Three ORNL scientists elected AAAS Fellows
Keith Kline, Rigoberto Advincula and Takeshi Egami have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Machine learning algorithm reveals long-theorized glass phase in crystal
Scientists have found experimental evidence of the long-theorized Bragg glass phase present in a material. Bragg glasses display both the ordered properties of crystals and the disordered nature of glasses at the same time.
Soil Bacteria Link their Life Strategies to Soil Conditions
Microbiologists do not fully understand how bacteria's genes relate to their life strategies. Now, by analyzing large DNA sequencing datasets from around the globe, researchers discovered a new way of categorizing the dominant life strategies of soil bacteria based on their genes. This technique allowed the researchers to link different life strategies with specific climate and soil conditions.
Garbage Could Replace a Quarter of Petroleum-Based Jet Fuel Every Year
Every year, the nation's aviation industry uses around 22 billion gallons of jet fuel, which produces about 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide--or 3% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. Because of this, researchers and policymakers alike are eyeing aviation as an industry ripe with opportunity to lower emissions. One way to reduce emissions? Reuse society's waste and turn it into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Argonne's Decarbonization Scenario Model analyzes ambitious pathways to net-zero carbon emissions
Argonne's newest computer model helps users across the economy assess plans to slash CO2 emissions.
Neutrons rule the roost for cage-free lithium ions
Scientists using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could boost power and safety for lithium batteries.
Chemists invent a more efficient way to extract lithium from mining sites, oil fields, used batteries
Oak Ridge National Laboratory chemists invented a more efficient way to extract lithium from waste liquids leached from mining sites, oil fields and used batteries. They demonstrated that a common mineral can adsorb at least five times more lithium than can be collected using previously developed adsorbent materials.
Creating an island paradise in a fusion reactor
In their ongoing quest to develop a range of methods for managing plasma so it can be used to generate electricity in a process known as fusion, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have shown how two old methods can be combined to provide greater flexibility.
Database Supplies Recommended Key Properties for All Known Nuclei
Scientists know of more than 3,300 isotopes. Researchers have compiled experimental nuclear data for all known nuclei, including mass, quantum numbers, half-life, decay modes, and branching intensities.
Machine learning could help reveal undiscovered particles within data from the Large Hadron Collider
Scientists recently used a machine learning approach called anomaly detection to analyze large volumes of data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The method has never before been applied to data from a collider experiment.
Superconducting Electronics Show Promise for Future Collider Experiments
When superconductors encounter too much current, they can become resistive. Researchers can design microscopic electronic components that use this effect to create a switch, like a transistor. The resulting nanowire superconducting switching devices (called nano-cryotrons, or nTrons) show promise for future superconducting electronics or particle detectors.
During Droughts, Soil Microbes Produce Volatile Carbon Metabolites
Soil microbes use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a food source but can also release VOCs as gases that enter the atmosphere.
Finding the Catalyst for a More Sustainable Future
Fuel cells are quickly becoming a viable, clean energy alternative to commonly used fossil fuels, such as gasoline, coal, and oil. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy resources that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fuel cells, however, rely on an electrochemical reaction rather than combustion, producing carbon-free energy.
Scientists pioneer autonomous robotic method for studying liquids suspended in air
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have used robots and artificial intelligence to dramatically speed up data collection and analysis in X-ray studies of liquids.
New Technique Lets Scientists Create Resistance-Free Electron Channels
Researchers have taken the first atomic-resolution images and demonstrated electrical control of a chiral interface state - an exotic quantum phenomenon that could help researchers advance quantum computing and energy-efficient electronics.
New study shows renewable energy could work as power source at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
A recent analysis shows that renewable energy could be a viable option to diesel fuel for science at the South Pole. The analysis deeply explores the feasibility of replacing part of the energy production at the South Pole with renewable sources.
Computing How Quantum States Overlap
To study quantum many-body systems, researchers use computational tools called quantum Monte Carlo simulations. In this work, researchers used a specific approach called the "floating block method" to compute atomic nuclei corresponding to two different Hamiltonians.
How Scientists Are Accelerating Chemistry Discoveries With Automation
Researchers have developed an automated workflow that could accelerate the discovery of new pharmaceutical drugs and other useful products. The new approach could enable real-time reaction analysis and identify new chemical-reaction products much faster than current laboratory methods.
First-of-its-kind integrated dataset enables genes-to-ecosystems research
A first-ever dataset bridging molecular information about the poplar tree microbiome to ecosystem-level processes has been released by a team of Department of Energy scientists led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
An Inside Look at How Plants and Mycorrhizal Fungi Cooperate
For millions of years, underground fungi have lived in symbiosis with plant roots. Researchers have been able to study both sides of this interaction up close, using RNA sequencing to understand gene expression: one of the first cross-kingdom spatially-resolved transcriptomics studies to date.
New Calculations Solve an Alpha Particle Physics Puzzle
In early 2023, scientists published a new measurement testing the strong nuclear force. The experiment involved the way an alpha particle becomes excited. The study suggested a puzzle that could not be solved with existing theoretical methods.
First Results from DESI Make the Most Precise Measurement of Our Expanding Universe
Researchers have used the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument to make the largest 3D map of our universe and world-leading measurements of dark energy, the mysterious cause of its accelerating expansion
Riding through: Researchers enhance reliability of electric vehicle charging
Driver uncertainty about access to electric vehicle charging during long trips remains a barrier to broader EV adoption, even as the U.S. strives to combat climate change by converting more drivers. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working to make EV charging more resilient.
"Tug of War" Tactic Enhances Chemical Separations for Critical Materials
Lanthanide elements are important for clean energy and other applications. To use them, industry must separate mixed lanthanide sources into individual elements using costly, time-consuming, and waste-generating procedures. An efficient new method can be tailored to select specific lanthanides.
Understanding Charged-Particle Bound States in Periodic Boxes
Physicists use methods called finite-volume simulations with periodic boundary conditions to model the nuclei protons and neutrons can form. This new work solves a long-standing and fundamental problem for electrically charged systems in these "periodic boxes." It derives the mathematical equation that describes how the properties of these electrically charged systems depend on the size of the simulation volume.