Feature Stories

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Songs in the key of sea

Soft horns and a tinkling piano form the backbone of “Fifty Degrees North, Four Degrees West,” a jazz number with two interesting twists: it has no composer and no actual musicians. Unless you count bacteria, that is.

 September 27, 2012
Zoomed-in image from the Dark Energy Camera of the center of the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, which lies about 17,000 light years from Earth. Credit: Dark Energy Survey Collaboration.
Dark energy: Q&A with Steve Kuhlmann

Why do we care about dark energy in the first place?

 September 17, 2012
These drops of solution remain suspended for a long period of time, thanks to the vibrational force of sound waves that keep them stationary in an air column. (Photo by Dan Harris)
 No magic show: Real-world levitation to inspire better pharmaceuticals

It’s not a magic trick and it’s not sleight of hand – scientists really are using levitation to improve the drug development process, eventually yielding more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects.

 September 12, 2012
Several Art of Science posters are currently displayed at O’Hare International Airport and will remain up through early 2013. The exhibit is located in the hallways connecting Terminals 2 and 3 adjacent to the Rotunda. (Image courtesy of the City of Chicago Department of Aviation.)
 Finding a palate for the science palette

Like art, science expands our notion of the universe.It takes us from microcosms to the cosmos. It lets us envision how our planet was born, and how it might eventually die. No wonder, then, that science can beget compelling art — which is what Argonne National Laboratory’s annual “Art of Science” contest is all about.

 September 11, 2012
Argonne researchers Osman Eryilmaz (left) and Gerald Jeka (right) recover industrial parts from the large-scale ultra-fast boriding furnace after a successful boriding treatment. The furnace uses an electrochemical process similar to that of batteries to deposit boron on metal workpieces. (Photo credit: Osman Eryilmaz)
 New boriding technique coats metal workpieces in minutes

Growing up in Turkey, Ali Erdemir and Osman Eryilmaz would sometimes play with the borax deposits near the mountains by their homes — but only later would they discover that borax would underlie one of their crowning achievements as scientists.

 September 5, 2012
In this split screen image, Argonne engineer Henning Lohse-Busch evaluates an electric vehicle under extreme hot (left) and cold conditions (right). The Advanced Powertrain Research Facility’s Environmental Test Cell is equipped to evaluate vehicles and their components at a temperature range of 20°F to 95°F.
 Turning up the heat: Argonne’s thermal cell facility puts vehicles to the test

Argonne’s world-class Advanced Powertrain Research Facility now includes a thermal chamber that can deliver temperatures ranging from frigid cold to sweltering heat.

 August 30, 2012
A high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image of the core of a single silver nanowire. The scale bar represents 5 nm in length. The image was taken on the Argonne Chromatic Aberration-corrected TEM (ACAT) machine.
 Sterling science: Strain in silver nanoparticles creates unusual “twinning”

When twins are forced to share, it can put a significant strain on their relationship. While this observation is perhaps unsurprising in the behavior of children, it is less obvious when it comes to nanoparticles.

 August 27, 2012
In the Materials Engineering Research Facility’s process research and development lab, Argonne chemist Trevor Dzwiniel sets up a reaction calorimeter, which precisely measures how much heat a chemical reaction generates. This vital information is used to assess the scalability and safety of a reaction or process.
 The research bench meets industry: New facility scales up production of battery materials

The path between technology discovery and commercialization can be so treacherous that it has been dubbed the “Valley of Death.” Not all products survive the test — and batteries are no exception. Cue Argonne’s new Materials Engineering Research Facility, which allows researchers to safely determine fast and economical ways of producing large quantities of advanced battery materials for commercial testing.

 August 21, 2012
Simulated structures showing the starting material of carbon-60 “buckyballs” (magenta) and m-xylene solvent (blue) before being compressed. (Credit: Carnegie Institute of Washington)
 Scientists create new diamond-denting carbon

A new super-hard form of carbon has been created by an international team of scientists working with X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

 August 20, 2012
Argonne is readying one of the Department of Energy's mobile climate testing facilities for a run aboard the cargo container ship Horizon Spirit as it traverses the Pacific Ocean. During a test run in February 2012, scientists launched a type of sensor called a radiosonde from different locations on the ship to determine the best location to accomplish the launch. Photo courtesy ARM Climate Research Facility.
 Mobile climate observatory prepares for campaign aboard ship

Following a six-month land-based campaign in the Maldives to study tropical convective clouds, the Department of Energy’s second Atmospheric Radiation Measurement mobile facility is being readied for a research campaign aboard a cargo container ship in the Pacific Ocean.

 August 16, 2012