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Media Contacts
![This photo shows the interior of the vessel of the General Atomics DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, where ORNL researchers are testing the suitability of tungsten to armor the inside of a fusion device. Credit: General Atomics](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/X2001140_Tungsten_DIIID_GeneralAtomics_Bumpus_jnj_0.jpg?h=fa422108&itok=9R1Nn6B_)
The inside of future nuclear fusion energy reactors will be among the harshest environments ever produced on Earth. What’s strong enough to protect the inside of a fusion reactor from plasma-produced heat fluxes akin to space shuttles reentering Earth’s atmosphere?
![Weili Xiong collaborated on the mass spectrometry research while at ORNL as a postdoctoral associate.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/2017-P00195.jpg?h=4aa3f6b4&itok=UUTb2A0S)
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Ohio State University discovered a new microbial pathway that produces ethylene, providing a potential avenue for biomanufacturing a common component of plastics, adhesives, coolants and other
![Unique imaging capabilities yield new knowledge, growth for bioeconomy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/2020-p00914_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=LU-qd6IM)
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have a powerful new tool in the quest to produce better plants for biofuels, bioproducts and agriculture.
![Enzyme activity during organophosphate poisoning](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/anecdote1_0.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=wpYYilBI)
Pick your poison. It can be deadly for good reasons such as protecting crops from harmful insects or fighting parasite infection as medicine — or for evil as a weapon for bioterrorism. Or, in extremely diluted amounts, it can be used to enhance beauty.
![Using the ASGarD mathematical framework, scientists can model and visualize the electric fields, shown as arrows, circling around magnetic fields that are colorized to represent field magnitude of a fusion plasma. Credit: David Green/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/Max1_t5e-1_EB_0.png?h=35bae166&itok=iRtx2TVM)
Combining expertise in physics, applied math and computing, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists are expanding the possibilities for simulating electromagnetic fields that underpin phenomena in materials design and telecommunications.
![ORNL’s Drew Elliott served as a major collaborator in upgrading the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s Lithium Tokamak Experiment-Beta. Credit: Robert Kaita, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/Drew%20Elliot_1.jpg?h=8f8cd18c&itok=U-2mXJIG)
Lithium, the silvery metal that powers smart phones and helps treat bipolar disorders, could also play a significant role in the worldwide effort to harvest on Earth the safe, clean and virtually limitless fusion energy that powers the sun and stars.
![Analyses of lung fluid cells from COVID-19 patients conducted on the nation’s fastest supercomputer point to gene expression patterns that may explain the runaway symptoms produced by the body’s response to SARS-CoV-2. Credit: Jason B. Smith/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/cells%20200%5B1%5D.png?h=b95f6d72&itok=V2OxqL5l)
A team led by Dan Jacobson of Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Summit supercomputer at ORNL to analyze genes from cells in the lung fluid of nine COVID-19 patients compared with 40 control patients.
![Sergei Kalinin](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/2019-P00126_0.png?h=5969a3b5&itok=66cucDCt)
Five researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been named ORNL Corporate Fellows in recognition of significant career accomplishments and continued leadership in their scientific fields.
![An organic solvent and water separate and form nanoclusters on the hydrophobic and hydrophilic sections of plant material, driving the efficient deconstruction of biomass. Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/2020-07/THF_high_res.gif)
Scientists at ORNL used neutron scattering and supercomputing to better understand how an organic solvent and water work together to break down plant biomass, creating a pathway to significantly improve the production of renewable
![Computational biophysicist Ada Sedova is using experiments and high-performance computing to explore the properties of biological systems and predict their form and function, including research to accelerate drug discovery for COVID-19. Photo credit: Jason Richards, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/2017-P06162Cropped.jpg?h=f1d4573a&itok=TrvR_opt)
Ada Sedova’s journey to Oak Ridge National Laboratory has taken her on the path from pre-med studies in college to an accelerated graduate career in mathematics and biophysics and now to the intersection of computational science and biology