A Sample
Injectors are used to put dissolved or liquid samples into some of the SLAC instruments. A team of researchers used this needle to spew a protein involved in algae photosynthesis into a vacuum, where a laser annihilated the sample. Then team members were able to model some of the structures that the they couldn’t see when the sample was intact.
Andrew Burrill, associate lab director for the Accelerator Directorate, told me last October that the work here may not be well understood, but it’s deeply significant. “In terms of science, it’s important for the nation—for the world—because, through science advancements, we all get better smartphones and can talk to our remotes, and all these other things that we can build that most of us take for granted,” he said. “Most people don’t care how the refrigerator works; they just want it to work. Same with our smartphones, the same with our internet providers. But through these science advances, it helps improve all these things.”
