Story tips From the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, March 2012
Batch 2
2012-03-15
(Press-News.org) MATERIALS -- POWGEN open for business . . .
The Spallation Neutron Source's Powder Diffractometer POWGEN has launched a rapid access sample mail-in system for users who use the flexible general-purpose instrument for a wide range of structural studies of novel materials. The instrument will be made available to rapid access users for a few days each cycle, offering data collection for two temperatures between 12 degrees Kelvin and 300 degrees Kelvin per sample. Users with a new material to test will not have wait six months for beam time. If response is good, the instrument could run tests on as many as 24 mail-in samples over two days. The instrument scientists would send back the data to the users. POWGEN specializes in magnetic materials such as high-Technitium superconductors and metal insulator phase transitions as well as nonmagnetic materials, polycrystalline materials for pharmaceutical compounds, metals and semi-conductors and new battery materials. [Written by Agatha Bardoel; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
CHEMISTRY -- Unraveling methane's structure . . .
Considering how ubiquitous it is on earth, methane (natural gas) at the molecular level is a scientific unknown. To understand it and to manage it both as energy and as an environmental hazard, scientists need to know more about its molecular structure. A neutron diffraction study at the Spallation Neutrons and Pressure Diffractometer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has successfully mapped the structure of methane and water cages, known as clathrates, under more than half a million pounds of pressure per square inch. The researchers came up with a new potential ─ a new calculation of the repulsion force that exists between methane molecules in these cages ─ that indicated there were five methane molecule "guests" inside the enlarged polyhedral structures that emerged under the high-pressure conditions. [Written by Agatha Bardoel; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
BIOLOGY -- Model tells the story . . .
Casein micelles in milk, stabilized by molecules of κ-casein, are the building blocks of dairy products such as yogurt and cheese and the vehicle for delivering calcium phosphate to newborns. Several models for the internal structure of these have been proposed. Using contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering at the General Purpose SANS instrument at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor, researchers have confirmed that one model prevails: Casein micelles are composed of a protein matrix in which the calcium phosphate nanoclusters (about 300 per casein micelle) are dispersed. The protein matrix has local density fluctuations that may be ascribed to the hydrophobic interactions of these proteins. A new method was developed and used to calculate the scattering spectra of composite particles. [Written by Agatha Bardoel; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
CHEMISTRY -- Workshop helps student earn publication . . .
An Oregon State University graduate student has successfully turned her participation in a two-day POWGEN Neutron Diffraction workshop at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source into a published paper in the Journal of Solid State Chemistry. Participants at the workshop in September were invited to bring their own samples for analysis on the time of flight diffractometer. They received training on the instrument and then were taught how to collect and analyze the data. Rosa Grajczyk, a second-year PhD student in chemistry working on structural properties of new materials, brought a solid solution of indium-gallium-magnesium-oxide to the workshop as part of her thesis work. "The amount of detail that went into the workshop was incredible," Grajczyk said, "and I was facilitated by the helpfulness of everyone at the facility." Her paper on the lattice structure of the new material was accepted in the Journal of Solid State Chemistry. [Written by Agatha Bardoel; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
PHYSICS -- Searching for 'supersolidity' . . .
Theoretical physicists have long predicted the existence of a quantum state of matter they call "supersolidity," in which solid helium-4 loses its viscosity and flows like a liquid. Researchers are using the Spallation Neutron Source in a series of studies to pin down whether this paradoxical new state of matter can be demonstrated. The experiments involve growing crystals of solid helium inside a one-of-a-kind sample cell at almost absolute zero temperature and crushing pressure. The scientists have seen tantalizing signs of what they are seeking, but not proof, as yet. The experiments are continuing.
[Written by Deborah Counce; media contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
INFORMATION: END
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2012-03-15
Broader screening to identify people infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) would likely be cost effective, according to a new report published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online (http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/27/cid.cis011.abstract). Significantly reducing HCV-related mortality and morbidity, however, will require a coordinated effort that emphasizes not only increased testing but also linking those infected with the treatment they need.
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Troy, N.Y. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Biologist Lee Ligon has found a previously unknown connection between breast cancer tumor cells and the surrounding healthy tissue. The results provide new information on the earliest stages of breast cancer metastasis.
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2012-03-15
A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos – nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. The message was sent through 240 meters of stone and said simply, "Neutrino."
"Using neutrinos, it would be possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables," said Dan Stancil, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. ...
2012-03-15
Macdonald Compleat Angler, which overlooks the River Thames at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, has introduced a new market lunch menu including some of the best fresh, spring provenance. The tempting dishes, created by Head Chef David Smith, will be served in the hotel's AA two rosette Bowaters restaurant Monday to Saturday from 12.30 until 2.30pm.
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2012-03-15
This press release is available in French.Montreal -- Canada defines itself as a nation that stretches from coast to coast to coast. But can we keep those coasts healthy in the face of climate change? Yves Gélinas, associate professor in Concordia's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has found the solution in a surprising element: iron.
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2012-03-15
Enduring subtle, insidious acts of racial discrimination is enough to depress anyone, but African-American men who believe that they should respond to stress with stoicism and emotional control experience more depression symptoms, according to new findings from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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2012-03-15
A new study of the composition of pine nuts, including those associated with "pine mouth," leaves unsolved the decade-old mystery of why thousands of people around the world have experienced disturbances in taste after eating pine nuts. The report on pine nuts or pignolia — delicious edible nuts from pine trees enjoyed plain or added to foods ranging from pasta to cookies — appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.
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2012-03-15
A simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria — even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax — in minutes, scientists are reporting in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. They describe a range of potential uses for this new killer silk, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax.
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[Press-News.org] Story tips From the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, March 2012
Batch 2
