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Research lab

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

US Department of Energy national laboratory, operated by Stanford University, specializing in particle physics, accelerator science, and X-ray research.

Known aliases

  • SLAC

Current stories

scienceOne report1 publisher

X-ray laser movies show a water molecule holding steady in the cancer-linked enzyme AspH

Oxford-led researchers used SLAC's LCLS X-ray laser to follow AspH and IPNS step by step and made observations calculations had not predicted. In AspH an iron-bound water stayed stable through catalysis, and phys.org's account says such insights could inspire new therapeutics.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence55
scienceOne report1 publisher

Oxford researchers film the fleeting steps an enzyme takes to build penicillin's ring

Oxford researchers used X-ray lasers to film the enzyme IPNS building penicillin's beta-lactam ring, catching steps that last fractions of a second. Enzyme engineers now have a detailed starting point, but any benefit against resistant bacteria is further off.

Publishers:genengnews.com phys.org

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives45
Confidence60
scienceOne report1 publisher

Ultrafast X-rays catch water reorganizing in step with a light-driven proton-coupled electron transfer

PNNL-led researchers used ultrafast X-rays at SLAC to watch a molecule's electrons shift as it gained a proton while the surrounding water reorganized in step. That pins down timing in one reaction, though whether the water actually drives the proton hop, the part a catalyst designer could use, is still open.

Publishers:sciencedaily.com

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+30
Incentives55
Confidence50
scienceOne report1 publisher

One transmon reads and writes seven quantum memory cells through a buffer cavity

Physicists at Stanford, the University of Chicago and SLAC let one superconducting qubit address seven memory cells, at about 1.2% error per access. The tests measured access error, much of it from crosstalk between cells, so the promised cut in wiring per qubit is still a design argument.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives40
Confidence55
productOne report1 publisher

ORNL's STAR Lab hunts the battery failures that only show up in a finished cell

Oak Ridge's STAR Lab tests sulfide solid-state and sulfur chemistries as complete cells, because the particle gaps, interface reactions and swelling that kill them do not appear in a materials test. Its results are scored against USABC metrics.

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+12
Incentives65
Confidence58
scienceOne report1 publisher

Rubin Observatory aimed its first research image and catalog at the well-studied COSMOS deep field

The LSST Camera's first image released for science stacks hundreds of exposures of the COSMOS field, where Hubble worked two decades ago, and Rubin's deputy director calls the field a testing ground for the ten-year survey.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption35
Hype gap+20
Incentives60
Confidence60
productOne report1 publisher

NIST cuts X-ray energy uncertainty up to eightfold for uranium, plutonium and neptunium

Transition-edge sensors cooled near absolute zero measured the X-ray lines that sit inside the gamma-ray band used to identify nuclear material. Anyone who wants one also has to buy the refrigerator that keeps it cold.

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption55
Hype gap+20
Incentives70
Confidence50
scienceOne report1 publisher

SLAC turns its electron camera into a radiation source to catch light before the glow

Stanford and SLAC found the early optical signal they went looking for in common II-VI semiconductors, but the geometry that revealed it has to know when the radiation arrived, which a working detector never does.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+28
Incentives65
Confidence52
productOne report1 publisher

Squeezing the electrolyte turned lithium dendrites sideways in SLAC's test cells

Compression let the needles keep growing sideways inside the ceramic instead of into the electrodes. That hands a large part of the solid-state failure problem to whoever specifies stack pressure in the module.

Reality

Evidence56
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+24
Incentives55
Confidence45