The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is a joint research facility supported by 19 countries (18 European countries and Israel) situated in Grenoble, France. It has an annual budget of around 80 million euros, employs over 600 people and is host to more than 3500 visiting scientists each year. Research in the ESRF focuses, in large part, on the use of X-ray radiation in fields as diverse as protein crystallography, earth science, materials science, chemistry and physics. Facilities such as the ESRF offer a flux, energy range and resolution unachievable with conventional (laboratory) radiation sources.
The Earth's center is 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought
Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth's centre to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models ...
X-rays reveal uptake of nanoparticles by soya bean crops
Scientists have, for the first time, traced the nanoparticles taken up from the soil by crop plants and analysed the chemical states of their metallic elements. Zinc was shown to dissolve and accumulate throughout ...
X-rays help understand how mechanical action can lead to greener chemistry
(Phys.org)—Solvents are omnipresent in the chemical industry, and are a major environmental and safety concern. Therefore the large interest in mechanochemistry: an energy-efficient alternative that avoids using bulk solvents ...
Scientists reassemble the backbone of life with a particle acceleratorynchrotron X-rays
Scientists have been able to reconstruct, for the first time, the intricate three-dimensional structure of the backbone of early tetrapods, the earliest four-legged animals. High-energy X-rays and a new data ...
X-rays unravel mysterious degradation of Vincent Van Gogh painting
With a sophisticated X-ray analysis scientists have identified why parts of the Van Gogh painting "Flowers in a blue vase" have changed colour over time: a supposedly protective varnish applied after the ...
Experimental evidence for the mantle plume hypothesis: X-rays used to illuminate the origin of volcanic hotspots
Scientists have recreated the extreme conditions at the boundary between Earth's core and its mantle, 2,900 km beneath the surface. Using the world's most brilliant beam of X-rays, they probed speck-sized ...
High-contrast, high-resolution CT scans now possible at reduced dose
Scientists have developed an X-ray imaging method that could drastically improve the contrast of computed tomography (CT) scans whilst reducing the radiation dose deposited during the scan. The new method ...
Scientists discover first ever record of insect pollination from 100 million years ago
Amber from Cretaceous deposits (110-105 my) in Northern Spain has revealed the first ever record of insect pollination. Scientists have discovered in two pieces of amber several specimens of tiny insects covered ...