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.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
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.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives45
- Confidence60
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.
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives55
- Confidence50
Femtosecond electron imaging at SLAC shows copper holding crystalline order past the collapse point simulations predicted. The mismatch came down to one pressure assumption.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives40
- Confidence60
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.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives40
- Confidence55
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
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.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption35
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives60
- Confidence60
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
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.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+28
- Incentives65
- Confidence52
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