News By Location

News from WA

Select a state to view local articles and features

New small solid oxide fuel cell reaches record efficiency

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new solid oxide fuel cell system developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory can achieve a record of up to 57 percent efficiency and is designed to be scaled up to generate electricity for individual homes or neighborhoods

Journal: Journal of Power Sources
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Pollution teams with thunderclouds to warm atmosphere

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pollution is warming the atmosphere through summer thunderstorm clouds, according to a computational study published May 10 in Geophysical Research Letters. How much the warming effect of these clouds offsets the cooling that other clouds provide is not yet clear. To find out, researchers need to incorporate this new-found warming into global climate models.

Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
Funder: Department of Energy

Collaborative study looks for clues on hard-to-treat breast cancer

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Some types of breast cancer can be successfully treated with drugs such as tamoxifen, but treatment for a type of breast cancer more common in young and black women is still limited to radiation and general chemotherapy. Called triple negative breast cancer, this type of cancer is the focus of a 20-month, $8.6-million research project that aims to find new diagnostic tools and options for drugs.

Funder: US Department of Defense

Clearing the air: PNNL technology wins award for improving submarine air quality

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

PNNL has developed a nanoporous-based air-cleansing system for the Navy that can rapidly remove high levels of carbon dioxide from a submarine's air environment. The technology recently won the Federal Laboratory Consortium Interagency Partnership Award for 2012.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, US Navy, US Department of Defense

Save big on heating, cooling costs with efficiency controls

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Small commercial building owners could save between 28 and 67 percent on their heating and cooling energy bills if they added four efficiency controls to their rooftop heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, also known as HVACS.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Study dusts sugar coating off little-known regulation in cells

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In Alzheimer's disease, brain neurons become clogged with tangled proteins. Scientists suspect these tangles arise partly due to malfunctions in a little-known regulatory system within cells. In a study released online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition this week, the team at least doubled the number of proteins found to be subject to a type of regulation.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health

Diatom biosensor could shine light on future nanomaterials

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A biosensor made of fluorescent proteins embedded in the shell of microscopic marine algae called diatoms could help detect chemicals in water samples. The same research could also lead to new, diatom-inspired nanomaterials that could solve problems in sensing, catalysis and environmental remediation.

Journal: PLOS One
Funder: Office of Naval Research

Silicon-carbon electrodes snap, swell, don't pop

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study in Nano Letters that examines a new type of silicon-carbon nanocomposite electrode reveals details of how they function and how repeated use could wear them down. The study also provides clues to why this material performs better than silicon alone.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Bacteria tend leafcutter ants' gardens

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research points to two important roles for bacteria that live in the underground fungal gardens of leafcutter ants: they help decompose leaves that ants bring to the gardens and play a major role in turning those leaves into nutrients for both ants and the fungi. The findings could help researchers studying fungal enzymes to convert plants into biofuel.

Journal: The ISME Journal
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Integrating society with climate science, stabilizing carbon dioxide levels

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers will discuss innovative ways to make climate research more approachable and understandable for society at a Friday AAAS symposium.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy
Meeting: 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting

62
63
64
65
66