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Stopping outbreaks--whether caused by biological warfare or a salmonella-contaminated salad bar--would be much easier if we could quickly detect the pathogens in real time. But real-time analysis isn't possible just yet, said molecular microbiologist Deborah Newby, of the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Even the very best of today's detection technologies require at least a 15-minute wait for each batch of samples.

Taken from a microbe out of a Yellowstone National Park hot springs pool, a newly discovered enzyme could lead to an environmental benign treatment for hydrogen peroxide bleaching wastewater. An enzyme from the Thermus brockianus microbe flourishes in the high temperature and high pH wastewater from peroxide bleaching, and converted converted peroxide into water and oxygen for up to 360 hours compared to a paltry 15 to 20 minutes for other, commercially available catalases.

Cell phones, CD players and flashlights all wear down batteries far faster than we might wish. But there's new hope, now that researchers at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) have overcome another barrier to building more powerful, longer-lasting lithium-based batteries. The team has discovered how lithium ions move through the flexible membrane that powers their patented rechargeable lithium battery.

Researchers from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory discovered new life and new insight into the microscopic creators of the planet's largest frozen methane pools, trapped within the ocean floor. The team, led by microbiologist Rich Colwell, has identified a what may be a new species of methanogen. Now, they're literally starving methane-producing microbes called methanogens, trying to develop realistic models of hydrate distribution and formation rate in seafloor sediments.

By modifying the mathematical theory describing the relationship between permeability, saturation, and pressure in a multiple fluid system, INEEL researchers can now more accurately predict the movement of non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contaminants in the subsurface. New calculations account for residual NAPL that remains in the vadose zone-forming a long-term source for groundwater contamination, and also explain how part of this residue can be flushed into groundwater during rainstorms or flooding.

Using a prototype IT-SIMS (ion trap secondary mass spectrometer), researchers discovered that the chemical makeup of concrete reacts with VX and causes it to break down. How quickly the chemical weapon decomposes depends on the temperature of the environment-the hotter the better. Determining the relationship between VX degradation on concrete and ambient temperature is a significant advance. A cover article featuring this research appears on the Nov, 15, 2002, Environmental Science and Technology Journal.

INEEL researchers won funding for seven U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) projects, winning $6.2 million for the next three years. EMSP sponsors basic environmental and waste management research. Results are expected to lead to reduced costs, schedule, and risks associated with cleaning up the nation's nuclear complex. Reseachers will study colloids, natural attenuation, degradation rates of buried metal, preferential flow patterns, and nuclear magnetic resonance.

The Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in collaboration with Bechtel National are launching a new user facility dedicated to environmental and geo-engineering research. The heart of the facility is a 2-meter geocentrifuge that subjects test specimens to a high-gravity field, causing gravity-drive processes such as fluid flow to occur much faster than normal. Using this technique researchers can study in a few days or weeks the effects of tens of years of gravity-induced fluid movement.

A first-of-its-kind, small-scale natural gas liquefaction facility designed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory was unveiled June 24 by Pacific Gas and Electric Company officials in Sacramento, Calif. Other significant partners in the pioneering liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility effort include the California Energy Commission, Sacramento Air Quality Management District, SoCal Gas Company and South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Scientists are cataloguing and mapping the life inside Yellowstone’s hot pools. Hardy microorganisms ranging from emerald-green bacteria to fire-red rock slime have long fascinated microbiologists with their ability to live in the scalding hot water at Yellowstone National Park, the acidic ore deposits of abandoned mines or the salt pools of the Great Salt Lake.