Feature Articles

Career paths rarely follow straight lines. But for two recently honored inventors, a professional zigzag became a catalyst to finding greater purpose. The pair of Sandia National Laboratories scientists were elected fellows of the National Academy of Inventors in December.

When Sandia scientists Ryan Davis and Nathan Bays set out to find a better way to absorb and degrade PFAS in water sources, they kept running into the same issue: Detecting the chemicals in samples took too long.

So, they came up with their own solution.

They’ve developed a faster, cheaper way to test for PFAS.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have provided the first comprehensive analysis of the specific costs of power outages to local customers across the nation. It found that the average yearly cost of major outages topped $67 billion over the past seven years.

The total annual burden on customers rose sharply over that time, with the price tag of major outages climbing to $121 billion in 2024. These power disruptions pose serious risks to public health and safety and drain billions of dollars from the U.S. economy.

As U.S. energy demand increases, advanced nuclear energy has emerged as an important option for 24-7 reliable electricity and heat generation.

Sandia National Laboratories earned eight honors in the 2025 R&D 100 Awards, including seven technology awards and the program’s Researcher of the Year professional award. 

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered an extraordinary crystal made from tantalum, tungsten, and selenium that defies expectations with its unique atomic structure. Instead of a random arrangement, the tantalum atoms organize themselves into precise triangular clusters, enhancing the crystal's stability and creating specific magnetic properties when cooled to extremely low temperatures. This unexpected behavior paves the way for advances in spintronics and quantum materials, which could revolutionize computing and data storage by harnessing the dual properties of electron charge and spin.

ORNL researchers are advancing connected and automated vehicle systems to improve merging behavior and traffic flow. By linking real vehicles with immersive traffic simulations, the team is evaluating cooperative driving strategies to support the development of next-generation intelligent transportation systems.

In a dark corner of a mechatronics lab at the Idaho National Laboratory, researcher Ben Baker types commands on a laptop to power up the reactor.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping to enable the next generation of abundant, affordable nuclear energy by combining 80 years of know-how with the latest scientific techniques, facilities and equipment. The lab’s longstanding expertise in degradation of materials in the harsh environments of nuclear reactors make it the go-to place for a resurgence of interest in liquid metals and molten salts for both advanced fission and fusion reactors. 

Energy is fundamentally important — researchers have linked a lack of reliable energy to poor physical health, poor mental health and higher mortality rates. But when astronauts push the boundaries of space exploration, energy is a matter of life and death.