Argonne Update 1

ARGONNE UPDATE

The University of

CHICAGO

Argonne is operated for the U.S.

Department of Energy by the

University of Chicago

The community newsletter of

Argonne National Laboratory

 Volume 1, Number 2

Meet an

Argonne

scientist

Lemont resident and

Argonne scientist Alexei

Abrikosov recently shared a

Nobel Prize in

physics with

two colleagues for

theories

about how

matter can

show bizarre

behavior at

extremely low temperatures.

The Royal Swedish

Academy of Sciences cited

Abrikosov, 75, Anthony J.

Leggett, 65, and Vitaly L.

Ginzburg, 87, for their work

concerning two phenomena

called superconductivity and

superfluidity.

Abrikosov’s research

centers on condensedmatter physics (the structure and behavior of solids

and liquids), and concentrates on superconductivity,

the ability of some materials

to carry electrical current

without resistance. He was

the first to propose the

concept of “type-II superconductors” in 1952 and constructed the theory of their

magnetic properties, known

as the Abrikosov vortex

lattice.

Abrikosov had been

nominated several times

before, but this year the

Nobel committee notified

him that he was a candidate. “And since this had

never happened before, I

Abrikosov

See “Abrikosov,” page 2

A new catalyst developed at

Argonne could help auto makers

meet the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency’s deadline to

eliminate 95 percent of nitrogenoxide from diesel engine exhausts

by 2007, while saving energy.

The new catalyst is one of a

family of related catalysts that

also shows promise for reducing

NOx emissions from industrial

sources, such as coal-fired power

plants and furnaces at chemical

plants and refineries. Catalysts

are materials that enable or

speed chemical reactions without

being consumed themselves.

Nitrogen oxides — collectively

called “NOx” — contribute to smog,

acid rain and global climate

change.

“For diesel engines, we envision manufacturers placing

Catalyst could help diesels meet NOx deadlines

ceramic catalytic reactors in the

exhaust pipes, where they will

convert NOx emissions into

nitrogen,” said inventor Chris

Marshall of Argonne’s Chemical

Engineering Division. Nitrogen

is a harmless gas that makes up

more than 80 percent of the

Earth’s atmosphere.

The catalyst works at normal

exhaust temperatures and is

actually more effective with

water vapor than without it. With

a lean fuel-air mixture, it removes as much as 95 to 100

percent of NOx emissions.

Initial research on the ceriumoxide catalyst was funded by the

U.S. Department of Energy’s Office

of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The catalyst was

developed for chemical plant

emissions under a joint research

agreement with BP. Plans call for

expanded research aimed at both

diesel and natural gas engines

and coal-fired power plants.

A patent application has been

filed on the new catalyst and it is

expected to be available for

licensing.

The Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, shown here in an artist’s conception,

would be built on the Argonne site to stimulate and support scientific discovery and its applications to prevent, moderate and treat infectious disease.

Planning for biocontainment lab on schedule

See “RBL,” page 2

The University of Chicago’s

Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL) at Argonne’s Illinois

site is on track for groundbreaking in about one year.

The RBL is one of nine laboratories recently funded by the

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

to support research into infectious

diseases. For emergency responders in the area, it will be a safe

and secure resource for training

and in case disease breaks out.

For researchers from the Great

Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, it will be

a primary resource in their

collaborative hunt for better ways

to detect, treat, and prevent

naturally occurring infectious

diseases, and especially those

that could be spread by terrorists.

They will study only those

diseases for which some defenses

are already available — classed by

NIH as biosafety level 3 organisms. More dangerous organisms,

classed as biosafety level 4, can

not be present in an RBL.

The University of Chicago,

which NIH approved to build and

operate the RBL, is the co-leader,

with Northwestern University, of

the center. Its members include

18 premier medical research

organizations in Minnesota,

Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois,

Indiana and Ohio, including the

Mayo Clinic, University of

Illinois campuses in Chicago

and Urbana-Champaign, and

Loyola University of Chicago.

Since the lease between the

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

and the University of Chicago was

approved in December, 2003, the

university has selected Flad &

Associates (www.flad.com) and

Affiliated Engineers, Inc.

(www.aeieng.com), both of Madison, Wisconsin, as the architectural/engineering team for the

building. These firms helped

prepare the preliminary design

the university used in its proposal for the RBL. The university

has also established a multidisciplinary design team that meets

regularly to refine the preliminary design, with a steady eye on

making it as safe as possible.

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act,

an assessment of the laboratory’s

potential environmental impacts

has begun. The study will include

close attention to questions

raised at several meetings with

Argonne’s neighbors, particularly

about property values and possible health risks.

Argonne’s Environmental

Assessment Division was commissioned to conduct the evaluation.
2 Argonne Update

saw this as a good sign,” he

said. “But I thought my life is

good even without [the Nobel

Prize]. I have interesting

work. I am happy. I love my

family.”

Superconductivity is the

ability of some materials to

conduct electricity without

resistance when they are

chilled to extremely low

temperatures. Researchers

hope to harness superconductivity for such uses as

power lines that can conduct

current without loss due to

resistance and high-speed

trains that float above the

tracks.

Abrikosov is Argonne

Distinguished Scientist at

the Condensed Matter Theory

Group in Argonne’s Materials

Science Division. His recent

research has focused on the

origins of magnetoresistance,

a property of some materials

that change their resistance

to electrical flow under the

influence of a magnetic field.

Before joining Argonne in

1991, Abrikosov was director

of the Institute for HighPressure Physics of the

Academy of Sciences, Moscow. He was chairman of

theoretical physics at the

Moscow Institute for Steel

and Alloys from 1976-1991,

and was head of the condensed matter theory division of Russia’s Landau

Institute for Theoretical

Physics from 1966-1988.

Abrikosov

(Continued from page 1)

Abrikosov, left, receives the

Nobel Prize in Physics from

Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf XVI.

Argonne researchers have

reached for the stars — and seen

what’s inside.

In collaboration with colleagues at the University of

Chicago, Washington University

and the Universita di Torino in

Italy, Argonne scientists examined stardust from a meteorite

and found remnants of nowextinct technetium atoms made

in stars long ago.

The stardust grains are tiny

bits of stars that lived and died

before the solar system formed.

Each grain is many times

smaller than the width of a

human hair, and carries a

chemical record of nuclear

reactions in its parent star.

Famed scientist P.W. Merrill 50

years ago observed the signature

of live technetium — an element

that has no stable isotopes — in

the starlight from certain types of

stars, thereby proving the thencontroversial theory that stars

make atoms via a process called

nucleosynthesis. Savina and coworkers’ discovery that their

stardust grains once harbored live

technetium brings the science of

nucleosynthesis full circle.

“Finding traces of technetium

decay products in stardust provides a very precise confirmation

of the theories of how atoms are

made inside stars,” said Argonne

Scientist Michael Savina. “The

fact that we can both predict and

measure very tiny effects in the

chemistry of these grains gives

us a lot of confidence in our

models of how stars work.”

The work was made possible

by a specialized instrument at

Argonne called CHARISMA, the

only instrument of its type in the

world. “CHARISMA is designed to

analyze very tiny samples — the

kind where you can’t afford to

waste atoms, because there are

so few of them to work with,”

Savina said.

Stardust reveals memories of ancient stars

Argonne scientists examined

stardust from a meteorite and found

remnants of now-extinct technetium

atoms made in stars long ago.

Image by P.Rosati, European

Southern Observatory.

Thanks to the

installation of a satellite-based communications network by

Argonne scientists, real

time meteorological

data from locations

around the world are

available to researchers

quickly — and free —

through the Department

of Energy’s Atmospheric

Radiation Measurement

(ARM) Program.

The goal of the ARM

Program is to provide

quality data for the

improvement of computer models used for

climate forecasting. To accomplish this, data are continuously

gathered at six facilities around

the world. In July 2003, these

sites were collectively designated

as a national user facility by the

Department of Energy’s Office of

Biological and Environmental

Research.

The ARM Program gathers

huge amounts of data at climate

research sites in three locales

(See map).

“Until recently,

users had no continuous, reliable communications with sites in

the Tropical Western

Pacific,” said Dick

Eagan (DIS), who coordinated the communications. Now, raw data

from all sites are sent

via satellite to the Data

Management Facility

every hour.

Having data available in real time was

always a goal of the

program, said Argonne’s

Doug Sisterson, ARM

operations manager.

The ARM climate research

sites are the world’s largest

collection of surface-based remote sensing instruments

studying climate change.

Real-time weather data available worldwide

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program gathers

climate data from sites around the world.The goal of the ARM

Program is to provide quality data for the improvement of

computer models used for climate forecasting.

RBL

(Continued from page 1)

The division, which has provided

assessments for projects ranging

from the Trans Alaska Pipeline

System to nuclear power plants,

is a central part of Argonne’s

nationally recognized expertise in

environmental protection and

remediation.

 The NIH, as the lead funding

agency, and the DOE, the landlord

for the RBL site, will jointly

approve the assessment. A draft

of the assessment will be ready

in late summer and available

online at www.ch.doe.gov.

Argonne and university

personnel are also planning the

integration of the RBL into the

laboratory’s existing programs

for physical security, cyber

security, emergency management and hazardous materials

transportation.

To learn more about the RBL,

visit the Web site at www.htrl.

uchicago.edu/. The site has an email contact form.

For information about the

Regional Center of Excellence

and its projects, contact associate director Debra Anderson

through the center’s Web site

(www.glrce.org) or by e-mail at

info@ glrce.org.

Comments on the environmental assessment may be

addressed to Brian Quirke, DOE

senior public affairs specialist, at

(630) 252-2423 or brian.quirke@

ch.doe.gov.
Argonne Update 3

Lab offers

free e-mail

updates

What’s New at Argonne is

an e-mail newsletter that

summarizes stories from

Argonne’s home page and

other Argonne news and

provides links to additional

information.

What’s New at Argonne is

e-mailed to all subscribers

on the first working day of

each month.

To subscribe to this free

service, visit the Argonne

Home Page at www.anl.gov

and click on the “What’s

New” link.

Argonne employees pledged to

give more than $420,000 to

charitable and health agencies

through the lab’s 2003 Argonne

Combined Appeal (ACA).

This result marks the third

year that contributions to the

annual campaign have totaled

more than $400,000.

Almost two out of every three

regular Argonne employees

participates in the ACA — a

campaign that has raised money

for local and national agencies for

the past two decades.

In the past eight years alone,

the ACA has raised more than

$2 million through employee

donations.

This year, the three agencies

$420,000 pledged to national, local charities

receiving the most donations are

United Way of Metro Chicago, the

American Cancer Society and

the American Heart Association.

Argonne employees pledged more

than $160,000 to these agencies.

The Combined Appeal supports

22 agencies, ranging from the

Heart Association to Downers

Grove FISH, an area food pantry.

The public is invited to hear

some of the best international

chamber music ensembles in

concert at Argonne-East.

Arts at Argonne, the

laboratory’s fine arts program,

presents performances by

professional artists and art and

photography exhibits. The

program is partially supported

by the University of Chicago

and the Illinois Arts Council.

Arts at Argonne is a member of

the Chicago Dance and Music

Alliance, a not-for-profit organization for producers and

presenters of dance and music

events in the Chicago area.

The 2004-2005 season begins

in November and will include

I Solisti Di Venezia, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the

Zehetmair String Quartet and

Martin Stadtfield.

For a schedule, more information and an online ticket

request form, see the Arts at

Argonne Web site at

www.anl.gov/ARTS/intro.html.

To order tickets, call (630) 252-

3751, e-mail arts@anl.gov.

Visitors who are U.S. citizens need photo identification

to enter the site, and should

call to register before the

concert. Non-U.S. citizens

must register before the

events. Call (630) 252-3751

during business hours.

Arts at Argonne sponsored a recent

concert by the reknowned Brentano

String Quartet at Argonne-East.

Chamber music concerts open to the public

Above, the winning team from

Morgan Park shows off its trophy.

Morgan Park also won the 2003

contest. At right, a member of the

Riverside-Brookfield High School

team explains the sports-themed

machine to the judges.

Forget the intricacies of caucuses, primaries, delegates and

superdelegates. Chicago area high

school students have found a way

to make voting really difficult.

As part of Argonne’s ninth

annual Rube Goldberg Machine

Contest for high schools, student

teams created machines that

take at least 20 steps to select,

mark and cast an election ballot.

Morgan Park Academy took

first place in the contest held

Feb. 13 at the Chicago Children’s

Museum. Their machine “looks

like a cross between a sewer and

loom,” said the team’s faculty

advisor, Larry Brown.

As part of their first place win,

team members will tour Argonne

and demonstrate their machine

at the laboratory.

Argonne sponsored the event

in collaboration with Chicago

Children’s Museum, and the

National Rube Goldberg Machine

Contest, held annually at Purdue

University. The event is licensed

by Rube Goldberg, Inc.

More information about the

national contest and the Argonne

contest is online at www.anl.gov/

OPA/rube/.

Goldberg machines inspire future engineers

It’s not exactly face-to-face,

but high school students are

meeting scientists and engineers from Argonne to learn

more about scientific careers.

A new video conference

series, conducted by Argonne, the

Chicago Public Schools and the

Chicago Workforce Board, is

aimed at sophomore, junior and

senior students. The Science

Careers series consists of

monthly interactive sessions

with Argonne researchers, as the

scientists and engineers speak

with the students from their

laboratories about their careers

and the steps they took in preparing for them.

 “Most high school students

have little or no opportunity to

meet and interact with working

professionals in scientific and

technical fields,” said Fred

Hartline of Argonne’s Division of

Educational Programs.

Background materials and

pre- and post-conference lessons

are available on the project’s Web

site, so teachers can introduce

their students to career issues

ahead of time and follow up

sessions with meaningful activities. During the program, students can question presenters

via live videoconference link.

The Science Careers series is

sponsored by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic

Opportunity.

City students

introduced to

science careers
4 Argonne Update

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ARGONNEUPDATE

“White Deer” are some of ArgonneNational Laboratory’s mostfamous residents. They’re actuallyfallow deer, escapees from amenagerie kept by the formerowner of the Argonne site. About40 fallow deer roam the ArgonneEast site. The site is also home tomany other species of wildlife,from racoons to red-tailed hawks.

‘White deer’

New ceramics extract

hydrogen from fossil fuels

Ceramic membranes developed at Argonne could bring fuel-cell cars closer to

reality by efficiently and inexpensively

extracting hydrogen from fossil fuels.

“Ceramic membranes make possible the

widespread use of hydrogen,” said senior

ceramist Balu Balachandran. “Hydrogen is a

fuel of choice for the future. This technology

provides the means to get there.”

Though the membranes currently used for

research are only a few millimeters across,

once scaled up for industrial use they could

be installed at existing refineries or at

individual refueling stations.

Interaction of light,

nanoparticles observed

Researchers at Argonne are making

strides towards understanding and manipulating light at the nanoscale by using the

unusual optical properties of metal nanoparticles, opening the door to microscopicsized devices such as optical circuits and

switches.

Metal nanoparticles, such as extremely

tiny spheres of silver or gold, can concentrate large amounts light energy at their

surfaces.

The light energy confined near the

surface is known as the near-field, whereas

ordinary light is known as far-field. Many

scientists believe that by understanding

how to manipulate near-field light, new

optical devices could be built at dimensions

far smaller than is currently possible.

Argonne-developed diet

can reduce jet lag

An Anti-Jet-Lag Diet, developed at Argonne, is now online. Argonne-developed

software that computes individualized diet

plans to help travelers avoid jet lag has

been licensed exclusively to

AntiJetLagDiet.com LLC.

The software, available for public use

online at www.AntiJetLagDiet.com, is based on

the famous Anti-Jet-Lag Diet, developed at

Argonne and used to avoid jet lag by hundreds

of thousands of travelers over the last 20

years.

Research shows that travelers who use

the Anti-Jet-Lag Diet are seven times less

likely to experience jet lag when traveling

east and 16 times less likely when traveling

west.

For a small fee, the online software will

calculate a detailed, easy-to-follow Anti-JetLag-Diet plan tailored to an individual

traveler’s itinerary.

Argonne, car industry to

study junk-car recycling

The “junk” from junked cars will find new

uses under a new research partnership for

recycling plastics.

A five-year cooperative research agreement brings together Argonne, the American

Plastics Council and the Vehicle Recycling

Partnership of USCAR, a consortium of

DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co. and

General Motors Corp.

The agreement will build on recycling

technology developed at Argonne to create a

cost-effective process for recycling end-of-life

vehicles.

n Biocontainment center on trackfor 2005 groundbreakingn Meet an Argonne scientistn Chamber music concertsopen to the public The community newsletter of

ArgonneNationalLaboratory

n Take a bite out of jet lag

Argonne Update is published by Argonne National Laboratory’s Communications

and Public Affairs Division. Argonne is operated for the U.S. Department of

Energy by the University of Chicago. See the Argonne Web site at

www.anl.gov for more information on the laboratory’s activities, people and

projects.