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shape-memory conductors

A novel approach that creates a renewable, leathery material—programmed to remember its shape—may offer a low-cost alternative to conventional conductors for applications in sensors and robotics. To make the bio-based, shape-memory material, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists streamlined a solvent-free process that mixes rubber with lignin—the by-product of woody plants used to make biofuels.

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A novel approach for studying magnetic behavior in a material called alpha-ruthenium trichloride may have implications for quantum computing. By suppressing the material’s magnetic order, scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee observed be...
Mallory Ladd gathers field samples on the coastal plain of northern Alaska. Photo courtesy, Mallory Ladd.
Mallory Ladd began trekking to the Arctic, even before her time at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in search of a better understanding of what’s going on belowground and how it links to changes in the larger landscape. The University of Tennessee, Knoxv...
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Armed with an automated weigh-in-motion system being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), U.S. military forces could increase mobility and decrease mistakes when loading vehicles on transport planes and ships.ORNL plans to develop and demonstrate technology ...
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Tiny defects in the surface of common material - from silicon to steel - determine the properties of material and how it can be used. Unfortunately, many of these pores, called vacancies, are so small they cannot be accurately measured. In the past, measurement of vacancies has seriously limited ...
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Solar energy could get a megaboost, effectively gaining a threefold improvement over conventional technology, with a system being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).The "full-spectrum solar energy system" harnesses the clean and abundant energy found in sun...
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Dr. Rusi Teleyarkhan, group leader and program manager in the Engineering and Technology Division of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been elected a fellow by the board of directors of the American Nuclear Society.
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Dr. Robert Lauf, group leader in the Metals and Ceramics Division of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been named 1999's Tennessee Industrial Scientist of the Year.
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Bill Schwenterly, research staffer in the Fusion Energy Division of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been appointed associate editor for the journal Transactions on Applied Superconductivity.The journal is published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic En...
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Dr. William A. Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering, will deliver the next Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distinguished Lecture at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9 in ORNL's Wigner Auditorium.