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.
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Ancient Warriors and the Origin of Chinese Purple
In 1974, while sinking irrigation wells in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, a group of farmers made an astonishing archeological discovery.
Delocalized Molecular Orbitals of the [6Fe6S] Cluster of the FeFe-Hydrogenase
The FeFe-hydrogenases are of great interest because they can catalyze both the forward and reversed dihydrogen uptake/evolution reactions.
Femtosecond Lattice Dynamics in Photoexcited Bismuth
In a recent experiment performed at SLAC and reported in the February 2 issue of Science, David Fritz and his SPPS colleagues have obtained our first direct view of the motion of atoms inside a crystal. This feat requires simultaneous Angstrom spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution.
Multiple Reference Fourier Transform Holography: Five Images for the Price of One
Scientists at SSRL have demonstrated a novel approach for improving the efficiency of an x-ray microscopy technique that may in particular prove beneficial for imaging radiation-sensitive objec
A New Slant on a Cellular Balancing Act — the Copper-sensing Repressor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Scientists have discovered a gene for a protein that regulates the cellular response to copper in the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
Structure of the MTIP-MyoA Complex, a Key Component of the Malaria Parasite Invasion Motor
Researchers from the University of Washington working at SSRL have solved the structure of a protein complex that may one day be exploited to combat drug-resistant strands of the parasite that causes ma
Pseudogap and Superconducting Gap in High-Temperature Superconductors
Scientists at Stanford University have recently made an important discovery about the coexistence of two distinct energy gaps in photoemission spectra of high temperature superconductors.
Compositions of Stardust Impact Tracks and Terminal Particles in Aerogel by Hard X-ray Microprobe at SSRL
An international collaboration that included researchers at SSRL has used x-ray scanning microprobe fluorescence techniques at BL6-2 to characterize the elemental chemistry of samples from comet 81P
Structural Studies of the Didomain of a 6-Deoxyerythronolide B Synthase: Largest Structure/Asymmetic Unit Solved by MAD Technique
Researchers have obtained the highest-resolution image of a didomain structure in a modular polyketide synthase (PKS), revealing new structural features.
Structural Basis of Transciption: Role of the Trigger Loop in Substrate Specificity and Catalysis
Life as we know it depends on turning on and off the proper genes at the correct time. This process of gene expression starts when an RNA message is copied from DNA.
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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.