Feature Stories

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The Chicago Humanities Festival, which began in 1989, creates opportunities for people of all ages to support, enjoy and explore the humanities. The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange rehearses "The Matter of Origins" for CHF. Image courtesy of Jaclyn Borowski/ The Diamondback and the Chicago Humanities Festival.
 Science to be featured at Chicago Humanities Festival

At humanities festivals, physics and chemistry typically get left off the menu in favor of poetry and philosophy, but not at this year's Chicago Humanities Festival.

 November 7, 2011
Staphylococcus aureus is a well-known microbe, but millions of others lurk in every nook and cranny on Earth. (Image courtesy of Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.)
 Earth Microbiome Project to catalogue world’s microbes

An initiative called the Earth Microbiome Project, led by Jack Gilbert at Argonne National Laboratory and including scientists all over the world, is tackling the massive task of cataloguing the DNA of all microbes. The knowledge could potentially one day help us understand climate change, increase world food production and even avoid unnecessary surgeries.

 November 9, 2011
Electrons in a grid pattern. Image courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh.
Materials scientists watch electrons "melt"

When a skier rushes down a ski slope or a skater glides across an ice rink, a very thin melted layer of liquid water forms on the surface of the ice crystals, which allows for a smooth glide instead of a rough skid. In a recent experiment, scientists have discovered that the interface between the surface and bulk electronic structures of certain crystalline materials can act in much the same way.

 November 21, 2011
Barry Smith and Lois Curfman McInnes, winners of the 2011 E.O. Lawrence Award.
 Argonne's Barry Smith and Lois Curfman McInnes Win E.O. Lawrence Award

Argonne National Laboratory researchers Barry Smith and Lois Curfman McInnes have been named winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, which honors midcareer scientists and engineers for exceptional contributions in research and development.

 November 29, 2011
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (left), Argonne's Keith Hardy (center) and DOE Assistant Secretary of Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow (right) discuss smart grid opportunities.
 Ground being laid for EV-Grid compatibility in the United States and European Union

Argonne will host one of two Electric Vehicle-Smart Grid Interoperability Centers being established by the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to facilitate transatlantic interoperability between electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure.

 December 1, 2011
Chris Jacobsen, elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, is an associate division director at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source.
 Argonne X-ray scientist elected fellow of the American Physical Society

Argonne X-ray scientist Chris Jacobsen has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society. Jacobsen is an associate division director at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source.

 December 5, 2011
Computational modeling produces both prospects for better catalysts and beautiful images, like this model of a platinum catalyst interacting with oxygen atoms (red) and hydrogen atoms (white). Image by Rees Rankin, Center for Nanoscale Materials.
 7 things you may not know about catalysis

Catalysts are one of those things that few people think much about, beyond perhaps in high school chemistry, but they make the world tick.

 December 14, 2011
These microcapsules, filled with liquid metal, sit on a gold conductive layer. If the circuit is mechanically damaged, the capsules burst to restore the conductive pathway. Each is just 10 microns across; 10 could fit side by side in a human hair. Image by Amanda Jones and Ben Blaiszik.
 Battery, heal thyself: Inventing self-repairing batteries

Imagine dropping your phone on the hard concrete sidewalk—but when you pick it up, you find its battery has already healed itself.

 January 11, 2012
Winter snow blankets southwest Alaska on January 12, 2011, bringing the varied topography of the region into sharp relief. Photo courtesy NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team.
 Thawing tundra a new climate threat

A significant source of greenhouse gases has started leaking into the Earth's atmosphere from an unlikely place. Above the Arctic Circle, land frozen for tens of thousands of years has begun to thaw for the first time.

 January 19, 2012
Mark Snir heads the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne.
Argonne's Snir honored as one of HPCwire's "People to Watch" in 2012

Argonne National Laboratory's Marc Snir has been named one of HPCwire's "People to Watch" in 2012.

 January 24, 2012
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