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Deep insights from thin layers

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Imaging -- and understanding -- proteins may become a bit easier thanks to a team of researchers led by scientists at DOE's Pacific Northwest and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.

It's all water over the dam -- but how and when it falls has huge impact on salmon

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By adjusting water discharges in ways designed to boost salmon productivity, officials at a dam in central Washington were able to more than triple the numbers of juvenile salmon downstream of the dam over a 30-year period. The research shows that keeping eggs and young salmon under water at especially vulnerable times boosts survival.

Journal: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Funder: Grant County Public Utility District

A battery small enough to be injected, energetic enough to track salmon

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have created a microbattery that packs twice the energy compared to current microbatteries used to monitor the movements of salmon. The battery is just slightly larger than a long grain of rice and can be injected into an organism.

Journal: Scientific Reports
Funder: US Army Corps of Engineers' Portland District

Superbright and fast X-rays image single layer of proteins

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In biology, a protein's shape is key to understanding how it causes disease or toxicity. Researchers who use X-rays to takes snapshots of proteins need a billion copies of the same protein stacked and packed into a neat crystal. Now, scientists using exceptionally bright and fast X-rays can take a picture that rivals conventional methods with a sheet of proteins just one protein molecule thick.

Funder: Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

PNNL recognized for transferring innovation to the marketplace

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been recognized for creating 3-D headset display technology that could improve the sight of soldiers in dark battlefields and gamers immersed in virtual reality.

Modeling buildings by the millions: Building codes in China tested for energy savings

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

PNNL scientists at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a partnership with the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., have created a unique model that projects how much energy can be saved with changes to China's building energy codes.

Journal: Energy Policy
Funder: Global Technology Strategy Program, Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Hugging hemes help electrons hop

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers simulating how certain bacteria run electrical current through tiny molecular wires have discovered a secret Nature uses for electron travel. This is the first time scientists have seen this evolutionary design principle for electron transport.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Royal Society

Battery development may extend range of electric cars

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Electric cars could travel farther on a single charge and more renewable energy could be saved for a rainy day if lithium-sulfur batteries can last longer. PNNL has developed a novel anode that could quadruple the lifespan of these promising batteries.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Batteries as they are meant to be seen

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have developed a way to microscopically view battery electrodes while they are bathed in wet electrolytes, mimicking realistic conditions inside actual batteries.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: Department of Energy

Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Engineers have created a chemical system that continually produces useful crude oil minutes after they pour in raw algae material -- a green paste with the consistency of pea soup. The technology eliminates the need to dry the algae and recycles ingredients such as phosphorus, cutting costs. The work has been licensed to a biofuels company which is working with an industrial partner to build a pilot plant.

Journal: Algal Research
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

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