Chemistry & Catalysis
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Scientists Take First Dip into Water’s Mysterious ‘No Man’s Land’
Scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made the first structural observations of liquid water at temperatures down to minus 51 degrees Fahrenheit, within an elusive “no man’s land” where water’s strange properties are super-amplified.
Stanford ChEM-H: Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health
Given a year to mature, the Institute for Chemical Biology is relaunching under a new name that better reflects its vision of bringing Stanford's unique interdisciplinary culture to bear at a new frontier of chemistry.
Five Years of Illumination: SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source
Five years ago, the brightest source of X-rays on the planet lit up at SLAC. The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser's scientific and technical progress since its momentous "first light" have been no less luminous, say those who have played a role in its success.
Scientists Say New Catalyst Could Lead to Clean, Low-Cost Methanol Production
An international research team has discovered a potentially clean, low-cost way to convert carbon dioxide into methanol, a key ingredient in the production of plastics, adhesives and solvents, and a promising fuel for transportation.
LAMP: A New Tool Turns On at SLAC's X-ray Laser
A 2-ton instrument the size of a compact car, now available at SLAC's X-ray laser, makes it possible to capture more detailed images of atoms, molecules, nanoscale features of solids, and individual particles such as viruses and airborne soot.
SLAC Researchers Team Up on Potential Fuel Cell Advance
A discovery by SLAC researchers into how chemical reactions take place on a platinum catalyst could lead to more efficient, less costly fuel cells.
Scientists Prove X-ray Laser Can Solve Protein Structures from Scratch
A study shows for the first time that X-ray lasers can be used to generate a complete 3-D model of a protein without any prior knowledge of its structure.
Will 2-D Tin be the Next Super Material?
A single layer of tin atoms could be the world’s first material to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips operate.
Breakthrough Research Shows Chemical Reaction in Real Time
The ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) have enabled unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step in the effort to develop cleaner and more efficient energy sources.
Unexpected Allies Help Bacteria Clean Uranium From Groundwater
Since 2009, SLAC scientist John Bargar has led a team using synchrotron-based X-ray techniques to study bacteria that help clean uranium from groundwater in a process called bioremediation. Their initial goal was to discover how the bacteria do it and determine the best way to help, but during the course of their research the team made an even more important discovery: Nature thinks bigger than that.
