Feature Articles

Featured in the1995 James Bond film, “GoldenEye," the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was the largest radio telescope in the world until December 1, 2020, when its cable wires slipped and caused the 1.8-million-pound platform to collapse onto the dish. Neutron imaging on some of the failed cable sockets was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help determine the cause of the cable/socket assembly failures.

A group at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory made a difference for local youth through hands-on projects that connected neutron science and engineering intuitively. Two members of ORNL's Women in Neutron Sciences, or WiNS, designed the projects as part of the group's outreach mission promoting equitable and inclusive access to education for science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

Argonne National Laboratory is reimagining the lab spaces and scientific careers of the future by harnessing the power of robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning in the quest for new knowledge.

Part of the Argonne in Chicago initiative, the Autonomous Vehicle Camp offers an independent preview into the intense coding, design and engineering challenges found in Argonne’s annual Autonomous Vehicle Competition.

Ever since gene editing became feasible, researchers and health officials have sought tools that can quickly and reliably distinguish genetically modified organisms from those that are naturally occurring. Now, such tools exist. A suite of techniques was developed and refined over the course of a six-year program funded by the United States Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Supporters of nuclear energy tout the safety and reliability of nuclear power, and data supports their claims.

Sandia National Laboratories opened the doors August 7 to its new, cutting-edge Emergency Operations Center aimed at enhancing emergency incident management coordination and communications for the workforce and the community in the event of an emergency, disaster or crisis. The $42.5 million, 25,000-square-foot facility, located on Kirtland Air Force Base, is scheduled for full operations by early 2024. It will house the National Nuclear Security Administration and Sandia emergency management staff offices, along with the 24/7 Emergency Management Communications Center.

The Rapid Assessment of Platform Technologies to Expedite Response project aims to prepare against future pandemics.

After more than a decade of work, electrons are now flying through a new superconducting accelerator at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, preparing to power the world’s most powerful X-ray free electron laser. This project – named the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II) – is now steps away from releasing X-ray flashes that will open a new era in scientific research at that atomic level.