News Releases

Physical Sciences

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-Jul-2025 15:10 ET (1-Jul-2025 19:10 GMT/UTC)

Plant CO2 uptake rises by nearly one third in new global estimates

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Plants the world over are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously thought, according to a new assessment developed by scientists. The research, detailed in the journal Nature, is expected to improve Earth system simulations that scientists use to predict the future climate, and spotlights the importance of natural carbon sequestration for greenhouse gas mitigation.

Journal: Nature
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy, Cornell University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Earth Science Technology Office, U.S. National Science Foundation

Cloud computing captures chemistry code

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The speed and agility of cloud computing opens doors to completing advanced computational chemistry workflows in days instead of months.

Journal: The Journal of Chemical Physics
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Material stimulated by light pulses could be leap toward more energy-efficient supercomputing

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In an Argonne-led project, researchers used X-ray microscopy to discover a ferroelectric material that tailors its response to controlled ultrafast external stimuli, such as light pulses. The material might be applicable to energy-efficient microelectronics.

Journal: Advanced Materials

Researchers find clues to the mysterious heating of the sun’s atmosphere

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

PPPL researchers have made a significant advancement in understanding the underlying heating mechanism of the sun’s atmosphere, finding that reflected plasma waves could drive the heating of coronal holes.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, U.S. National Science Foundation, DOE/US Department of Energy

New technique could unlock potential of quantum materials

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has devised a unique method to observe changes in materials at the atomic level. The technique opens new avenues for understanding and developing advanced materials for quantum computing and electronics.

Journal: Science Advances

Quantum research paves the way toward efficient, ultra-high-density optical memory storage

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago have proposed a new optical memory technology using rare-earth elements and quantum defects for energy-efficient, high-density data storage.

Journal: Physical Review Research

A new and unique fusion reactor comes together with PPPL's contributions

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As part of the global effort to harness power from fusing plasma, PPPL and the University of Seville’s Plasma Science and Fusion Technology Lab worked on the computer codes, engineering and physics for a new and unique fusion reactor: the SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak.

Journal: Review of Scientific Instruments
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, European Research Council Grant Agreement, European Research Council Grant Agreements, Euratom Research and Training Programme Grant Agreement, Junta de Andalucía Ayuda a Infraestructuras y Equipamiento de I+D+i, Proyectos I+D+i FEDER Andalucía

Argonne researchers crack a key problem with sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid energy storage

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New method for cathode preparation prevents the particle cracking that caused performance decline with cycling of sodium-ion batteries, which offer a cheaper, more abundant alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

Manganese cathodes could boost lithium-ion batteries

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Manganese is earth-abundant and cheap. A new process could help make it a contender to replace nickel and cobalt in batteries.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

Replacing hype about artificial intelligence with accurate measurements of success

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper in Nature Machine Intelligence notes that journal articles reporting how well machine learning models solve certain kinds of equations are often overly optimistic. The researchers suggest two rules for reporting results and systemic changes to encourage clarity and accuracy in reporting.

Journal: Nature Machine Intelligence
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy

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