News

Lurking within the emissions from many industrial operations is an untapped resource — carbon dioxide (CO2).

carbon dioxide (CO2)

An important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas, that comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.

Source: NASA Source

A contributor of greenhouse gas and global warming, it could instead be captured and converted to value-added chemicals. In a collaborative project involving the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, Northern Illinois University and Valparaiso University, scientists report a family of catalysts that efficiently converts CO2 into ethanol,

ethanol

A renewable fuel made from corn and other plant materials.

Source: US Department of Energy Source

acetic acid or formic acid.

On a recent spring afternoon, six Pellissippi State students toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) isotope facilities. They are the first in the Chemical Radiation Technology Pathway, part of Pellissippi State’s Associate of Applied Science in General Technology degree. This pathway prepares students to work at ORNL and other national labs immediately, whether or not they choose to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) drone and geospatial team has become the first to map the Coca River in the Amazon basin, where erosion

erosion

The geological process in which Earth's materials are worn away by weathering processes and transported away by natural forces such as wind or water.

Source: National Geographic Source

and sediment threaten Ecuador’s lands. The geology along Ecuador’s Coca River is moving in fast-forward. In a scientific field where natural wonders form over millennia, but natural disasters occur in minutes, speed is less than desirable.

Bacteria and fungi live together on the surface of plant roots, which can promote symbiotic interactions with the plant. Plant roots that are especially fine can support various niches for their microbial proliferations, but traditionally, microbiome studies have not examined fine root systems

fine root system

The network of small, fibrous roots found in plants.

Source: Source

separately from the rhizosphere.

rhizosphere

The soil region influenced by plant roots where complex biological and ecological processes occur.

Source: EMSL Source

New findings show that the microbiomes in the root surface zone and rhizosphere are distinctive in four different tree species.

Prestigious fellowships awarded to promising early-career researchers. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has awarded its newest cohort of named fellowships, providing five early-career scientists with additional support as they pursue pivotal discoveries that will make Americans safer and better off and increase our understanding of the universe.

Sandia National Laboratories aims to inspire young minds at the Cochiti Pueblo by hosting a day filled with learning and exploration of science, technology, engineering and math. The event is part of the Labs’ ongoing efforts to inspire Native American youth to pursue further education and careers in STEM fields, potentially leading to future opportunities at Sandia. The day will feature a range of activities for elementary and middle school-aged students.

Organic carbon in soil boosts plant growth, enhances subsurface biodiversity, and can sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). However, root processes inject organic carbon into small areas, complicating efforts to quantify it and link it to the diverse microenvironments around plant roots.

A new study finds that, by mid-century, nearly half the global population could live in areas where groundwater

groundwater

Water that occurs below Earth's surface. When rain falls to the ground, a portion percolates (sinks) into the ground and collects in spaces in the underground rocks.

Source: A student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

will become so costly as to raise regional food prices and significantly alter the geography of trade and crop production. Nine percent of the world’s water basins appear to have already reached such a state of near depletion. New research from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory indicates that an additional 11.5% could reach this point by 2030, with another 22% joining by mid-century.

Floating offshore wind energy has huge energy potential—2.8 terawatts in the United States, to be exact. That is more than double current U.S. electricity consumption. The White House aims to begin tapping that potential with its current goal of deploying 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035. In order to meet that goal, developers will need large turbines that can float over high-wind areas of the ocean that are too deep for today’s fixed bottom offshore wind turbines.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing batteries to combat climate change

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

by expanding renewable energy

renewable energy

Renewable energy comes from unlimited, naturally replenished resources, such as the sun, tides, and wind. Renewable energy can be used for electricity generation, space and water heating and cooling, and transportation.

Source: U.S Department of Energy Source

use and capturing carbon dioxide. This type of battery stores the renewable energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines. Utilizing this energy when wind and sunlight are unavailable requires an electrochemical

electrochemical

A discipline of chemistry concerned with the interconversion of electrical and chemical energy.

Source: Source

reaction that, in ORNL’s new battery formulation, captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts it to value-added products.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Aurora supercomputer has officially broken the exascale barrier. Today at the 2024 ISC High Performance conference in Hamburg, Germany, the 63rd edition of the high performance computing

high-performance computing (HPC)

High-performance computing – the most powerful and largest scale computing systems – enables researchers to study systems that would otherwise be impractical, or impossible, to investigate in the real world due to their complexity or the danger they pose

Source: DOE Office of Science Source

Top500 list announced that DOE holds the #1 and #2 positions for most powerful supercomputers in the world. The Top500’s benchmark has long been the world’s measuring stick for large scale supercomputing performance.

The American Geophysical Union is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its journal Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) by showcasing some of the highest-achieving papers that have been published over the past 50 years. A paper by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists is one of the winners. The paper "Causes of Higher Climate Sensitivity in CMIP6 Models" by LLNL scientists and collaborators from University of Leeds and Imperial College London was chosen as the "Editor’s Choice Paper."