Direct Current - An Energy.gov Podcast

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S5 E4: Science Powered by Exascale Jan 10, 2025

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What is exascale computing? Why does it matter? To find out, we connected with the computing experts at DOE's national laboratories. Join us as we discuss the arduous journey to build three of the fastest computers in the world and their software. After more than a decade of planning and work, these powerful exascale computers are now enabling groundbreaking research that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. With research in cancer, biofuels, space exploration, and more, exascale computing is bringing scientific discovery to new heights.

S5 E3: The Next Generation Science of Pandemics Dec 06, 2024

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The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a stark reminder that, despite our great achievements, we are still bound by the laws of our own biology. And while the Coronavirus has been a tragedy on a global scale, it has also pushed the scientific community to new levels of cooperation, coordination, and discovery. Join us while we discuss the extraordinary advancements brought about by the National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory's work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though we still face many obstacles in pandemic prevention, detection, and mitigation. Thankfully, the DOE and its National laboratories are uniquely qualified to meet these challenges, head-on. We have mobilized like never before, and have powerful new collaborative tools in our arsenal.

S5 E2: Fully Charged: How Batteries Are Combating the Climate Crisis, Part 2 Jul 25, 2024

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The second of two episodes, we’re going under the hood to take a look at something these EVs all share in common — a battery. Where do they come from? How do they work? And how the U.S. is working to meet the demand for millions of batteries for EVs, grid storage, and more.

S5 E1: Fully Charged: How Batteries Are Combating the Climate Crisis, Part 1 (REBROADCAST) May 15, 2024

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The first of two episodes, we’re going under the hood to take a look at something these EVs all share in common — a battery. Where do they come from? How do they work? And how the U.S. is working to meet the demand for millions of batteries for EVs, grid storage, and more.

S4 E5: End of Year Chat with Secretary Jennifer Granholm Dec 20, 2023

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Join us for an energizing conversation with Secretary Jennifer Granholm, focused on the Department of Energy’s 2023 accomplishments and the progress of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. From shaping the future of transportation to creating thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs. With historic investments in our electric grid to deliver reliable, affordable, clean power to all Americans, including in rural and underserved communities. DOE is focused on a just clean energy economy, ensuring that this historic transition lifts up the most vulnerable among us. Find out how the Investing in America agenda is helping everyday Americans and more on this episode of Direct Current.

S4 E4: 70 Years of Atoms for Peace Dec 08, 2023

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70 years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower went before the United Nations and delivered a speech unlike anything the world had ever heard. The president spoke in sweeping terms about the terrible destructive power of new atomic weapons. But he also had a message for the assembly, one with a more optimistic tone: Join us in harnessing the power of the atom for good — not evil. From the dawn of the atomic age, nuclear power branched into two distinct paths: nuclear energy, and nuclear weapons. A chain reaction of historical events would lead down one path to the creation and eventual detonation of the world’s first atomic weapons in 1945. Down the other path, work forged ahead on peaceful uses of nuclear power. Join us on a trip through nuclear history, from "Atoms for Peace" to today.

S4 E3: Fully Charged: How Batteries Are Combating the Climate Crisis, Part 1 Oct 17, 2023

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The Manhattan Project, Part 2 (REBROADCAST) Jul 20, 2023

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The conclusion of our two part story on the Manhattan Project. We take you to the Trinity site where the first bomb was tested and then follow the Airmen as they drop the first ever atomic bombs. Later, learn about the creation of the Department of Energy and how, along with the National Park Service, we're preserving the origins of nuclear power and weaponry.

The Manhattan Project, Part 1 (REBROADCAST) Jul 20, 2023

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The first of two episodes that tell the story of an unprecedented, U.S. government effort to beat Nazi Germany in the race to construct a nuclear weapon, the dawn of the atomic age, and how that legacy is being preserved.

S4 E2: The Extremes of Weather in a Changing Climate Jul 06, 2023

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In this second episode of season 4 of Direct Current, we dive into a topic that’s been in the news a lot lately: extreme weather. While intense storms have splashed across headlines throughout history, the frequency seems to be increasing. Interviews with Colin Zarzycki, an Assistant Professor at Penn State University, and Alan Rhoades, a research scientist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, help us explain how climate modeling is helping scientists predict what may lie ahead.

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