Approximately 1,700 scientists visit SSRL annually to conduct experiments in broad disciplines including life sciences, materials, environmental science, and accelerator physics. Science highlights featured here and in our monthly newsletter, Headlines, increase the visibility of user science as well as the important contribution of SSRL in facilitating basic and applied scientific research. Many of these scientific highlights have been included in reports to funding agencies and have been picked up by other media. Users are strongly encouraged to contact us when exciting results are about to be published. We can work with users and the SLAC Office of Communication to develop the story and to communicate user research findings to a much broader audience.
Science Highlight Archive Science Highlight Banner Images
Techniques for Identifying and Mapping Iron Species in Geologic Samples
Iron, one of the most abundant metals on Earth’s surface, often dominates t
Controlling Protein Aggregation: Lessons from Fungi
Unlike all other fatal infectious agents, which contain DNA and/or RNA, prions—the perpetrators behind Creutzfeldt-Jakob and mad cow diseases—are composed only of a protein
Symmetry Breaking Orbital Anisotropy in Iron-based Superconductors
Over the past 25 years, two families of materials have been discovered that allow electricity to flow without resistance at surprisingly high temperatures.
Crystal Structures of Two Viral IRES RNA Domains Bound to the 70S Ribosome
Viruses are dependent on the cellular machinery of their host cells, and often evolve tricks that allow them to sidestep the usual cellular protocols and more efficiently take advant
Structure Determination of an Oxidized Enzyme Intermediate
At times, different observational tools do not give the same answer when measuring the same thing. Such was the case when looking at the metalloenzyme transition
Hydrogen Storage in Platinum-Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Composites at Near Ambient Conditions through "Spillover" Mechanism
To expand the use of hydrogen in mobile applications—such as hydrogen-powered buses and cars—researchers will need to design lightweight, compact means of storing it.
From a Single-Band Metal to a High-Temperature Superconductor via Two Thermal Phase Transitions
The nature of the pseudogap, which exists above the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of high-Tc cuprate superconductors, is one of the most important unsolved problems in condensed matter physics.
Collaborate on Science Highlights
We can work with users and the SLAC Office of Communication to develop the story and to communicate user research findings to a much broader audience.