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Little is known about the chemistry that produces minerals in the deep regions of Earth or that creates the ammonia oceans of the outer planets and moons. What is known is that an element's fundamental properties--its optical, structural, electrical, and magnetic characteristics--can completely change when it is put under extreme conditions.

With youthful enthusiasm, hundreds of scientists will explore Nature's Greatest Puzzles at the SLAC Summer Institute (SSI) on August 2-13.

Materials scientists and computational chemists have found new ways of combining quantum dots and segmented nanorods into custom-tailored multiply branching forms, and they have applied new ways to calculate the electronic properties of these nanostructures, whose dimensions are measured in billionths of a meter.

In a boost for homeland security, the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) will soon be able to track and predict the movement of chemical and biological agents and other hazardous material indoors as well as outdoors.

In Hawaii, SNIFS, the Supernova Integral Field Spectrograph built by the international Nearby Supernova Factory, achieved "first light" the morning of Tuesday, June 8, with acquisition of its first astronomical target, the Type Ia supernova SN 2004ca. A separate observation of supernova SN 2004cr on June 20th confirmed that SNIFS is meeting its goals as a remarkable new tool for observing Type Ia supernovae, "standard candles" used to measure the expansion of the universe.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute will announce the completion of the genetic blueprints of the organisms, Phytophthora ramorum, the cause of Sudden Oak Death (SOD) and its cousin, Phytophthora sojae, responsible for soybean disease.

Researchers are closer now to thwarting two related plant pathogens, one causing "Sudden Oak Death" (SOD) and another responsible for a devastating soybean disease, thanks to the DNA sequence produced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), in collaboration with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI). The projects received nearly $4 million in support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the DOE in this multi-agency effort.

More than 2,600 physicists agree that the hunt for heavier particles, dark matter and supersymmetry requires an international linear collider (LC)--but the open question is whether to use 'warm' or 'cold' technology to accelerate the electrons and positrons to the massive energies needed.

Gravity is the glue that holds together huge objects such as planets and galaxies. After looking at scores of galaxies, however, physicists realized something was amiss. On the outskirts of rotating galaxies, for example, stars were moving too fast for the galaxies to hold together by the gravity from the stars alone.

One of the most daunting scientific and engineering challenges today is ensuring the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear arsenal. To effectively meet that challenge, scientists need better data showing how plutonium, a key component of nuclear warheads, behaves under extreme pressures and temperatures. On July 8, 2003, Lawrence Livermore researchers performed the inaugural experiment of a 30-meter-long, two-stage gas gun designed to obtain those data.