Jets of particles streaming out of bright galaxies operate differently than previously thought. This revelation will help theorists craft better models of how the universe's biggest accelerators work.
Scientists may be able to limit the prevalence of a deadly food toxin thanks to recent work conducted at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource.
Excess particles that build up in a collider's beam pipe are the scourge of high-energy particle physics experiments. Recent research seeks to remove these particle clouds, clearing the way for cleaner collisions.
SLAC plays an important role in the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, helping both to design and operate the detector and to analyze the astounding amount of data that's beginning to emerge.
If researchers can learn to understand and tame high-temperature superconductors, they may be able to improve power generation and the efficiency of solar cells and enable smaller electronics, to name just a few applications.
Scientists at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source seek to understand the nano-world by taking stop-motion pictures of atoms and molecules in motion, shedding light on the fundamental processes of chemistry, technology, and life itself.
For centuries, the field of archaeology has depended on what's visible to the naked eye. Now, researchers are revealing what lies beneath the surface of a key evolutionary fossil, Darwin's "dinobird."
The Big Bang created an equal number of particles and antiparticles. But we don't ever come into contact with antiparticles, and scientists don’t see any out there in the universe. What happened to all the antimatter? In a way, antimatter is the flip side of matter. Each subatomic particle has an antiparticle with the same mass but the opposite charge.
Scientists know dark matter exists because they can see its gravitational effects on galaxies. But because it gives off no light or heat, it's invisible to modern telescopes—unless you know exactly how to look for it. Recently, researchers from the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology observed the separation of dark matter from ordinary matter in the “bullet cluster,” three billion light years away.
What if it were possible to build a particle accelerator to explore energies beyond even that of the proposed 30 kilometer International Linear Collider - at a fraction of the size, power consumption and cost? SLAC physicists are studying new accelerator technology, called plasma wakefield acceleration, that could make it possible.
SLAC's two major X-ray user facilities support a variety of protein folding studies with applications in medicine, environmental, ecological and basic life sciences.
Water, by any measure, is strange stuff. It behaves unlike any other liquid. It has a tremendous capacity for carrying heat—which is how the Gulf Stream keeps Europe warm. Water's solid phase—ice—is less dense than the liquid, which is why ice floats; life on Earth as we know it could never have formed if oceans and lakes froze from the bottom up. Water also has unusually strong surface tension—a property essential for the capillary action at work in the roots of plants and within our cells. These strange properties are what make water such an essential substance to the existence of life.
Hydrogen - the most plentiful element in the universe - could play a role in meeting the world's demand for energy while reducing our dependence on carbon-based fuels. Although hydrogen has piqued the interest of researchers as a clean, renewable energy resource, a number of major obstacles remain before a system for producing and using hydrogen can supplant fossil fuel usage in a meaningful way.
Arsenic contamination of underground water supplies is a major problem around the world. Studies of how different forms of arsenic deposit in the ground at different depths and move through the water system are helping prevent arsenic poisoning, especially in developing nations like Bangladesh.