Feature Articles

For fusion energy, scientists must generate, confine and sustain a superhot gas called plasma — heated to 10 times the temperature of the center of the sun — to cause a fusion reaction. Although terrestrial plasmas can be confined magnetically, what materials can withstand near such high temperatures and the relentless impact of energetic neutrons? That question is central to the development of economical fusion power plants to provide abundant and carbon-free energy. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been working with Japanese scientists under the Japan-U.S. Fusion Cooperation Program for decades to determine the answer.

Several members of Argonne’s Student STEM Ambassadors program, having interned at Argonne before, gave future and current interns key suggestions on how to have successful, fulfilling internships.

Supported by his Early Career Research Program award, physicist Junjie Zhu’s work at the CERN Large Hadron Collider led to the first-ever evidence of two rare but important physics processes. These interactions produce the particles responsible for nuclear decay.

Batteries play a pivotal role in the world’s mission to reach net-zero carbon emissions, from electric vehicles to grid-scale electricity storage to home use.

Ken Herwig’s career spanning two-and-a-half decades at ORN includes designing, building and rebuilding scientific instruments used to study the behavior of particles—including SNS’s first instrument, named BASIS.

Batteries come in many shapes and sizes, but their materials can be hard to source. SLAC researchers are trying to build them with more abundant and ethically mined elements.

Research at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source has revealed a key mechanism behind a promising drug for copper deficiency disorders.

Sandia National Laboratories and research partner Know Biological have developed a miniaturized sensor system that can detect the specific gases released from the skin of people with epilepsy before a seizure.

Molten salt has caught the eye of the nuclear industry as an ideal working fluid for reactor cooling, energy transfer, fueling and fission product absorption.