Brookhaven National Laboratory

Trapping noble gases???? This scanning electron microscope image shows cobalt metal powder coated with silica nanocages at a scale of one micrometer. Stony Brook University's Laiba Bilal captured this image at #CFNatBrookhaven while researching ways to trap xenon, a rare noble gas, using nanocages. These cage-like, porous structures are typically made of silicon and oxygen, and they measure only billionths of a meter in size. The metal powder offers a high surface area, significantly enhancing the efficiency and scalability of xenon capture. Trapping noble gases is desirable to improve the efficiency of nuclear reactors, prevent operational failures due to increasing gas pressures, reduce radioactive nuclear waste, and detect nuclear weapons tests. Xenon also has vital applications in the production of medical isotopes and spacecraft propulsion.

To recycle methane in the atmosphere, researchers worldwide are studying catalysts that can convert methane into useable fuels. Now, scientists have developed one that is inexpensive, performs well, and works at room temperature. American Chemical Society #Catalysis #NSLSII

Are you an early career scientist with training in a discipline that relates to our mission? If so, we encourage you to apply for our new fellowship, the Raymond Davis Jr. Fellowship. Fellows will be hired in research staff scientist positions for four years, working closely with a Brookhaven sponsor to pursue their research interests. They will receive full benefits, a highly competitive salary, and a stipend for research support, including funding for a postdoctoral researcher. Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/4f9Pznr

This surprising finding could lead to new ways of controlling light.

The new Brookhaven Women In Science mentorship program, which consists of monetary awards of up to $10,000 per year, enables recipients to establish educational initiatives in their own communities. #WomenInSTEM

Brookhaven atmospheric scientist Chongai Kuang explores what researchers will learn from ARM User Facility's atmospheric observatory in Bankhead National Forest. #AtmosphericScience

#NSLSII computational scientist Thomas Caswell has been awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration to support the development and maintenance of Matplotlib and Cartopy. Matplotlib is a popular Python library used for creating static, interactive, and animated data visualizations such as plots and graphs. Cartopy is built on top of Matplotlib to produce maps and other geospatial data analyses.

Promethium may be easy to spot on the periodic table, but it is aptly classified as a “rare-earth metal.” How rare is this element? At any given time, only about one pound of promethium occurs naturally on Earth. As part of a groundbreaking study, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists brought 40 to 50% of the world's purified promethium to #NSLSII, where it was measured using X-ray absorption spectroscopy for the first time. Nearly 80 years after its initial discovery, these measurements exposed elusive properties of this element, advancing scientists’ understanding of the lanthanide series.

We have a remarkable group of speakers scheduled to present at our Decades of Discovery celebration, including: ?? Brookhaven Lab Director JoAnne Hewett ?? Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting ?? distinguished physicist Martin Breidenbach ?? former Brookhaven Lab Director Nicholas Samios ?? historian Robert Crease

Take a look at the world’s highest voltage polarized electron gun. It speeds up the velocity of electrons to 80% the speed of light! This key piece of technology puts the E in EIC. #ElectronIonCollider. Though it's nothing like the type of gun that signals the start of a race, this direct-current, laser-driven polarized electron gun will serve as a starting gun of sorts for one of the EIC’s streams of colliding particles. It will produce and fire off the electrons that make their way into and around the 2.4-mile-circumference circular collider.