2018 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Large-scale Simulations Could Shed Light on the 'Dark' Elements that Make Up Most of Our Cosmos

In an ambitious effort directed by Argonne National Laboratory, researchers at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech are now attempting to estimate key features of the universe, including its relative distributions of dark matter and dark energy.

Team's Pic of Crack in the Act Could Prevent Engineering Failures

In work that could help prevent the failure of everything from bridges to dental implants, a team led by a researcher at Texas A&M University has taken the first 3D image of a microscopic crack propagating through a metal damaged by hydrogen.

Next-gen Camera for South Pole Telescope Takes Data on Early Universe

The South Pole Telescope, specially designed to measure the cosmic microwave background, is using its third-generation camera to carry out a multi-year survey to observe the earliest instants of the universe. University of Chicago professor Bradford Benson headed the effort to develop and manufacture new sensors at multiple collaborating universities around the country to build this new, ultra-sensitive camera.

Climatologists Obtain Grant to Develop New Climate Sensitivity Information

Climatologists at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) have received a grant from the United States Dept. of Energy to develop a new method of determining how the Earth’s climate is responding to greenhouse gases that they think will be more accurate than current methods.

Blazes of Light Reveal How Plants Signal Danger Long Distances

Michigan State University was part of a multi-university study that revealed how plant communication systems respond to threats from herbivores. The results, featured in Science, show that once wounded, plants use calcium signals to warn distant tissues of future attacks.

Harnessing Microbial Communities' Division of Labor for Biofuel, Chemical Production

Researchers at the University of Illinois Institute for Genomic Biology aim to understand more about the division of labor in microbial communities in a new project led by IGB faculty Ting Lu, an associate professor of bioengineering, and Yong-Su Jin, a professor of food science and human nutrition.

ASU Research Finds Better Predictors of Metal Structure Failures

An Arizona State University research team has released new insights about intergranular stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), an environmental cause of premature failure in engineered structures, including bridges, aircraft and nuclear power generating plants.

A New Dimension for Batteries

Engineers at the University of Maryland have created a thin battery, made of a few million carefully constructed “microbatteries” in a square inch. Each microbattery is shaped like a very tall, round room, providing much surface area – like wall space – on which nano-thin battery layers are assembled.

New Biofuel Production System Powered by a Community of Algae and Fungi

MSU scientists have a new proof of concept for a biofuel production platform that uses two species of marine algae and soil fungi. It lowers cultivation and harvesting costs and increases productivity, factors that currently hold back biofuels from being widely adopted.

New Insights into Semiconductors for Spintronic Applications from Hard X-Ray Photoemission

“Spintronics” holds promise for new types of devices for information processing and data storage, with ones and zeros being stored in the spin state of electrons as well as their electric charge. Such devices could be faster and more energy efficient than current electronics.

Internship Profile: Swati Narasimhan, Mechanical Engineering’19

University of Miami student Swati Narasimhan spent her summer as a research intern in the Battery Manufacturing Facility, working with the Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Department of Energy Invests $1.1 Million in Sorghum Disease Resistance Research at Illinois

Sorghum is traditionally grown for the grain, but newer cultivars have been developed to maximize vegetative biomass, a key trait for lignocellulosic bioenergy production. But before sorghum can meet its full potential as a bioenergy crop, it will need to become more resistant to diseases that can reduce its ability to produce biomass.