2016 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

BESC Study Seeks Nature’s Best Biocatalysts for Biofuel Production

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center are looking beyond the usual suspects in the search for microbes that can efficiently break down inedible plant matter for conversion to biofuels.

The Down and Dirty About North American Snowpack

PNNL research used measurements from a large-area survey of observed soot in snow to understand the simulated amount and sources in snowpack, revealing that even underrepresented in snowpack simulations, soot delivers a significant heating effect on North American snowpack.

Annihilating Nanoscale Defects

Using the supercomputing resources at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, University of Chicago and Argonne researchers have found a way miniaturize microchip components using a technique producing zero defects.

Unique Two-Level Cathode Structure Improves Battery Performance

A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are improving cathode materials with a new method, leading to higher-capacity, faster-charging batteries for electronics, vehicles, and energy-storage applications.

Fighting Fire with FireFOAM

Insurance company FM Global uses the Titan supercomputer to simulate warehouse fires in unparalleled resolution.

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Location Matters: Atmospheric Particle Travels Traced

Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory traced the atmospheric particle journey using a new modeling approach that calculates how particles are moved to the upper troposphere, and how efficiently they leave the atmosphere inside droplets, rain, or snow.

How Seashells Get Their Strength

A study at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory shows how calcium carbonate forms composites to make strong materials such as in shells and pearls.

A Nanoscale Look at Why a New Alloy is Amazingly Tough

A team of researchers led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has identified several mechanisms that make a new, cold-loving material one of the toughest metallic alloys ever.

Finding New Ways to Optimize Old Codes

A team at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility has developed a software application that mines the source code for computational patterns, helping users identify additional opportunities for extracting parallelism from parts of the code for greater efficiency on high performance computing systems.

PPPL Physicists Simulate Innovative Method for Starting Up Tokamaks Without Using a Solenoid

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have produced self-consistent computer simulations that capture the evolution of an electric current inside fusion plasma without using a central electromagnet, or solenoid.

ORNL on Team Officially Recognized for Elements 115, 117 Discovery

The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry has announced formal verification of four new chemical elements, recognizing the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its collaborators for the discovery of elements 115 and 117.

Q&A: Biologist Describes Milestone Toward a Universal Flu Vaccine

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Crucell Vaccine Institute have now designed a protein fragment called mini-HA that stimulates the production of antibodies against a variety of influenza viruses.