Feature Articles

Ames Laboratory

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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-May-2026 13:15 ET (20-May-2026 17:15 GMT/UTC)

Cooking up a conductive alternative to copper with aluminum

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The first-ever simulation of aluminum conductivity offers a recipe for an inexpensive, lightweight alternative to copper.

Journal: Physical Review B

Pioneering partnership opens doors to a new generation of engineers

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

In a pioneering partnership, Argonne, the DOE Packaging Certification Program, the University of Nevada, Reno, and other DOE national labs are helping to meet demand for new expertise in nuclear packaging by offering a novel graduate certificates program that trains future leaders in the field.

Small business test promising new battery at INL

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

The high energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries could lead to lighter, smaller batteries that can last longer on a single charge. Cogent Energy Systems, a small business in eastern Idaho, applied their technology — carbon nano-onions — to lithium-sulfur batteries as the sulfur host to improve the battery cycling performance.

A novel crystal structure sheds light on the dynamics of extrasolar planets

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

Scientists uncover a new crystal structure of a mineral in extrasolar planets using Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Exploring explosives for expanding geothermal energy

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories

Why are scientists setting off small-scale explosions inside 1-foot cubes of plexiglass? They’re watching how fractures form and grow in a rock-like substance to see if explosives or propellants, similar to jet fuel, can connect geothermal wells in a predictable manner.

Argonne introduces Safe Zone training during Pride Month to advance allyship, inclusion for LGBTQIA+ employees

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

The first Safe Zone Project workshop at Argonne focuses on allyship with more vital topics to help increase communication, safety and bias-free inclusion in the workplace for LGBTQIA+ employees.

Bo Peng ensures quantum computers don’t ‘bring in da noise’

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

A profile of Bo Peng, a scientist at PNNL working on error correction for quantum computing. He is a collaborator with Q-NEXT, one of the DOE National QIS Research Centers.

Exploring new materials through collaboration

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Materials Scientist Jim De Yoreo guides a team that develops novel materials and understands how they form through collaboration and mentorship.

Andreas Kemp: Then and Now / 2012 Early Career Award Winner

DOE/US Department of Energy

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Andreas Kemp studies the interaction of intense, extremely short laser pulses with matter. This new field of research studies extreme nuclear physics reactions at rates far higher than those of current accelerator experiments.

Microbes enhance resilience of carbon-rich peatlands to warming

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that certain bacteria increase the climate resilience of Sphagnum moss, the tiny plant responsible for storing a third of the world’s soil carbon in peat bogs. Heat tolerant microbes transfer that protection to the plants, helping them survive climate warming.

Journal: New Phytologist