from right).

SLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, California, SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the DOE’s Office of Science.

Advocate for Basic Research at D.O.E. Labs and NASA After the Deficit Reduction Debacle in Washington

The recent deficit super committee debacle in Washington means possible debilitating budget cuts to your D.O.E labs and NASA missions. Please get ready to write, email, phone, your congressional representatives and senators. It’s your tax dollars, folks.

Here’s what’s at risk:

D.O.E.:

Argonne

Ames

Berkeley

Brookhaven

Fermilab

INL

Jefferson

Livermore

Los Alamos

NSCL

Oak Ridge

Pacific Northwest

Princeton Plasma Physics

Sandia

SLAC

US/LHC

The many other aspects of the D.O.E. Office of Science

NASA:

Hubble (Yes, there is still a budget for Hubble)

Fermi

Goddard

Chandra

Herschel

JPL

Kepler

SOFIA

Spitzer

Webb

WISE

All of the other missions, current and future.

Everything is at risk. The U.S. future as a leader in basic scientific research is at risk. Remember the Superconducting Super Collider? Killed off in 1993 by the dimwitted (then Democrat dominated) Congress?

The tax dollars are yours. Visit the D.O.E lab and NASA mission web sites. Look around. See if you think that these are worthy of your tax dollars.

Read back through past entries in this blog, you will see that it is not all High Energy Physics, Astronomy, and rocket science. It is also Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Genetics, Clean and Renewable Energy, Ecology, Climate, you name it, our great labs and NASA missions are there to help make our lives better.

From Argonne Lab: “Batteries get a quick charge with new anode technology”

News from Argonne National Laboratory

Jared Sagoff
November 2, 2011.

“A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, led by Argonne nanoscientist Tijana Rajh and battery expert Christopher Johnson, discovered that nanotubes composed of titanium dioxide can switch their phase as a battery is cycled, gradually boosting their operational capacity. Laboratory tests showed that new batteries produced with this material could be recharged up to half of their original capacity in less than 30 seconds.

By switching out conventional graphite anodes for ones composed of the titanium nanotubes, Rajh and her colleagues witnessed a surprising phenomenon. As the battery cycled through several charges and discharges, its internal structure began to orient itself in a way that dramatically improved the battery’s performance.

‘We did not expect this to happen when we first started working with the material, but the anode spontaneously adopted the best structure,’ Rajh said. ‘There’s an internal kind of plasticity to the system that allows it to change as the battery gets cycled.’

According to Argonne nanoscientist Hui Xiong, who worked with Rajh to develop the new anode material, titanium dioxide seemed like it would be unlikely to adequately substitute for graphite. ‘We started with a material that we never thought would have provided a functional use, and it turned into something that gave us the best result possible,’ she said.”

See the full article here.

Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

From ENERGY.GOV and Argonne Labs: Profiles – Dan Schabacker

Submitted by Niketa Kumar on June 30, 2011
Interview by Louise Lerner

“Dan Schabacker is an Argonne biochemist who works on developing biochips, tiny arrays that identify proteins that can be used to trace the origins of biological agents such as anthrax. Biochips could also be used as diagnostic medical tools for infections and even cancer.

Biochemist Dan Schabacker uses microbial forensics technology — using proteins in microbes to get clues about how they were created — to detect where organisms, such as anthrax spores, came from. | Courtesy of: Argonne National Laboratory.

Dan Schabacker: I was always interested in biology, from grade school through high school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I liked life sciences. So I went to the University of Illinois and majored in biology, and that’s where I got my more specific interest in immunology. Basically, that’s studying how the human immune system responds to attacks. In grad school, my research attempted to exploit the body’s immune system to prevent cocaine from crossing the blood-brain barrier — in essence developing a vaccine to block the euphoric, addictive nature of cocaine.

I was always very practical. Although we certainly need basic science to build on, my particular interest has always been in applied science. So in my Ph.D. program, when we had developed a prototype vaccine for cocaine addiction, we actually made something useful. I liked that.

The tools that we are developing using proteins actually came out of cancer research. In fact, we are currently collaborating with the University of Chicago on a liver cancer project. The technology used is called a natural proteome biochip — when I say “proteome,” I mean all the proteins expressed by an organism at a given time under specified conditions. We place all the proteins, or the proteome, onto our biochip for characterization.

In the case of cancer, we take samples of the tumor and get a “signature” of all the proteins that are expressed by this cancer cell. Then we “interrogate” the signature, looking for differences in protein modification. For example, many times in cancer what you’ll see is aberrant glycosylation or phosphorylation patterns — proteins that are glycosylated or phosphorylated that shouldn’t be, or the other way around. So we identify these changes with our tool and get a set of markers indicative of cancer. This could be a diagnostic test: a doctor would test samples from patients to look for these markers. The ultimate goal is to find cancer earlier, because of course the earlier you can find and treat cancer, the better the patient prognosis.

We have already observed differences in patients with advanced cancer. In one study we compared serum from patients with advanced melanoma to healthy patients, and were able to use our signature analysis to differentiate one group from the other. We’re still working on this project.

I believe what is needed are correlation markers: an array of changes that would indicate cancer — not just a single smoking gun marker. I think that’s where cancer diagnostics is headed. That’s of course from my limited experience in the field.

While working on these cancer projects I thought, why couldn’t we use this for infectious diseases? That’s how we initiated the forensic-type applications that we’re working on now.’ “

See the full article here or here.

From Brookhaven Labs: “Indications of a New Type of Neutrino Oscillation at the T2K Experiment”

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

“The international T2K collaboration announced today that they have observed an indication of a new type of neutrino transformation or oscillation from a muon neutrino to an electron neutrino.

The T2K beamline

Neutrinos come in three types, or “flavors”: electron, muon, and tau. In the T2K experiment in Japan, a muon neutrino beam was produced in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, called J-PARC, located in Tokai village, Ibaraki prefecture, on the east coast of Japan, and was aimed at the gigantic Super-Kamiokande underground detector in Kamioka, near the west coast of Japan, 295 km (185 miles) away from Tokai. An analysis of the detected neutrino-induced events in the Super-Kamiokande detector indicates that a very small number of muon neutrinos traveling from Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) transformed themselves into electron neutrinos.

The US T2K collaborating team consists of approximately 70 members (Boston University, Brookhaven National Lab, UC Irvine, University of Colorado, Colorado State University, Duke University, Louisiana State University, Stony Brook University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, and University of Washington [Seattle]) is funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science. The US groups have built superconducting corrector magnets, proton beam monitor electronics, the 2nd neutrino horn, and a GPS time synchronization system for the T2K neutrino beam line; and a pi-zero detector and a side muon range detector (partial detector) in the T2K near detector complex. They also are part of the team that built, upgraded, and operates the Super-Kamiokande detector.”

See the full article here.