![Sphere that has the top right fourth removed (exposed) Colors from left are orange, dark blue with orange dots, light blue with horizontal lines, then black. Inside the exposure is green and black with boxes.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-06/slicer.jpg?h=56311bf6&itok=bCZz09pJ)
Filter News
Area of Research
News Topics
- (-) 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (11)
- (-) Clean Water (2)
- (-) Cybersecurity (2)
- (-) Environment (8)
- (-) Isotopes (3)
- (-) Machine Learning (2)
- (-) Neutron Science (9)
- (-) Physics (8)
- Advanced Reactors (4)
- Artificial Intelligence (5)
- Big Data (6)
- Bioenergy (6)
- Biology (2)
- Biomedical (10)
- Biotechnology (1)
- Chemical Sciences (2)
- Computer Science (19)
- Coronavirus (11)
- Energy Storage (7)
- Exascale Computing (2)
- Fusion (9)
- Grid (3)
- High-Performance Computing (1)
- Materials Science (11)
- Mathematics (2)
- Mercury (1)
- Microscopy (3)
- Nanotechnology (3)
- Nuclear Energy (17)
- Polymers (1)
- Quantum Science (6)
- Security (2)
- Space Exploration (1)
- Summit (7)
- Sustainable Energy (4)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (3)
- Transportation (5)
Media Contacts
![stacked poplar logs](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/poplar_sized.jpg?h=e91a75a9&itok=Oq847ULr)
Popular wisdom holds tall, fast-growing trees are best for biomass, but new research by two U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories reveals that is only part of the equation.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory entrance sign](/themes/custom/ornl/images/default-thumbnail.jpg)
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory entrance sign](/themes/custom/ornl/images/default-thumbnail.jpg)
Rufus Ritchie came from Kentucky coal country, a region not known for producing physicists.
![Schematic showing cholesterol stiffening DOPC membranes, making them flatter and thicker. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/20-G00960_Katsaras_0.png?h=3e3883a3&itok=FNySLVMw)
Neutron scattering at ORNL has shown that cholesterol stiffens simple lipid membranes, a finding that may help us better understand the functioning of human cells.
![Xunxiang Hu, a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow in ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology Division, designed this machine to produce large, crack-free pieces of yttrium hydride to be used as a moderator in the core of ORNL’s Transformational Challenge Reactor and other microreactors. Credit: Xunxiang Hu/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/HuYHxphoto.jpg?h=eef83f16&itok=7KfkqQLh)
About 60 years ago, scientists discovered that a certain rare earth metal-hydrogen mixture, yttrium, could be the ideal moderator to go inside small, gas-cooled nuclear reactors.
![A selfie from the Curiosity rover as it explores the surface of Mars. Like many spacecraft, Curiosity uses a radioisotope power system to help fuel its mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/Curiousity_1.jpg?h=86a9dded&itok=Jo0vD321)
Radioactive isotopes power some of NASA’s best-known spacecraft. But predicting how radiation emitted from these isotopes might affect nearby materials is tricky
![Paul Abraham uses mass spectrometry to study proteins.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/2019-P16536.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=QMxGFQhK)
Systems biologist Paul Abraham uses his fascination with proteins, the molecular machines of nature, to explore new ways to engineer more productive ecosystems and hardier bioenergy crops.
![3D-printed 316L steel has been irradiated along with traditionally wrought steel samples. Researchers are comparing how they perform at various temperatures and varying doses of radiation. Credit: Jaimee Janiga/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/X2001337_TCR_IrradiatedMaterials_Bumpus_jnj-04.jpg?h=e3a8e2b5&itok=pXslTCBN)
It’s a new type of nuclear reactor core. And the materials that will make it up are novel — products of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s advanced materials and manufacturing technologies.
![A structural model of HgcA, shown in cyan, and HgcB, shown in purple, were created using metagenomic techniques to better understand the transformation of mercury into its toxic form, methylmercury. Photo credit: Connor Cooper/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/methylmercury%20protein%20folding_0.png?h=4a7d1ed4&itok=fWObhykl)
A team led by ORNL created a computational model of the proteins responsible for the transformation of mercury to toxic methylmercury, marking a step forward in understanding how the reaction occurs and how mercury cycles through the environment.