![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Director Sergei Nagaitsev stands in front of an accelerator beamline under construction at the Fermilab Accelerator Complex.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-userfacility-nagaitsev-021218-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=7C042753577410F6E918779E99034BFC3A02E155BE390ACE59CA0644E519D976)
Meet the Director: Sergei Nagaitsev
Sergei Nagaitsev, director of the Fermilab Accelerator Complex user facility, looks to the future while running the day-to-day duties in support of the Office of Science High Energy Physics program's goals: to understand how our universe works at its most fundamental level, by discovering the most elementary constituents of matter and energy, and exploring the basic nature of space and time itself.
Read more about Meet the Director: Sergei Nagaitsev![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Anaerobic gut fungi colonize plant matter and release enzymes that break cell walls into simple sugars.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-fungi-013118-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=208F7EF44A12AB09E6F89270EE79105B8BE35C2D1A1166AE0B3226FA2AC6AA00)
Behind the Scenes: How Fungi Make Nutrients Available to the World
Scientists are researching fungi’s essential role in decomposition, particularly breaking down cell walls in wood.
Read more about Behind the Scenes: How Fungi Make Nutrients Available to the World![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg shown are the types of storm clouds that Jiwen Fan and colleagues studied as part of their study published in Science.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/pnnl-clouds-012618-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=AE4163DEE9CDAE0CBCCFF708E733D1D2D98F22E322339818BFE270C0A947E3E4)
Tiny Particles Have Outsize Impact on Storm Clouds and Precipitation
Tiny particles fuel powerful storms and influence weather much more than has been appreciated, according to a study in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Science.
Read more about Tiny Particles Have Outsize Impact on Storm Clouds and Precipitation![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg The ProtoDUNE detectors are being assembled at the European laboratory CERN.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/fermi-little-detectors-012318-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=0364DB5A89A177A8F487478C5CA37F5E2731E1EB01D6E9D28B17F9B61948BBC0)
The Biggest Little Detectors
Two test detectors being installed and tested at CERN are the prototypes of the much larger detectors planned for DUNE, the biggest international science project ever conducted in the United States and hosted by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Read more about The Biggest Little Detectors![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Scientists at PNNL have created a new family of nanotubes that are composed of peptide-like molecules called peptoids.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/pnnl-tubes-011818-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=701EB905877BB7AE589D5AF8FA902847B22C325759537D7F1AF7ACFA04879B5B)
Let the Good Tubes Roll
Inspired by biology, a PNNL-led team of scientists has created new tiny tubes that could help with water purification and tissue engineering studies.
Read more about Let the Good Tubes Roll![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Artist’s rendering of asteroids and space dust.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/lbnl-meteorites-011218-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=AE746044EAF52871E79671CA563641B8E23DEA2A64F879B6D939993DB0C68EE6)
Ingredients for Life Revealed in Meteorites That Fell to Earth
Study, based in part at Berkeley Lab, also suggests dwarf planet in asteroid belt may be a source of rich organic matter.
Read more about Ingredients for Life Revealed in Meteorites That Fell to Earth![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg The Dark Energy Camera is mounted on the Blanco telescope in Chile.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/fermi-dark-energy-011118-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=87B727ED661418BC3090FAF7D1CD16F10C06C778740ACC068E9B336775787B1A)
Dark Energy Survey Releases First Three Years of Data
This first major release of data from the Survey includes information on about 400 million astronomical objects, including distant galaxies billions of light-years away as well as stars in our own galaxy.
Read more about Dark Energy Survey Releases First Three Years of Data![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Brookhaven Lab physicist Alexander Bazilevsky and RIKEN physicist Itaru Nakagawa use billiards and a bowling ball to demonstrate surprising results observed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider's PHENIX detector when small particles collided with larger ones.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/bnl-nuclei-spin-010818-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=0B5F337FCEFA0D1CFC331B55319E9BFC70DDCB8602A1FBDA7C269377018139E4)
Surprising Result Shocks Scientists Studying Spin
Findings on how differently sized nuclei respond to spin offer new insight into mechanisms affecting particle production in proton-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).
Read more about Surprising Result Shocks Scientists Studying Spin![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg 2017’s Top Stories from the Office of Science](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2018/blog-end-of-year-010318-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=49F4B1320AB39E93359D847ECC36C4DF00794FAD0D2BE34812C851EF70A9B4DC)
2017’s Top Stories from the Office of Science
Our Most Popular Articles of the Year
Read more about 2017’s Top Stories from the Office of Science![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg After a cold and high light stress, thale-cress plants (wild-type and soq1) display less chlorophyll fluorescence, equivalent to more energy dissipation.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2017/lbnl-plants-121917-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=D399688E6D9E43FA873F98D59934A15E70417C3FC39738F94B28C34D11F13EC9)
Berkeley Lab Researchers ID Plant ‘Sunscreen’ Protein
Researchers are working to understand – and manipulate – plant photoprotection mechanisms, such as a process called NPQ, or nonphotochemical quenching, which helps dissipate excess light energy inside chloroplasts.
Read more about Berkeley Lab Researchers ID Plant ‘Sunscreen’ Protein![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Detectors at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) track protons, neutrons, and other subatomic particles produced by ion collisions to better understand quark-gluon plasma.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2017/blog-quark-120617-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=465F17F4D61133B9B23FD13BAE7B22C9F82B659381B11F8C3366C26CA1BF50A6)
How to Map the Phases of the Hottest Substance in the Universe
Scientists are searching for the critical point of quark-gluon plasma, the substance that formed just after the Big Bang. Finding where quark-gluon plasma abruptly changes into ordinary matter can reveal new insights.
Read more about How to Map the Phases of the Hottest Substance in the Universe![pnnl-calendar-010515-headliner.jpg Cori, the newest supercomputer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), is a Cray XC40 with a peak performance of about 30 petaflops.](/-/media/_/images/banner-images/2017/bnl-hpc-120117-thumb.jpg?h=75&w=135&la=en&hash=93CCE8AA015EC7BB087546168CCF0FE1AED8B8CF19CBB473DDB428601B66E8ED)
High-Performance Computing Cuts Particle Collision Data Prep Time
For the first time, scientists have used high-performance computing (HPC) to reconstruct the data collected by a nuclear physics experiment—an advance that could dramatically reduce the time it takes to make detailed data available for scientific discoveries.
Read more about High-Performance Computing Cuts Particle Collision Data Prep Time