![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg A trio of scientists was recognized for their early career successes in uncovering how microbes produce fuel, insights that could change our energy portfolio.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-rising-stars-102918-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=A9C6DD67CE4C7544365643427811D95D46DCDDAD434D4F5094FA3C4F8E7AD665)
Rising Stars Seek to Learn from the Master: Mother Nature
Trio recognized for uncovering biochemical secrets behind nature’s efficient production of fuels.
Read more about Rising Stars Seek to Learn from the Master: Mother Nature![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg supertyphoon Haiyan approaching the Philippines in 2013.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-typhoons-101718-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=F3E6D059FDF382D4C99080C26A8F54C661F1E59F7B91B24E5B87EB32626CBE29)
The Stories Behind the Science: How Does the Ocean’s Saltiness Affect Tropical Storms?
How two researchers discovered that the factors behind storms’ strength are more complex than scientists previously thought.
Read more about The Stories Behind the Science: How Does the Ocean’s Saltiness Affect Tropical Storms?![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Poplar provides a fast-growing woody feedstock for biofuels.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/pnnl-poplar-trees-100518-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=7290B451312DD7CB37AAA521B676FAB9DFF09789A8EFCAE3B23DDA37B212EFEF)
Redesigning Poplar Trees to Take the Drought ... and the Salt and the Heat
A multi-institutional team is working on a multi-million-dollar, multi-year project funded by DOE's Office of Science to improve poplar trees to produce more biomass for biofuel applications.
Read more about Redesigning Poplar Trees to Take the Drought ... and the Salt and the Heat![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg At the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) instrument at LCLS, the researchers zapped knuckle-shaped samples with a laser to create plasma, then used an X-ray scattering technique to watch it expand and collide.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/slac-plasma-100418-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=3D1BD5B1EA4D3BE3FCBDE3097B4AFF33AD03098B250FC5A752C4B8CA9565FEFD)
Peering Into 36-Million-Degree Plasma with SLAC’s X-ray Laser
In a first, researchers measure extremely small and fast changes that occur in plasma when it’s zapped with a laser. Their technique will have applications in astrophysics, medicine and fusion energy.
Read more about Peering Into 36-Million-Degree Plasma with SLAC’s X-ray Laser![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg This graphic shows the magnetic field surrounding the Earth and how it reacted to energy and plasma from a solar flare caused by magnetic reconnection.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-magnetic-reconnection-100318-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=9E1799D084A4D6CC80157F03DB64D05F06A3F283799CC29CC0166F09E883EED5)
Solving a Plasma Physics Mystery: Magnetic Reconnection
Magnetic reconnection causes storms in space and can damage fusion research devices on earth. Researchers are investigating why and how it happens so fast.
Read more about Solving a Plasma Physics Mystery: Magnetic Reconnection![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg When a plant is low on sugar (left), a cascade of molecular interactions degrades (DEG) a protein (W) that turns on fatty acid synthesis (FAS). However, when sugar levels are high (right), key steps in this process are blocked, leaving the W protein intact to start fatty acid (oil) production.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/bnl-plant-oil-092518-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=EC3038799658F11BD962C683A430C7C58784F8F7B9F8AA54F93E59913891C806)
How a Molecular Signal Helps Plant Cells Decide When to Make Oil
A study at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory identifies new details of how a sugar-signaling molecule helps regulate oil production in plant cells.
Read more about How a Molecular Signal Helps Plant Cells Decide When to Make Oil![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Inside the first ProtoDUNE detector, before it was filled with liquid argon.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/fermi-dune-091918-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=6F84CC5317F098836494FDFBA9D706AAE9F76D2D40524297CE4BA77B02DE30B9)
First Particle Tracks Seen in Prototype for International Neutrino Experiment
The largest liquid-argon neutrino detector in the world has just recorded its first particle tracks, signaling the start of a new chapter in the story of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).
Read more about First Particle Tracks Seen in Prototype for International Neutrino Experiment![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg In this artist’s rendering, ultraviolet light is converted by nanoparticles (black dots) into visible light.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/anl-photodetectors-091218-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=0AD7B08AF0D58ED34BB03919253BD6169D0BA282177EC14F159C8F06932235AB)
A Trick of the Light
Argonne researchers are using nanoparticles to make photodetectors better able to handle the ultraviolet radiation produced in high-energy physics experiments.
Read more about A Trick of the Light![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg The inside of a mosquito as it uses the pumping system in its head to drink.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-insects-082918-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=AA5BC7D0BD844E38507533C98B7EA4C6A2A073546F5B0B8FF6157E303D6F400E)
When Your X-Ray Subject Has Wings: Peering Inside Insects with the Advanced Photon Source
One of the world’s most powerful X-rays is making it possible for scientists to see inside insects in real-time.
Read more about When Your X-Ray Subject Has Wings: Peering Inside Insects with the Advanced Photon Source![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg This event display from ATLAS shows a proton-proton collision inside the Large Hadron Collider that has characteristics of a Higgs decaying into two bottom quarks.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/fermi-higgs-082818-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=2E608248AA7BBBB1A215BD0D55769E2A320F2A12E493DC2B47C172C090F6AB2E)
LHC Scientists Detect Most Favored Higgs Decay
Today at CERN, the Large Hadron Collider collaborations ATLAS and CMS jointly announced the discovery of the Higgs boson transforming into bottom quarks as it decays.
Read more about LHC Scientists Detect Most Favored Higgs Decay![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Jasmine Hatcher's work in Brookhaven's Medical Isotope Research and Production Program focuses on extracting Actinium 225, a rare radioactive element that can be used in cancer radiation therapy.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/bnl-graduate-students-082718-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=3980DE08F264CB825F2D3C787EF33332031004CC898106AA5ABC3E7C76AA65B1)
Meet Jasmine Hatcher and Trishelle Copeland-Johnson
Graduate students reflect on launching their research careers at national laboratories.
Read more about Meet Jasmine Hatcher and Trishelle Copeland-Johnson![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg One of the Iowa corn field soil sampling sites used to generate data for the Great Prairie Metagenome Grand Challenge.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-great-prairie-082218-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=AADA373F873D452CBAF960B6BF27644D22AA84969793691EFD0D3C0691F2347C)
From Great Prairie to Gigabytes: Sequencing the Genomes of a Microbial Ecosystem
Scientists are studying microbes in the Great Prairie of the American Midwest to understand the role these tiny organisms play in its ecology and productivity.
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