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SkyFuels’ Randy Gee, left and NREL’s Gary Jorgensen with the award-winning solar trough. Life-long love of science is more than its own reward

Gary Jorgensen is proof that persistence pays. Two technologies he spent years developing were honored in 2009 with R&D 100 awards.

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Feature

Taking charge of scientific supercomputing

Taking on a charged particle physics calculation previously labeled “impossible,” a team of reseachers from DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and IBM have developed an unorthodox strategy to fully exploit the power of massively parallel supercomputers and break new ground in scientific simulation. The strategy will have an impact on the future of high-performance scientific computing.

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See also…

DOE Pulse
  • Number 301  |
  • December 7, 2009

  • LHC pushes protons to higher energy

    First proton-proton collisions in the CMS detector. Credit: CMS collaboration Accelerator operators of the Large Hadron Collider in Europe have begun the process of propelling protons to higher and higher energy. The LHC produced its first low-energy particle collisions on Nov. 23, steering two beams of protons with energy of 450 GeV into each other.

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  • Popping the cork on biofuel agriculture

    Seeds deficient in HHT (right) are more permeable to a red dye than normal plant seeds (left). Scientists at DOE’s Brookhaven Lab have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin—the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin’s most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transport and keep pathogens out.

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  • Less 'waste-ful' nuclear fuel

    Each fuel particle contains a kernel of enriched uranium surrounded by carbon and carbide layers that act as containment boundaries for the radioactive material. Researchers at DOE's Idaho National Laboratory have developed a new type of nuclear fuel that leaves less waste and could help industries burn fewer carbon-emitting fossil fuels. The advanced nuclear fuel would be used in high-temperature gas reactors such as the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), which could provide the electricity, heat and hydrogen many industries currently get from fossil fuels.

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  • Simulation, calculations show hydroxide ions orientation in water

    By studying hydroxide ions in water, the team found that the ion (center) can form two different structures: one with five hydrogen bonds (left) and the other with four. Whole water molecules form complex shapes around hydroxide ions, simple negatively charged particles, according to scientists at DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The shapes are the result of hydrogen bonds between the ions and the molecules.

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