Feature Stories

Underground at the Switzerland-France border, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN holds the record for the world’s largest particle accelerator. Its ring alone is nearly 17 miles around. With this tool, scientists smash together subatomic particles to help them better understand the tiny building blocks of the universe. One area that scientists use the LHC to study is the quark-gluon plasma.

Argonne and the University of Münster agreed to collaborate on advanced battery materials, building on past lithium battery research. This collaboration aims to enhance battery knowledge and address challenges in energy density, cost and lifespan.

Researchers are planning for an electric grid that deploys machine learning to think ahead, plan for the worst, anticipate demand, and meet consumer needs safely and securely. 

A billion-billion floating point operations per second–that’s the power of exascale. The first exascale computer in the world, Frontier, resides at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. The DOE’s Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research program has worked for decades to build supercomputers that break barriers in scientific discovery. 

Argonne’s Office of Community Engagement hosted Geri Richmond, the Department of Energy’s under secretary for science and innovation, at three sites on Chicago’s South Side to showcase green energy initiatives featuring Argonne’s involvement.

As a summer science writing intern in the Media and Communications Office at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, I learned about neutrinos while writing about Mary Bishai, an award-winning neutrino scientist. I attended neutrino lectures by Brookhaven physicists Elizabeth Worcester and Jay Hyun Jo, and I toured a laboratory where “cold microelectronics” designed to detect elusive signals of neutrinos get dipped in liquid nitrogen to ensure they are up to their chilly assignment.

Sandia National Laboratories is working with Japanese tech company Nichia Corporation to build the world’s most accurate compact atomic clock.

Argonne’s Natural Convection Shutdown Heat Removal Test Facility enables large-scale experimental testing of nuclear reactors. The facility explores passive safety systems, which can cool a reactor without any human intervention or power.

Seasoned national laboratory scientist and leader Laura Berzak Hopkins joins PPPL as its new associate laboratory director for strategy and partnerships and deputy chief research officer. She previously served as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) associate program director for integrated weapon science, as well as Livermore’s deputy for assessment science to the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Experimental Sciences and Livermore’s funding manager for the weapon survivability program.