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Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are learning how the properties of water molecules on the surface of metal oxides can be used to better control these minerals and use them to make products such as more efficient semiconductors for organic light emitting diodes and solar cells, safer vehicle glass in fog and frost, and more environmentally friendly chemical sensors for industrial applications.
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With a 3-D printed twist on an automotive icon, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is showcasing additive manufacturing research at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

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Enzymes are catalysts that speed up chemical reactions in living organisms and control many cellular biological processes by converting a molecule, or substrate, into a product used by the cell. For scientists, understanding details of how enzymes work is essential to the discovery of drugs to cure diseases and treat disorders.
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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working collaboratively with scientists funded by The American Chestnut Foundation, have helped confirm that addition of a wheat gene increases the blight resistance of American chestnut trees.
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Paul Langan, a senior scientist and distinguished research staff member at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named ORNL's Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) for Neutron Sciences.
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Ethers—simple organic molecules in which an oxygen atom bridges two carbon atoms—are the chemical building blocks of commonplace products including many solvents, propellants, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Link them together in large molecular rings and they become scientific royalty—crown ether molecules, whose development led in large part to the 1987 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
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Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have used advanced microscopy to carve out nanoscale designs on the surface of a new class of ionic polymer materials for the first time. The study provides new evidence that atomic force microscopy, or AFM, could be used to precisely fabricate materials needed for increasingly smaller devices.
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Michael Brady, a researcher at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been selected as one of four recipients to receive The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) 2015 Brimacombe Medalist Award.
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The National Academy of Inventors has elected Amit Goyal, a researcher at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, fellow.
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The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has elected James Hack, director of the National Center for Computational Sciences at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a 2015 fellow.