Feature Articles

Creating multiple universes to see how they run might be tempting to scientists, but it’s obviously not possible. That is, as long as you need physical universes. If you can make do with virtual ones, there are far more options. Cosmologists supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science are developing computer simulations of the universe designed to run on exascale computers. These models are leveraging these supercomputers to provide new insights into our universe’s past and present.

Ten years later, data gathered in Brazil have proven highly influential across atmospheric science

American drivers have long been accustomed to quickly filling up at a gas station with plenty of fuel available, and electric vehicle drivers want their pit stops to mimic this experience. Driver uncertainty about access to charging during long trips remains a barrier to broader EV adoption, even as the U.S. strives to combat climate change by converting more drivers.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working to make EV charging more resilient. After identifying the major challenges, ORNL researchers found solutions to address two key causes of charger failure — the first triggered by voltage shifts in the electric grid, and the other originating within the charger itself. 

As new paradigms in advanced computing take shape, computational chemistry researchers are finding new ways to solve challenging chemistry problems.

On screensaver mode, smart TVs often rotate through photos of natural wonders, from waterfalls to canyons. Now imagine hundreds of those televisions, with one single image spread out among them. The photograph is a sweeping panorama of a huge section of the night sky, with stars and galaxies shining bright throughout. That is the type of image that the newly-completed Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera will take every 20 seconds on clear nights for the course of a decade.

For the first time, scientists have built a fusion experiment using permanent magnets, a technique that could show a simple way to build future devices for less cost and allow researchers to test new concepts for future fusion power plants.

The next-generation ShAPE machine has arrived at PNNL, where it will help prove the mettle of the ShAPE extrusion technique. ShAPE 2 is designed to allow researchers to produce larger, more complex extrusions.

Researchers from PNNL have been assessing installation and use of electric heat pumps in an Alaskan community that relies on fuel oil for heat. The resulting information could advance electrification in cold rural areas across the nation.