News Releases

Ammonia is the starting point for the fertilizers that have secured the world’s food supply for the last century. It’s also a main component of cleaning products, and is even considered as a future carbon-free replacement for fossil fuels in vehicles. But synthesizing ammonia from molecular nitrogen is an energy-intensive industrial process, due to the high temperatures and pressures at which the standard reaction proceeds. Scientists at Berkeley Lab have a new way to produce ammonia that works at room temperature and pressure.

A new PPPL model for ballooning instabilities in apple-shaped fusion vessels considers the height and width of the plasma’s edge.

Nuclear physicists have long been working to reveal how the proton gets its spin. Now, a new method that combines experimental data with state-of-the-art calculations has revealed a more detailed picture of spin contributions from the very glue that holds protons together.

Robert Wagner, associate laboratory director for the Energy Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been selected to receive the George Westinghouse Gold Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or ASME. The award recognizes his work to advance state-of-the-art clean power generation systems through research on combustion, fuel technologies and controls. 

Scientists have made discoveries about light particles known as photons that could aid the quest for fusion energy.

Scientists have uncovered the properties of a rare earth element that was first discovered 80 years ago at the very same laboratory, opening a new pathway for the exploration of elements critical in modern technology, from medicine to space travel.

A global team of researchers set a new benchmark for future experiments making materials in space rather than for space. The team included members from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories, Materials Development, Inc., NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Alfred University and the University of New Mexico. Together, they discovered that many kinds of glass, including ones that could be developed for next-generation optical devices, have similar atomic structure and arrangements and can successfully be made in space.

Scientists report a family of tin-based catalysts that efficiently converts CO₂ into ethanol, acetic acid and formic acid. These liquid hydrocarbons are among the most produced chemicals in the U.S and are found in many commercial products.