• Sustaining U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Could be Key to Decarbonization

    Nuclear power is the single largest source of carbon-free energy in the United States and currently provides nearly 20 percent of the nation’s electrical demand. New research sought to answer the question: Just how much do our existing nuclear reactors contribute to the mission of meeting the country’s climate goals, both now and if their operating licenses were extended?

  • Quantum Cryptography Applications

    The development of quantum computing means that the use of classic cryptography for secure communications is in danger of becoming obsolete. Quantum cryptography, on the other hand, uses the laws of quantum mechanics to ensure total security. One example of this is quantum key distribution, which enables two parties to secure a message via a random secret key.

  • AI Models Fail to Reproduce Human Judgements About Rule Violations: Study

    Models trained using common data-collection techniques judge rule violations more harshly than humans would, researchers report.

  • Improving Capabilities of Portable Drug Detection Systems

    DHS S&T and partners are working to improve their ability to identify different narcotics, like fentanyl. Narcotics detection systems libraries will be enhanced via the collection of data on approximately 50 restricted substances, primarily related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, that are scheduled and controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

  • Nuclear Agency Cannot Continue With “Business as Usual” in the Shifting Supercomputing Landscape: Report

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) needs to fundamentally rethink the strategy for its next generation of high-performance computing, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences.

  • Producing Medical Isotopes While Lowering the Risk of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation

    Scientists and engineers at Argonne have been working for decades to help medical isotope production facilities around the world change from the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to the use of low-enriched uranium (LEU), which is much more difficult to use in a weapon.

  • New Tool Optimizes Irrigation

    A new tool for designing and managing irrigation for farms advances the implementation of smart agriculture, an approach that leverages data and modern technologies to boost crop yields while conserving natural resources.

  • Helping the U.S. Fast-track Hypersonic Conventional Weapons

    Hypersonic weapons have been a top priority for modernizing the armed forces, with ultrafast, long-range and maneuverable munitions being touted as a revolutionary advance in modern warfare. The U.S. has fast-tracked their development and announced plans to field the first conventional hypersonic missile battery this year. Sandia National Lab is helping the U.S. achieve this goal.

  • Real or Fake Text? We Can Learn to Spot the Difference

    The most recent generation of chatbots has may have increased anxiety in areas such the creative economy and education, but the truth is that the effects of large-scale language models such as ChatGPT will touch virtually every corner of our lives.

  • Cybersecurity Goes Undercover to Protect Electric-Grid Data

    Researchers, inspired by one of the mysteries of human perception, invented a new way to hide sensitive electric grid information from cyberattack: Within a constantly changing color palette.

  • First to Respond, Come What May

    Of the emerging threats the U.S. is facing, climate change is particularly prominent. But climate change is just one factor currently impacting the evolving response environment. Human behavior, technology advancement, infrastructure, COVID-19, and protests/civil unrest are all making responders’ jobs more challenging as well.

  • U.S. Should Begin Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors: Report

    New and advanced types of nuclear reactors could play an important role in helping the U.S. meet its long-term climate goals, but a range of technical, regulatory, economic, and societal challenges must first be overcome.

  • Geothermal Energy: Limitless, Renewable, and Nonpolluting

    Geothermal resources offer a tantalizing opportunity to provide affordable, carbon-neutral electricity. It is virtually limitless, “always on,” and widely available across all fifty states.

  • Are We Asking Too Much of Cyber?

    Both cyber enthusiasts and skeptics may be asking too much of cyber. “U.S. cyber strategies should be more explicit about articulating not only the strategic benefits cyberspace offers but also its limitations,” Erica Lonegran and Michael Poznansky write. “More realism about cyberspace may help leaders truly integrate cyber capabilities.”

  • The Critical Minerals End-Game?

    To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there’s been a dramatic uptake of renewable energy, primarily solar and wind, with a transition to lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage. The transition relies on increasing the extraction of critical minerals for their production.