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Probing microbes to determine what they are made of and what drives them requires more than mass spectrometers, microarrays, and microscopes. Computational models run on supercomputers have been key contributors to our growing understanding of these single-cell organisms.

If we continue to burn fossil fuels for energy at the current rate, they will last only another few hundred years. In the context of civilization, the fossil fuel era is drawing to a close. In addition, it would be wise to reduce our combustion of oil, gas, and coal because the process produces pollutants that are bad for our health and carbon dioxide that could change our climate in undesirable ways. One possible future source of electricity for the world is fusion energy.

An electricity meter that sometimes runs backwards is just one of the cool aspects of Department of Energy near-zero-energy homes.

As greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, many questions arise concerning how fast and in what ways Earth's environment will change. For example, in the United States, will increased emissions of carbon dioxide from coal combustion in the 21 st century make the Southeast wetter or drier over the next 100 years? Will changes in temperature and moisture conditions make certain U.S. regions more vulnerable to insect-borne diseases?

Chemists are now about to cross a remarkable threshold and expect a dramatic expansion in their ability to make reliable predictions about molecular structure and processes.

During the catastrophic death throes of massive stars, known as core-collapse supernovae, many elements were created, including those necessary for life on Earth. How and why these stars that were greater than 10 times the mass of our sun and that had evolved over millions of years died explosively in a few hours are mysteries that scientists cannot solve in laboratory experiments. However, simulations on supercomputers hold out hope of unraveling the secrets of supernovae.

The 1986 discovery of high-temperature superconductivity sparked the quest for room-temperature superconductors that could transmit electrical current without heat losses and without the need for an expensive coolant such as liquid helium. Room-temperature superconductors could make possible ultra-efficient power transmission lines, practical electric cars, and superconducting magnets that could bring high-speed levitated trains and smaller, more efficient, and less costly rotating machinery, appliances, particle accelerators, electric generators, and medical imaging devices.

After just two months, a partnership between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Institute at Biltmore has hit full stride in support of entrepreneurs and economic development in Western North Carolina.

Story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory include power to Saturn, archeological radiation and semiconducting polymers.

A technology with proven environmental, forensics and medical applications has received a shot in the arm because of an invention by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.