Supercomputers Drive Ion Transport Research

For scientists, natural systems can try one’s patience. For a long time, nothing. Then all of a sudden, something. Wonderful things in nature can burst on the scene after long periods of dullness - rare events such as protein folding, chemical reactions, or even the seeding of clouds. Path sampling techniques employ computer algorithms that deal with the dullness in data by focusing on transitions. Scientists are using supercomputers to help understand the relatively rare event of salts in water passing through atomically-thin nanoporous membranes. This research could not only help make progress in desalination for fresh water; it has applications in decontaminating the environment, better pharmaceuticals, and more. Advanced path sampling techniques and molecular dynamics simulations captured the kinetics of solute transport through nanoporous membranes, according to a study published online in the Cell journal Matter, January 2020. Supercomputers supported the research through allocations on XSEDE, the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, funded by the National Science Foundation. Researchers ran simulations on the Stampede2 system at TACC . Joining host Jorge Salazar on the podcast is study co-author Amir Haji-Akbari, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at Yale University. Story Link: www.tacc.utexas.edu/-/supercomputer…nsport-research Music Credit: Raro Bueno, Chuzausen freemusicarchive.org/music/Chuzausen/