PNNL calendar finds the beauty in science

Scientists at PNNL are researching some of the most challenging problems facing the nation, from climate science to nuclear nonproliferation to environmental cleanup.

They have access to state-of-the-art scientific microscopes and computational modeling capabilities, plus cutting-edge research facilities like the lab’s shallow underground laboratory that eliminates background radiation.

Images sometimes looking more like art than science are a byproduct of their research work.

For the sixth year in a row, the Department of Energy national laboratory in Richland selected 12 colorful images for its Science as Art calendar. Most would stump a viewer trying to guess what they are.

For May, the 2017 calendar features billowing clouds of royal blue, aqua and red that actually are the surface of a piece of corroding glass. The image was made to help scientists understand how well glassified nuclear waste may hold up over thousands of years.

October features an electroplating process to coat titanium alloy with copper, overcoming the challenge of getting the copper to adhere. What looks like a piece of gold, orange and red modern art is in fact a microscopic image of copper-coated superconducting titanium alloy used to help research dark matter.

December’s photo may look like a pop art staring eye in vivid shades of fuchsia, green and blue. But it is an electron microscope image of the reaction of tungsten powder embedded with carbide fibers as it is being heated. Scientists are working toward a tungsten composite that can handle the high-heat flux within a fusion reactor without becoming brittle.

Each image in the calendar comes with information about the significance of the research, the sponsor who paid for the research, the instruments used to capture the image and the research team doing the work.

To download the calendar at no cost, got to www.pnnl.gov/publications/calendars/.

This story was originally published December 26, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "PNNL calendar finds the beauty in science."