Feature Articles

Customized molecular tools identify specific microbial functions that are key to healthy people and environments.

A research team successfully captured the most detailed view to date of water’s hydrogen bonding patterns around DNA. The findings, produced in part through neutron scattering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, open new possibilities for studying how water impacts DNA function.

Anne White at MIT had a vision for an innovative approach to experiments to aid in the study and understanding of tokamak turbulence. Her work has developed rigorous validation of the models used to detail measurements of the turbulence, towards fusion’s promise of clean and nearly unlimited energy.

Quantum entanglement occurs when two particles appear to communicate without a physical connection, a phenomenon Albert Einstein famously called “spooky action at a distance.” Nearly 90 years later, a team led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated the viability of a “quantum entanglement witness” capable of proving the presence of entanglement between magnetic particles, or spins, in a quantum material.

An up-and-coming type of nuclear reactor could help answer questions related to reducing carbon emissions while providing a foundation for renewable energy, if the fledgling technology can survive some growing pains, according to a new report by researchers at Idaho National Laboratory focusing on microreactors.

Scientists use various satellite and airborne systems to study how vegetation changes in response to climate change. However, these systems have low resolution that makes it hard to identify detailed patterns. This is especially true in the Arctic due to the region’s highly mixed vegetation. Now, scientists have adopted unoccupied aerial systems—also known as drones—for high-resolution vegetation monitoring.

On Oct. 25, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility welcomed U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and honored guests for a short tour of the lab and briefing on its research mission and plans for the future. The delegation interacted with several members of the lab’s community, including CEBAF operations staff, nuclear physicists, engineers, accelerator research scientists and students. Congressional Representatives Bobby Scott and Elaine Luria, Newport News Mayor McKinley Price, and a representative from Senator Mark Warner’s office joined Granholm on her visit to the lab.

For the first time in decades, researchers at Idaho National Laboratory are studying how the structure of uranium changes when it is rapidly heated or cooled.