E-Mail
In less than a second, a small sensor used in brain chemistry research can detect the key molecules that provide the genetic instructions for life, RNA and DNA, a new study from American University shows.
The AU researchers believe the sensor is a useful tool for scientists engaged in clinical research to measure DNA metabolism, and that the sensor could be a quick way for lab clinicians to distinguish healthy from sick samples and determine if a pathogen is fungal, bacterial, or viral, before conducting further analysis.
To explore whether the sensors could detect RNA and DNA, Alexander Zestos, assistant professor of chemistry, teamed up with John Bracht, associate professor of biology, to test a new method for detection of RNA and DNA. Both professors are part of AU s Center for Neuroscience and Behavior, which brings together researchers from a variety of fields to investigate the brain and its role in behavior.
E-Mail
IMAGE: Physicist C.S. Chang with figure showing turbulence eddies in an ITER plasma edge (green) with the heat-load footprint on the material wall carried by escaping hot plasma particles. Model simulated. view more
Credit: Photo by Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications. Simulation and image from Robert Hager and Seung-Hoe Ku.
Efforts to duplicate on Earth the fusion reactions that power the sun and stars for unlimited energy must contend with extreme heat-load density that can damage the doughnut-shaped fusion facilities called tokamaks, the most widely used laboratory facilities that house fusion reactions, and shut them down. These loads flow against the walls of what are called divertor plates that extract waste heat from the tokamaks.
Loading video.
VIDEO: Videos of test detonations at Sandia National Laboratories of thin explosive films, about as thick as a few pieces of notebook paper. view more
Credit: Sandia National Laboratories
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Using thin films no more than a few pieces of notebook paper thick of a common explosive chemical, researchers from Sandia National Laboratories studied how small-scale explosions start and grow. Sandia is the only lab in the U.S. that can make such detonatable thin films.
These experiments advanced fundamental knowledge of detonations. The data were also used to improve a Sandia-developed computer-modeling program used by universities, private companies and the Department of Defense to simulate how large-scale detonations initiate and propagate.
E-Mail
Texas A&M University researchers have recently shown superior performance of a new oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy they developed for use in both fission and fusion reactors.
Dr. Lin Shao, professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, worked alongside research scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Hokkaido University to create the next generation of high-performance ODS alloys, and so far they are some of the strongest and best-developed metals in the field.
ODS alloys consist of a combination of metals interspersed with small, nanometer-sized oxide particles and are known for their high creep resistance. This means that as temperatures rise, the materials keep their shape instead of deforming. Many ODS alloys can withstand temperatures up to 1,000 C and are typically used in power generation and engines within aerospace engineering, as well as cutlery.