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Lipid molecules have split personalities—one part loves water, whereas the other avoids it at all costs. Lipids make up cell membranes, the frontline defense in preventing cellular access to bacterial and viral invaders. Many researchers believe that the membrane is not just a scaf...
Knox County Commissioner and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Neutron Sciences Directorate employee Sam McKenzie talks to students from Knoxville’s Austin-East High School about career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math during the
About 30 Austin-East High School students from Knoxville participated in the National “My Brother’s Keeper Day” at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The goal of the White House initiative is designed to help boys and young men of color reach their full potential. ...
In pure water, lignin adopts a globular conformation (left) that aggregates on cellulose and blocks enzymes. In a THF-water cosolvent, lignin adopts coil conformations that are easier to remove during pretreatment. (ORNL image)
Breaking down cellulosic biomass for biofuel is a costly and complex process, requiring lots of acid, water, and heat. Experimental pretreatments, however, hold the promise of driving down these costs by making more biomass available to enzymes for fermentation. To gain a better...
New HPC4Mfg projects pair manufacturers with resources at Oak Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. From left to right are Robin Miles, LLNL; Horst Simon, LBNL; Peter Nugent, LBNL; Trish Damkroger, LLNL; Dona Crawford, LLN

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will support four new industry projects announced today as part of DOE’s High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program. The program pairs selected companies with national labs, including ORNL...

Researchers used experimental data to create a 23.7-million atom biomass model featuring cellulose (purple), lignin (brown), and enzymes (green). (Image credit: Mike Matheson, ORNL)
Ask a biofuel researcher to name the single greatest technical barrier to cost-effective ethanol, and you’re likely to receive a one-word response: lignin. Cellulosic ethanol—fuel derived from woody plants and waste biomass—has the potential to become an affordable, renew...
In pure water, lignin adopts a globular conformation (left) that aggregates on cellulose and blocks enzymes. In a THF-water cosolvent, lignin adopts coil conformations (right) that are easier to remove during pretreatment.
When the Ford Motor Company’s first automobile, the Model T, debuted in 1908, it ran on a corn-derived biofuel called ethanol, a substance Henry Ford dubbed “the fuel of the future.”
Proton density after laser impact on a spherical solid density target: irradiated by an ultra-short, high intensity laser (not in picture) the intense electro-magnetic field rips electrons apart from their ions and creates a plasma.

Since lasers were first produced in the early 1960s, researchers have worked to apply laser technology from welding metal to surgeries, with laser technology advancing quickly through the last 50 years. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy all play important roles...