![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment was one of the biggest efforts to directly detect dark matter. It was located a mile deep in a former gold mine to minimize radioactive “noise.”](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/blog-dark-matter-102616-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=31477F1F09B5D1A3C3706495D3657C4F557CC7CD4A634B082D117668A009CC34)
The Search for Dark Matter
From deep underground to outer space, researchers supported by the DOE’s Office of Science are working to understand this mysterious type of matter.
Read more about The Search for Dark Matter![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Scanning the pristine skies above the Amazon rainforest revealed that small aerosol particles that form naturally in the upper atmosphere are carried to the lower atmosphere by rapid downdrafts associated with rainfall.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/bnl-amazon-102516-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=0910D61F712235AB5CA8982F0A593BFB6053940F95FD2ED0FB94FBCB55A3CEC8)
Amazon Study Reveals that Rainstorms Transport Atmospheric Particles Essential for Cloud Formation
Tracking atmospheric particles in a pristine environment will help scientists understand the impact of industrial aerosols on climate.
Read more about Amazon Study Reveals that Rainstorms Transport Atmospheric Particles Essential for Cloud Formation![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Ken Williams (left) and Jill Banfield at the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area site near Rifle, Colorado, where research by her team has doubled the number of known bacterial groups.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/lbnl-new-bacteria-102416-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=C6089469DFCF8DDC3DD564795EDDC7B6A5D7058F953157C07F6C356E5433BC8E)
New Bacteria Groups, and Stunning Diversity, Discovered Underground
Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley research also provides new clues about the roles of subsurface microbes in globally important cycles.
Read more about New Bacteria Groups, and Stunning Diversity, Discovered Underground![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg GLBRC research scientist Steve Karlen with an orchid in the Botany Greenhouse on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/glbrc-lignin-biofuels-101716-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=AD088A3D7AE662145E2D957D20D5A20022F4CC713035F0C7636E5CBA27086FCA)
With Designer Lignin, Biofuels Researchers Reproduced Evolutionary Path
New Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center-led study shows that poplar trees and many other plants from all over the phylogenetic tree have actually evolved to naturally produce zip-lignin.
Read more about With Designer Lignin, Biofuels Researchers Reproduced Evolutionary Path![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Argonne physicist Mahalingam Balasubramanian loads an in situ lithium-ion battery into the low-energy resolution inelastic X-ray (LERIX) system at the Advanced Photon Source.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/blog-lithium-ion-101216-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=8988FC6613E89C1C9B12C6B25BAB705EF9AE4A3A3ED92E4DE021819565606DFD)
Peering Into Batteries: X-Rays Reveal Lithium-Ion’s Mysteries
Researchers are using the Office of Science’s advanced light sources to study batteries in real-time.
Read more about Peering Into Batteries: X-Rays Reveal Lithium-Ion’s Mysteries![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg A simulation shows the path for the collision of a krypton ion (blue) with a defected graphene sheet and subsequent formation of a carbon vacancy (red).](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/ornl-graphene-101116-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=20DC19ED9717650F9AAC74A0319AF7EFA6AE98C4362B8FFB0ECD72C6E0D14C22)
Simulations Show How to Turn Graphene’s Defects into Assets
Researchers at Penn State, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company have developed methods to control defects in two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, that may lead to improved membranes for water desalination, energy storage, sensing or advanced protective coatings.
Read more about Simulations Show How to Turn Graphene’s Defects into Assets![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg This graphic illustrates how the ABEL Trap can corral individual particles of tobacco mosaic virus. The graphic on the left shows the trajectories of 13 particles that are similar to the trajectories the particles would have followed if they had not been trapped.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/blog-nobel-recipient-100516-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=63E2C8C22C150E2FCA5D0B62977E0A8028CD17857533953B8981D7F6A076E563)
After the Nobel Prize, What Do You Do for an Encore?
How Nobel recipient W.E. Moerner and his team built the ABEL Trap and discovered the behavior of single, unfettered molecules.
Read more about After the Nobel Prize, What Do You Do for an Encore?![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg The 2017 National Science Bowl logo.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/nsb-registration-100316-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=4D6725C6F52F6D3409B1C66988BE1B347113987C5A4B1DC5B658CCA980D5A48C)
Registration Now Open for Energy Department’s National Science Bowl®
High school and middle school teams nationwide can now sign up to compete in one of the nation’s most prestigious and largest academic science competitions.
Read more about Registration Now Open for Energy Department’s National Science Bowl®![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg It’s the candy dish problem, but rather than picking the desired flavors, scientists must pick impurities from complex mixes.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/blog-molecules-092216-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=945E278A90288FF4CBAB268AF662D2622FE8A5C779A448C5EB3420CE7BCFAFAE)
Take the Best, Leave the Rest
Fundamental researchers offer new ways to sort molecules for clean energy and more.
Read more about Take the Best, Leave the Rest![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg These atom-scale computer simulations of tetrapods show how they sense compression (left) and tension along one axis (right), both of which are crucial to detecting nanoscale crack formation.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/lbnl-nanoscale-tetrapods-092016-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=15BBA8A80C90E99D71B3051737B707776EF6D77B526E183391549AD3C1C9EFCF)
Nanoscale Tetrapods Could Provide Early Warning of a Material’s Failure
Berkeley Lab scientists are developing a new way to detect microscopic fractures in materials in the field.
Read more about Nanoscale Tetrapods Could Provide Early Warning of a Material’s Failure![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Former Argonne postdoctoral researcher Diana Berman and Argonne nanoscientist Anirudha Sumant.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/anl-growing-graphene-091916-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=D823EF9680537A5506F5F45660BB92CF0CB928D2A5C2D77CBD1CAFD014BED980)
Diamond Proves Useful Material for Growing Graphene
Former Argonne postdoctoral researcher Diana Berman and Argonne nanoscientist Anirudha Sumant, along with several collaborators, developed a new and inexpensive way to grow pure graphene using a diamond substrate.
Read more about Diamond Proves Useful Material for Growing Graphene![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg A new study from Argonne National Laboratory has shown water can serve a previously undiscovered role to help micelles coalesce to spontaneously form long fibers.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2016/anl-biofibers-sunlight-091416-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=F1EB1284F3D2D107B1F44982ADAD24CF9D4BB1035608674908BC045CD3E1648E)
Water Helps Assembly of Biofibers that Could Capture Sunlight
In a study led by researchers at Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials, supercomputer simulations and lab-based experiments showed that water serves as an invisible cage for the growth of long fibers from micelles made of chains of amino acids.
Read more about Water Helps Assembly of Biofibers that Could Capture Sunlight