![This photo is of a male scientist sitting at a desk working with materials, wearing protective glasses.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-07/2023-P08173.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=LnJLvflD)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Clean Energy (63)
- (-) Energy Sciences (1)
- (-) Materials (76)
- Advanced Manufacturing (1)
- Biological Systems (1)
- Biology and Environment (56)
- Building Technologies (1)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (2)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Fuel Cycle Science and Technology (1)
- Fusion and Fission (19)
- Fusion Energy (3)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (15)
- Materials Characterization (2)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- National Security (26)
- Neutron Science (32)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (2)
- Supercomputing (73)
News Topics
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (15)
- Advanced Reactors (1)
- Bioenergy (2)
- Biology (1)
- Biomedical (1)
- Biotechnology (1)
- Buildings (12)
- Chemical Sciences (17)
- Clean Water (1)
- Climate Change (4)
- Composites (5)
- Computer Science (1)
- Coronavirus (1)
- Critical Materials (5)
- Cybersecurity (2)
- Decarbonization (14)
- Energy Storage (16)
- Environment (5)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Fusion (2)
- Grid (12)
- Hydropower (1)
- Irradiation (1)
- Isotopes (3)
- Machine Learning (1)
- Materials (44)
- Materials Science (9)
- Microelectronics (1)
- Microscopy (3)
- Molten Salt (1)
- Nanotechnology (3)
- National Security (2)
- Net Zero (1)
- Neutron Science (9)
- Nuclear Energy (5)
- Partnerships (9)
- Physics (9)
- Polymers (4)
- Quantum Computing (2)
- Quantum Science (1)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (1)
- Simulation (2)
- Sustainable Energy (7)
- Transportation (13)
Media Contacts
![small power module](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2023-P08143_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=Si2ShyhX)
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are supporting the grid by improving its smallest building blocks: power modules that act as digital switches.
![HFIR](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/HFIR_0.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=8tMcVdaT)
Creating energy the way the sun and stars do — through nuclear fusion — is one of the grand challenges facing science and technology. What’s easy for the sun and its billions of relatives turns out to be particularly difficult on Earth.
![TIP graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/TIPbg_1200.png?h=da33fe38&itok=y7ggwHLV)
Scientist-inventors from ORNL will present seven new technologies during the Technology Innovation Showcase on Friday, July 14, from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Joint Institute for Computational Sciences on ORNL’s campus.
![ORNL researchers have enabled standard raised pavement markers to transmit GPS information that helps autonomous driving features function better in remote areas or in bad weather. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/markers_0.jpg?h=804c67fb&itok=xstjOxQo)
Working with Western Michigan University and other partners, ORNL engineers are placing low-powered sensors in the reflective raised pavement markers that are already used to help drivers identify lanes. Microchips inside the markers transmit information to passing cars about the road shape to help autonomous driving features function even when vehicle cameras or remote laser sensing, called LiDAR, are unreliable because of fog, snow, glare or other obstructions.
![A new method to control quantum states in a material is shown. The electric field induces polarization switching of the ferroelectric substrate, resulting in different magnetic and topological states. Credit: Mina Yoon, Fernando Reboredo, Jacquelyn DeMink/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/pnglbernardstorytip.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=NOT32zpa)
An advance in a topological insulator material — whose interior behaves like an electrical insulator but whose surface behaves like a conductor — could revolutionize the fields of next-generation electronics and quantum computing, according to scientists at ORNL.
![ORNL seismic researcher Chengping Chai placed seismic sensors on the ground at various distances from an ORNL nuclear reactor to learn whether they could detect its operating state. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2023-P03398.jpg?h=3e43625b&itok=TXK8tthh)
Like most scientists, Chengping Chai is not content with the surface of things: He wants to probe beyond to learn what’s really going on. But in his case, he is literally building a map of the world beneath, using seismic and acoustic data that reveal when and where the earth moves.
![ORNL and Enginuity researchers proved that a micro combined heat and power prototype, or mCHP, with an opposed piston engine can achieve more than 93% overall energy efficiency. The environmentally friendly mCHP can replace a back-up generator or traditional hot water heater. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/storytipjb.png?h=ddb1ad0c&itok=0ZTdSit5)
ORNL researchers, in collaboration with Enginuity Power Systems, demonstrated that a micro combined heat and power prototype, or mCHP, with a piston engine can achieve an overall energy efficiency greater than 93%.
![Experts at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility worked with Magotteaux-Pulaski to develop a more durable composition and new 3D-printing process for abrasion-resistant materials. Credit: Magotteaux](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/MMC%20close%20up_0.png?h=bdc621fe&itok=HIrUiXzE)
For more than 100 years, Magotteaux has provided grinding materials and castings for the mining, cement and aggregates industries. The company, based in Belgium, began its international expansion in 1968. Its second international plant has been a critical part of the Pulaski, Tennessee, economy since 1972.
![Jun Qu of ORNL shows stainless-steel disks](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2023-p00889.jpg?h=061fefed&itok=9y98-8iC)
Scientists at ORNL have invented a coating that could dramatically reduce friction in common load-bearing systems with moving parts, from vehicle drive trains to wind
![Stan David, retired ORNL scientist, has received the Joining and Welding Science Award.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/Stan%20David_2_0.jpg?h=02666105&itok=Dhy-6vL0)
Stan David, retired scientist and Corporate Fellow Emeritus at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was awarded the Joining and Welding Science Award from the Joining and Welding Research Institute at Osaka University, Japan.