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Linking environmental issues leads to expanded views

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Dr. Marburger sets out a formidable challenge--one that requires fundamental change in the purpose and scope of environmental science. Cleanup isn't enough; we must take a far more proactive view of environmental issues, one that considers the intricate network of ramifications that decisions, missions and activities have on each other and the environment.

Systems biologists—modern-day Lewis and Clark

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

I compare PNNL's work with biological systems to the work of explorers--and settlers. We are like the explorers who set out to discover distant places, paving the way for the pioneers who settled them. In traditional biology, we have almost finished cataloging the different parts of living organisms and now we want to integrate what we know. We're ready to build the infrastructure we need to settle certain biological areas.

Cleaning up energy production

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are playing a lead role on a combined Department of Energy and industry effort to build a 275-megawatt coal-fired plant that will gasify coal to produce electricity and hydrogen. In that gasification process, carbon dioxide would be captured and sequestered.

PNNL and NASA team on fuel cell research

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the NASA Glenn Research Center will collaborate in solving one of the toughest technical challenges to the development of advanced solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). The two research organizations have signed a Space Act Agreement to team on the development of sealing technologies for the stacks of SOFCs.

Spectral library sheds light on chemicals

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

A chemical's "John Hancock" can give it away. Just as a person's signature is unique and a sure way to weed out imposters and arrive at the truth, a chemical's spectral signature is a trustworthy form of identification. And such revealing information is becoming ever more vital in a world where detection of toxic substances could save lives and the environment.

Energy moves in new directions

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Meeting our needs with cleaner, more efficient energy is absolutely critical to our quality of life. It helps provide for the continued prosperity of the United States as well as helping raise the standard of living in the rest of the world. Energy is important to global and national security and is at the core of DOE's mission.

Critical information for critical situations

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Each year, tens of thousands of people around the world die in natural and human-caused disasters. In an emergency, the ability to obtain and track highly dynamic status information is crucial for control rooms, incident command centers (ICCs) and emergency operations centers (EOCs).

One person's garbage is another's power

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Wash., has turned to the garbage dump to power its operations. One hundred percent of MSL's electrical energy needs now are supplied by "green power" provided by methane gas from a sanitary waste landfill. Green power refers to environmentally preferred power, generated by resources regarded as having certain environmental benefits--such as wind, solar and geothermal.

PNNL wins record grant for proteomics center

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has won a five-year, $10.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support a center for basic research in proteomics. This is the largest NIH award in PNNL's 38-year history.

Advances bring new zest to biological research

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The late U.S. President Herbert Hoover once remarked, "New discoveries in science...will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who would still adventure." Though we have witnessed significant advances in science and technology, there is much to discover. Each new understanding prompts new questions and challenges.