Feature Articles

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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Jun-2026 18:16 ET (14-Jun-2026 22:16 GMT/UTC)

US researchers simulate compact fusion power plant concept

DOE/US Department of Energy

The Compact Advanced Tokamak (CAT) concept uses physics models to show that by carefully shaping the plasma and the distribution of current in the plasma, fusion plant operators can suppress turbulent eddies in the plasma. This would reduce heat loss and allow more efficient reactor operation. This advance could help achieve self-sustaining plasma and smaller, less expensive power plants.

Space odyssey: Argonne scientists among the first to study asteroid fragments

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne scientists at the Advanced Photon Source are among the first to study tiny fragments of near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, collected by a Japanese space mission. These fragments could tell us long-hidden secrets about how our planet and solar system were formed.

Preparing for exascale: Argonne’s Aurora supercomputer to drive brain map construction

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne researchers are mapping the complex tangle of the brain’s connections — a connectome — by developing applications that will find their stride in the advent of exascale computing.

PPPL scientists win highly competitive awards to bring cosmic processes to Earth

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

The two awards will enable physicists to use lasers to reproduce high-energy astrophysical plasmas under extreme conditions to probe processes such as space storms that can disrupt cell phone service.

Avoiding an energy cold crunch with more efficient cooling

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Covalent organic polymers can adsorb three times more refrigerant than the best available alternatives, resulting in more efficient cooling.

Preparing for a future pandemic with artificial intelligence

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

PNNL data scientists are refining their artificial intelligence tools with COVID-19 data to advance therapeutics and treatments for a future pandemic.

High-speed alloy creation might revolutionize hydrogen’s future

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories

A Sandia National Laboratories team of materials scientists and computer scientists have spent more than a year helping to create 12 new alloys — and model hundreds more — that demonstrate how machine learning can help accelerate the future of hydrogen energy.

Enclosing radiation-loaded particles to better seek and destroy cancer

DOE/US Department of Energy

When medical isotopes are used to treat diseases, they emit large amounts of energy that makes it hard to keep them near the target cells. Researchers are now testing a way to enclose isotopes in tiny pieces of biodegradable material that will keep the isotopes at treatment sites, ensuring that their energy can kill diseased cells with little effect on surrounding cells.

One year in, Q-NEXT quantum research center is going strong

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

The article summarizes Q-NEXT’s first year of activities, including scientific research, infrastructure building, and workforce development.

ORNL expertise supports latest IPCC report and efforts to understand, address climate change

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Improved data, models and analyses from Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists and many other researchers in the latest global climate assessment report provide new levels of certainty about what the future holds for the planet and highlight the urgency of decarbonization to avoid the most severe impacts.