Using today's advanced microscopes, scientists are able to capture exponentially more information about the materials they study compared to a decade ago—in greater detail and in less time. While these new capabilities are a boon for researchers, helping to answer key questions that could lead to next-generation technologies, they also present a new problem: How to make effective use of all this data? At the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers are engineering a solution by creating a novel infrastructure uniting the lab's state-of-the art imaging technologies with advanced data analytics and high-performance computing (HPC). Pairing experimental power and computational might holds the promise of accelerating research and enabling new opportunities for discovery and design of advanced materials, knowledge that could lead to better batteries, atom-scale semiconductors, and efficient photovoltaics, to name a few applications. Read more at http://phys.org/news/2016-07-pipeline-materials.html