OSTIblog Posts by Kathy Chambers

Graphene’s Humble Creation and Promising Future

Published on Jan 05, 2015

Sometimes the ordinary things we use every day can lead to extraordinary discoveries.  This was truly the case when physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov used the humble adhesive tape to extract single layers of graphene from graphite. 

Although graphene had been theorized years before, it was thought to be impossible to isolate such thin crystalline materials in a laboratory.  Geim and Novoselov not only exfoliated their thin sheets of graphene, they transferred them to a silicon substrate, the standard working material in the semiconductor industry and did electrical characterization on the graphite layers.  

ACME - Perfecting Earth System Models

Published on Oct 29, 2014

Earth system modeling as we know it and how it benefits climate change research is about to transform with the newly launched Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME) project sponsored by the Earth System Modeling program within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research.  ACME is an unprecedented collaboration among eight national laboratories, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, four academic institutions, and one private-sector company to develop and apply the most complete, leading-edge climate and earth system models to the most challenging and demanding climate-change issues.

Stretchable electronics - a new way to monitor health using microfluidics

Published on Aug 19, 2014

Thanks to microfluidics, you may soon be able to easily and continually monitor your health with the help of Northwestern University’s new wearable, stretchable monitors. Yonggang Huang, a Northwestern University professor, and John A. Rogers, a University of Illinois professor, have designed thin, soft, stick-on patches that stretch and move with the skin and incorporate commercial, off-the-shelf chip-based electronics for sophisticated wireless health monitoring. These microfluidic devices can be laminated onto the skin to track everyday health and wirelessly send updates to your cellphone, computer, or doctor’s office.

Genomics

Published on Jun 20, 2014

Image: N. Watson, L. Thompson, MITGenomes of individual organisms and systems of organisms contain the information and operating capabilities that determine structure and function across multiple scales of biological organization. These complex systems hold the secrets of life. Because we do not yet have a full understanding of how a living system works, and how these organisms interact with and modify their environments, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genomic Science Program is working to achieve a predictive, system-level understanding of plants, microbes, and biological communities. This program is providing the foundational knowledge underlying biological approaches to producing biofuels, sequestering carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, and cleaning up contaminated environments.