Feature Articles

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-Sep-2025 20:11 ET (2-Sep-2025 00:11 GMT/UTC)

Advancing human health by exploring viral dark matter

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Over the next four years, PNNL and University of Arizona will develop open-source computational tools to better identify and characterize the viruses associated with the human microbiome.

Funder: NIH/common fund

Identifying elements for carbon storage

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Led by interns from multiple DOE programs, a newly expanded dataset allows researchers to use easy-to-obtain measurements to determine the elemental composition of a promising carbon storage mineral.

Journal: ACS Earth and Space Chemistry
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Data scientist fixes his sights on speeding up drug discovery

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Scientists are using artificial intelligence and powerful computing to sculpt new molecules in an effort to treat disease.

Funder: U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Hydropower digital twins solution helps with operator challenges

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

A new digital twin platform can help hydropower dam operators by providing accurate and predictive models of physical turbines that improve facilities and enhance reliability.

Researchers develop high-tech methods to stem the flow of fentanyl

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Scientists are developing ways to detect and identify not only new, previously unseen forms of fentanyl but also newer and more dangerous synthetic opioids known as nitazenes.

Journal: Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry
Funder: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Hunting for dark matter axions

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The search for dark matter includes expertise in radio frequency signal detection, quantum sensing, and high-energy physics at PNNL.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Collaboration speeds complex chemical modeling

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Calculating quantum chemistry quickly allows scientists to refine their understanding of complex chemical systems.

Journal: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation

Researchers eye ‘topological signatures’ of cyber threats

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

PNNL researchers are developing a new approach to explore the higher-dimensional shape of cyber systems to identify signatures of adversarial attacks.

Soils from six continents add up to largest database of viruses beneath our feet

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Scientists have plumbed the depths of nearly 3,000 soil samples from around the globe to put together the heftiest atlas of soil viruses ever created. But what are all those viruses doing in the soil? More than 97 percent are considered “viral dark matter” that have no known function, no connection to a specific host.

Journal: Nature Microbiology
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

Security professionals face cyberattacks in real-time trainings at PNNL

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Operators of critical infrastructure are trained to respond to cyberattacks using scale models of water treatment plants, freight rail yards, and more.

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