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LCLS X-ray Laser Reveals Ultrafast Riboswitch in Action

Scientists have used the powerful X-ray laser at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), located at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to take the first ever snapshots of an ultrafast riboswitch, a gene regulator that can switch individual genes on and off. According to the research team,...

Stanford Study Suggests Battery Power Will Trump Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Stanford researchers say communities would be better off investing in electric vehicles that run on batteries instead of hydrogen fuel cells, in part because a hydrogen infrastructure provides few additional energy benefits for communities beyond clean transportation.

CoEPP and IHEP to Collaborate on Future Experiments

At a ceremony held Nov. 8 in Beijing, representatives from the ARC Center for Particle Physics at the Terascale (CoEPP) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish scientific exchange, collaboration and cooperation between the two organizations.

Cooling Technique Improves Antiproton Mass Measurement

Scientists from CERN's ASACUSA experiment have announced a new precision measurement of the mass of the antiproton relative to that of the electron, a result based on spectroscopic measurements of approximately two billion antiprotonic helium atoms cooled to temperatures near absolute zero.

ASC 2016 Highlights Progress in Superconductivity

Over 1,600 researchers and engineers from 36 countries gathered in Denver September 4-9 for ASC 2016, attending plenaries, poster sessions and meetings under the watchful gaze of the Colorado Convention Center’s Blue Bear. Celebrating its 50th year, the conference covered a wide range of topics, from superconducting electronics detectors and...

2016 ASC Best Student Paper Contest

The Applied Superconductivity Conference's Best Student Paper Contest recognizes outstanding presentations made at ASC by full-time students. The ability to describe one’s research, by succinctly capturing key results and ideas in written form as well as by presenting and defending the work in front of an audience of experts, is...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dilution Refrigerators

Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...

Kelvin Temperature Scale

The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Power usage: cryogenic systems vs. regular refrigerators

A recent project highlighted to me that closed cycle cryogenic cooling systems use far more electrical power to reduce temperatures by a few watts than regular refrigerators. I am sure it must be something to do with the extra difficulty of removing the heat from the liquid nitrogen or similar...

Redundancy strategies for mechanical -80C freezers

I was wondering what kind of redundancy strategies are people using for their mechanical -80C freezers? I am aware of the following. Please add if you are doing something different. 1) 1 Backup freezer for every 10 freezers – Empty and maintained at -80C at all times 2) Backup C02...

Safety guidelines for handling cryo vessels of nitrogen

I am looking for any safety guidelines for handling cryogenic vessels of nitrogen indoors and outdoors. I am especially interested in recommendations for area monitors to detect leaks, flow detection devices, etc.

Method to move components in a cryogenic environment

Does anyone know of a method with which to reliably move components in a cryogenic environment? We are interested in moving detectors in a cryogenically cooled (2K) vacuum chamber, which is contained within a larger cryostat/isolation vacuum with thermal shields. As the desired horizontal or vertical displacement is between 10...

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