Selecting

2019’s highlights for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a bit like

choosing just one family photo for the holiday card among the dozens of important

events and exciting adventures of the year.

These

eight exemplify how researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy lab are

advancing scientific discovery and finding solutions to the nation’s toughest

problems in energy resiliency and national security.

In

the area of scientific discovery, PNNL scientists worked to enhance knowledge

and expand understanding of the environment, materials and human health.

Modeling ecological health

Researchers

used a new ocean modeling tool to shed light on how the ecology of the

Northwest’s Salish Sea might respond to increasing temperatures, rising sea

levels and growing nutrient loads.

After

successfully predicting the biogeochemical cycles of the Salish Sea,

researchers applied the model to answer questions about how this body of water

will change as the climate changes.

Developing designer proteins

Inspired

by the way proteins can mimic the molecular pattern of ice, PNNL researchers

and collaborators engineered new proteins and controlled the way they interact

with the surface of mica, assembling designer filaments and honeycomb lattices

that may lead to new materials for solar cells and electronic circuits.

Understanding the human brain

Two

different studies took a closer look at the brain and diseases such as Alzheimer’s,

Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.

The

first revealed the structure of a fundamental electrical switch in the brain

and showed how it fails in diseased brains.

The

second used sensitive mass spectrometers to examine a specific protein that may

play a role in Alzheimer’s and similar diseases.

Our

efforts to enhance the nation’s energy resiliency are focused on providing the

nation with secure and affordable energy.

Informing infrastructure restoration

Researchers

at PNNL developed analytical tools that use satellite-based imagery to quickly

assess damage to energy infrastructure.

These

tools have been used in more than a dozen natural disasters in the United

States in the past two years, including five hurricanes, an earthquake and this

spring’s upper Midwest flooding.

Shaping the grid of the future

Along

with industry partner National Grid, PNNL developed a sophisticated model of

the electricity distribution system on Nantucket Island to guide investments in

energy storage.

This

study will be used to build a more reliable and flexible electricity system for

the island and its population, which swells five-fold during the summer season.

Building better batteries

PNNL

scientists concocted a chemical cocktail that yielded an improved electrolyte

for use in lithium-ion batteries.

These

better batteries will enable electric cars, cell phones and other devices to

keep a charge and operate efficiently in extreme temperatures, from minus-40

degrees to greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

PNNL’s

national security team delivered technologies to detect threats and keep

information and people safe.

Detecting malware

PNNL

cyber sleuths have borrowed a page from biology to develop a tool that can

identify inherited malware in software.

The

tool converts software code into DNA-like structures and then examines it for

suspicious similarities to known malware, allowing them to pinpoint evolving

threats.

Sensing harmful substances

Our

scientists and engineers invented technologies that “sniff” out vapors from

illicit drugs, explosives and chemicals associated with the proliferation of

nuclear and chemical weapons.

They

can detect and identify trace amounts in the air without swiping a physical

sample, which is useful in several settings. One invention was licensed to a

company to rapidly detect toxic industrial chemicals in the field.

Like

any year-end wrap-up, this list is incomplete.

But

I hope it gives you a sense of what some of your friends and neighbors at PNNL

worked on in the last year and the great things you can expect of us in 2020

and beyond.

Steven Ashby is the director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.