SLAC topics

Environmental science RSS feed

Where can we find clean drinking water? How can we remove excess carbon dioxide from the oceans? When can a contaminated site be declared clean? Molecular environmental scientists look for answers to big questions like these by zooming in on their smallest components: Chemical reactions taking place at the scale of molecules and atoms.

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Energy sciences

 Using X-ray techniques to target long-lived groundwater contamination at former uranium ore processing sites.

News Feature

Researchers will use SLAC’s X-ray light source to probe 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossils at the atomic level.

Jurassic Mile
News Feature

Researchers mapped trace elements within Pleistocene fossils to learn about the life of a long-extinct subspecies of spotted hyena.

Spotted hyena
Press Release

In a major step forward, SLAC’s X-ray laser captures all four stable states of the process that produces the oxygen we breathe, as well...

Atomic movie
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A new study reveals that organic matter whose breakdown would yield only minimal energy for hungry microorganisms preferentially builds up in floodplains, illuminating a...

News Feature

Scientists at SLAC and Stanford have identified active carbon catalysts and developed an electrochemical cell designed to purify water in small villages.

News Feature

The contaminant binds to organic matter in sediments, which increases persistence in groundwater.

Press Release

Researchers at SLAC and Stanford have created a nanostructured device, about half the size of a postage stamp, that harnesses more of the sun's...

A researcher holds a tiny device that uses sunlight to disinfect water.
News Feature

The White House announced $50 million in funding for ‘Battery500’, a five year effort, as part of a package of initiatives to accelerate adoption...

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In an important step toward handling the nation’s uranium milling legacy, researchers try to understand why contamination at remediated uranium processing sites continues to...

News Feature

Scientists have used SLAC’s X-ray laser to produce detailed images of tiny cellular structures that play a major role in Earth’s life-sustaining carbon cycle.

Image - A geometric structure from a bacterial cell, called a carboxysome, is struck by an X-ray pulse (purple) at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
News Feature

A new experimental station in development at SLAC will expand capabilities for atomic-scale explorations in human health, biology, energy and environmental science.

Image - This artistic rendering shows planned instrumentation for a Macromolecular Femtosecond Crystallography (MFX) experimental station at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source. MFX will expand LCLS's capacity and flexibility for biological experiments.
News Feature
VIA Symmetry Magazine

When Research Worlds Collide

Particle physicists and scientists from other disciplines are finding ways to help one another answer critical questions.