Feature Stories

The first-ever simulation of aluminum conductivity offers a recipe for an inexpensive, lightweight alternative to copper.

The high energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries could lead to lighter, smaller batteries that can last longer on a single charge. Cogent Energy Systems, a small business in eastern Idaho, applied their technology — carbon nano-onions — to lithium-sulfur batteries as the sulfur host to improve the battery cycling performance.

Why are scientists setting off small-scale explosions inside 1-foot cubes of plexiglass? They’re watching how fractures form and grow in a rock-like substance to see if explosives or propellants, similar to jet fuel, can connect geothermal wells in a predictable manner.

The first Safe Zone Project workshop at Argonne focuses on allyship with more vital topics to help increase communication, safety and bias-free inclusion in the workplace for LGBTQIA+ employees.

Materials Scientist Jim De Yoreo guides a team that develops novel materials and understands how they form through collaboration and mentorship.

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Andreas Kemp studies the interaction of intense, extremely short laser pulses with matter. This new field of research studies extreme nuclear physics reactions at rates far higher than those of current accelerator experiments.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that certain bacteria increase the climate resilience of Sphagnum moss, the tiny plant responsible for storing a third of the world’s soil carbon in peat bogs. Heat tolerant microbes transfer that protection to the plants, helping them survive climate warming.