An X-ray burst (XRB) is a violent explosion that occurs on the surface of a neutron star as it absorbs material from a companion star. During this absorption, increasing temperatures and densities on the surface of the neutron star ignite a cascade of thermonuclear reactions ..read more

Chemical reactions are complex mechanisms. Many different dynamic processes are involved, affecting both the electrons and the nucleus of the present atoms. Very often, the strongly coupled electron and nuclear dynamics induce radiation-less relaxation processes known as conical intersections. Such dynamics, which are at the basis of many biological and chemical relevant functions, are extremely difficult to detect experimentally ..read more

Researchers at Rice University have successfully synthesized a group of natural compounds known as fusicoccanes. The molecules found in various living organisms exhibit diverse biological activities, including the ability to modulate protein-protein interactions within biological systems ..read more

New discoveries about Jupiter could lead to a better understanding of Earth's own space environment and influence a long-running scientific debate about the solar system's largest planet ..read more

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) measured a new record for a fusion device internally clad in tungsten, the element that could be the best fit for the commercial-scale machines required to make fusion a viable energy source for the world ..read more

To preserve the important intertidal areas and salt marshes off our coasts for the future, we need more turbid water. That is one of the striking conclusions from a new study conducted by a Dutch-Chinese team of researchers and published in Nature Geoscience ..read more

In the 1940s and 1950s, the ocean off the coast of Los Angeles was a dumping ground for the nation's largest manufacturer of the pesticide DDT—a chemical now known to harm humans and wildlife. Due to the stubborn chemistry of DDT and its toxic breakdown products, this pollution continues to plague L.A.'s coastal waters more than half a century later. While legal at the time, details of this industrial-scale pollution of the marine environment at a dump site some 15 miles offshore near Catalina Island have deeply concerned scientists and the public since they gained wider recognition in 2020 ..read more

Researchers from the University of Basel and the NCCR SPIN have achieved the first controllable interaction between two hole spin qubits in a conventional silicon transistor. The breakthrough opens up the possibility of integrating millions of these qubits on a single chip using mature manufacturing processes ..read more

A pressure of 3,000 bar is applied to the cold shock protein B of Bacillus subtilis in a small tube in the NMR spectroscopy laboratory at the University of Konstanz. This is roughly three times the water pressure at the deepest point of the ocean. The pressure is so intense that the highly dynamic protein shows structural features that would not be sufficiently visible under normal pressure ..read more

Plans to unite the capabilities of two cutting-edge technological facilities promise to usher in a new era of dynamic structural biology. Through DOE's Integrated Research Infrastructure, or IRI, initiative, the facilities will complement each other's technologies in the pursuit of science despite being nearly 2,500 miles apart ..read more