NEWS RELEASES

DOE Funded News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Jun-2026 01:16 ET (23-Jun-2026 05:16 GMT/UTC)

9-Apr-2026

Search for dark matter intensifies as leading detector reaches milestone

Deep underground in a Canadian mine, scientists have cooled a massive refrigerator to nearly 1,000 times colder than outer space, a key milestone in the search for dark matter. The achievement enables Texas A&M-designed detectors at the core of the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment at SNOLAB in Ontario to reach the extreme sensitivity needed to spot interactions from elusive “light dark matter."

Journal: Physical Review D

1-Apr-2026

Paul Ohodnicki leads team developing transformers for high-voltage DC power grid

University of Pittsburgh
Grant and Award Announcement

A part of DC-GRIDS, Ohodnicki will be working with NCSU to expand the capacity and reliability of the power grid

31-Mar-2026

USC scientists build a memory chip that survives temperatures hotter than lava

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For decades, that thermal ceiling has been one of the hardest walls in engineering.A team at the University of Southern California may have just found a way around it. In a study in Science, researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC School of Advanced Computing report a new type of electronic memory device that kept working reliably at 700 degrees Celsius, hotter than molten lava and far beyond anything previously achieved in its class. The device showed no signs of reaching its limit. Seven hundred degrees was simply as hot as their testing equipment could go.

Journal: Science
Funder: Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Research Laboratory, US Air Force Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratory

31-Mar-2026

Quantum magnetism: FSU researchers demonstrate spin-flip process in atomic nucleus does not account for all magnetic behavior

Florida State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study conducted by Department of Physics researchers using the John D. Fox Superconducting Linear Accelerator Laboratory at Florida State University examined titanium-50 nuclei and showed that a long‑standing explanation for where magnetism in atomic nuclei comes from does not fully work for titanium‑50. The research, which was published in Physical Review Letters, suggests that scientists may need to rethink how they explain nuclear magnetism.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: German Research Foundation, Institute of Atomic Physics in Romania, Romanian Ministry of Research

30-Mar-2026

Unexpected potential bacterial symbiosis found in fungus that causes angular leaf spot

American Phytopathological Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have uncovered an unexpected microbial relationship that could help explain differences in the severity of a major disease affecting common beans. The discovery sheds light on how the pathogen evolves and may point to new strategies for breeding disease-resistant crops and reducing reliance on chemical pesticides.

Journal: Phytopathology
Funder: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service

26-Mar-2026

One-of-a-kind experiment tracked plant evolution in response to climate change at 30 sites worldwide

University of California - Berkeley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A unique experiment led by a UC Berkeley biologist enlisted researchers from Europe, the Middle East and U.S. to plant 12 plots of Arabidopsis at 30 sites representing different climates and leave them for five years to adapt or die. A genome analysis of yearly flower clippings from the 360 plots showed how allele frequency changed as the plant populations evolved. Populations at the warmest sites were least likely to find a genetic path to survival.

Journal: Science

24-Mar-2026

Pitt-led research demonstrates programmable superconducting diode at the LAO/KTO interface

University of Pittsburgh
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of researchers led by the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated a programmable superconducting diode at the LaAlO3/KTaO3 (LAO/KTO) interface as the result of usiung conductive atomic force microscope (c-AFM) lithography.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Naval Research, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

19-Mar-2026

Carefully controlled atoms make renewables more viable for plastics and fuels production

Washington State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A catalyst developed by a Washington State University research team efficiently converts abundant, renewable ethanol into valuable molecules needed for production of plastics, fuels, and everyday products.

Journal: Chem Catalysis