Learning About Material Integrity from Statistical Data
Whether it protects space satellites or sequesters nuclear waste, scientists want to understand tiny features that could significantly alter how a material behaves. Locating microscopic defects can be done with powerful microscopes, but scientists want more. They want to use the microscopes to locate and understand the very molecules involved in the defects. Describing the location of the molecules and atoms in images often relies on statistics that can be inaccurate and expensive.
Modeling Microbes to Manage Carbon Dioxide
In the past decade, microbiologists began realizing that communities of microbes process energy and materials, which affects their environments. To understand how microbial communities function in a natural ecosystem, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists developed a novel kinetic model that represents microbial community dynamics in soil pores.
Gauging Water's Future
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Oak Ridge National Laboratory found ways to improve the capabilities of a land model within global and regional Earth system models to estimate water runoff. Accurate runoff predictions can lead to better information for managing sustainable water for personal and industrial consumption.
Driving Change in Technology
To steer an energy technology change you must understand the factors that can drive such a change. Scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland, working at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, found that domestic policy decisions and characteristics of the technology itself are the dominant factors in large-scale energy transitions. The researchers looked at past technology revolutions in biomass and nuclear energy systems in three countries.
Keqi Tang and Ryan Kelly Win Technology Transfer Award
Congratulations to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists Dr. Keqi Tang and Dr. Ryan Kelly, and commercialization manager Bruce Harrer, who have received a 2012 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium.
