While most coastal inhabitants head for higher ground when hurricanes threaten, a group of researchers from DOE’s Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Clemson University and Texas Tech University bounded into several storms this season, collecting data on the structure of hurricanes. Their hurricane chasing was part of INEEL’s Partnership for Natural Disaster Reduction project. They lugged 5,000-lb. collapsible towers around the southeastern United States, collecting humidity, barometric pressure and wind speed data. Erected over 30 feet into roof-ripping gusts of wind, a tower’s orthogonal propellers clocked wind 15 times a second. “The whole idea is to get a full 3-D picture of wind turbulence—up, down and sideways,” said INEEL engineer Jeff Lacy. 
 

A steam-cleaning technique developed by scientists from DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been cleaning up a heavily contaminated industrial site far faster than conventional methods could. Southern California Edison applied the “dynamic underground stripping” technique to soil at its Visalia, Calif., yard where power poles were once treated with preservatives like creosote. In nine months, the steam technique removed 540,000 pounds of contaminants, nearly 2,000 times more than the roughly 275 pounds of contaminants removed by conventional methods. DOE Secretary Bill Richardson said, “This advance has the potential to remediate up to one-quarter of the nation’s Superfund sites.” 
 

Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic composites (CFCCs) may someday replace steel and superalloys because they can withstand higher temperatures while resisting corrosion. But first, manufacturers need a robust, practical method of joining these materials in a normal air environment because traditional ceramic joining processes are ineffective with CFCCs. Scientists at DOE’s Ames Laboratory have developed and tested a glue to meet those needs. It is made of silicon-bearing preceramic polymers and an aluminum-silicon alloy powder, and produces joints with strengths of up to 14,500 psi at 1200 degrees C. The easy-to-use glue can be heated with a propane torch and cured in air. 
 

Smokers and other addicts who want to kick the habit may find powerful help from a European epilepsy drug that already has shown promise in treating cocaine’s effects in animals. That’s the conclusion of animal studies published in Synapse by scientists from DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory,  St. John’s University, New York University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The same team published results in August showing that the epilepsy drug gamma vinyl-GABA, or GVG, looks promising for treating cocaine addiction. In both studies, it prevented the dramatic changes in brain chemistry and behavior brought on by nicotine and cocaine. 
 

How polymers bond to each other and to other materials determines the effectiveness of many materials used in industry, including paints, coatings, adhesives and lubricants. Improving bond strength leads to better materials. The first direct experimental evidence of how bond strength is accomplished was observed by scientists at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. This research provides a better understanding of the way polymers bond and a means to improve their bonding properties. A bulk polymer melt is like a plate of wriggling worms that a polymer chain must move through. To do this, the polymer chain performs a snake-like movement—reptation—to diffuse lengthwise along the direction of the chain through the network of polymer chains.
 

The polarized electron beam at DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is delighting researchers with high levels of polarization and current, and with exceptionally high polarized source operational “up” time. Polarization refers to the state of electrons in the beam—getting millions of electrons rotating the same way as they move through the accelerator to the target material. Polarized beam allows physicists to add another parameter during an experiment—providing more control or more defined data. Beam has been running with high average current and ~40% polarization and more recently has been delivering polarizations above 70% with lower beam currents. 
 

Low-quality images from video cameras at convenience stores and banks can help a robber go free, but DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working on a tool to help bring criminals to justice. The tool is a software package for personal computers to enable crime fighters like the Secret Service, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to see more clearly people and images captured on surveillance tape. ORNL's Ken Tobin and colleagues are developing algorithms and other techniques to reduce noise--like snow on a television screen--and add pixels to increase resolution and fidelity of the video tape. Already, their technology has helped convict the killer of a convenience store clerk in Tennessee.