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The team, part of the U.S.-Japanese Next Linear Collider-Global Linear Collider collaboration, is working on X-band accelerator technology (for the so-called "warm" linear collider). The international particle physics community is also considering another technology option for the linear collider: superconducting radiofrequency technology, being pursued by the TESLA collaboration led by DESY in Germany.

Fermilab scientists are adding a new front line to the battery of sensors inside the giant DZero detector. They've just completed the design of a new set of sensors, to be installed in a very confined space, which will give new life to the experiment.

Searching for subatomic particles very much resembles the often-cited search for the needle in the haystack. Since the beginning of Collider Run II in March 2001, DZero scientists have collected more than 550 million particle collisions. The data fill five stacks of CDs as high as the Eiffel tower--storage cases not included. And the (hay)stacks are growing every day.

The Grid, a global network of computational power with a potential some have likened to that of the Internet, is coming to the classroom. At the Needs Assessment & Developers Workshop for Grid Techniques in Introductory Physics Classroom Projects, held at Florida International University on January 28 and 29, educators, researchers, and scientists met to discuss how students of introductory physics might tap into real physics data sets around the world and collaborate on its analysis over the Internet.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have reached for the stars – and seen what's inside. Argonne scientists, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Chicago, Washington University and the Universita di Torino in Italy, examined stardust from a meteorite and found remnants of now-extinct technetium atoms made in stars long ago.

As we approach the New Year it is a good time to predict the future. What will be happening at Fermilab in 2004?

Simply put, dark energy is a mystery. The expansion of the universe is accelerating, and theorists believe that dark energy is the driving force behind it. Evidence shows that dark energy makes up approximately 70 percent of the universe, meaning 25 percent is dark matter and 4 percent is matter made of atoms.

Optical engineering has had a impact on our lives, providing us with fiber optic communications and optical data storage. However, manipulating light on the nanoscale level can be a Herculean task, since the nanoscale level is so incredibly tiny – less than one tenth the wavelength of light. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory are making strides towards manipulating light at the nanoscale by using the unusual optical properties of metal nanoparticles, opening doors to microscopic-sized devices.

The University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory today signed collaborative agreements with two Idaho universities. The University of Chicago and Argonne will collaborate with Boise State University on social policy and economic and environmental issues associated with energy, business and technology management, and joint faculty and staff appointments. The agreement with Idaho State University establishes joint research in nuclear engineering as well as joint faculty and staff appointments.

A new catalyst could help auto makers meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's deadline to eliminate 95 percent of nitrogen-oxide from diesel engine exhausts by 2007, while saving energy. Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the new catalyst is one of a family of related catalysts that also shows promise for reducing NOx emissions from industrial sources, such as coal-fired power plants and furnaces at chemical plants and refineries.