![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
News Topics
- (-) Biotechnology (11)
- (-) Energy Storage (29)
- (-) Molten Salt (1)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (42)
- Advanced Reactors (8)
- Artificial Intelligence (48)
- Big Data (27)
- Bioenergy (51)
- Biology (60)
- Biomedical (29)
- Buildings (19)
- Chemical Sciences (25)
- Clean Water (14)
- Climate Change (50)
- Composites (8)
- Computer Science (87)
- Coronavirus (17)
- Critical Materials (4)
- Cybersecurity (14)
- Decarbonization (46)
- Education (1)
- Emergency (2)
- Environment (104)
- Exascale Computing (27)
- Fossil Energy (4)
- Frontier (25)
- Fusion (31)
- Grid (25)
- High-Performance Computing (45)
- Hydropower (5)
- Isotopes (27)
- ITER (2)
- Machine Learning (22)
- Materials (43)
- Materials Science (46)
- Mathematics (7)
- Mercury (7)
- Microelectronics (2)
- Microscopy (20)
- Nanotechnology (16)
- National Security (39)
- Net Zero (8)
- Neutron Science (47)
- Nuclear Energy (55)
- Partnerships (18)
- Physics (29)
- Polymers (8)
- Quantum Computing (21)
- Quantum Science (30)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (11)
- Simulation (32)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (12)
- Statistics (1)
- Summit (31)
- Sustainable Energy (47)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (3)
- Transportation (27)
Media Contacts
![Carrie Eckert](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-11/2021-P08048.jpg?h=fdb72c6d&itok=pWcXR26-)
Carrie Eckert applies her skills as a synthetic biologist at ORNL to turn microorganisms into tiny factories that produce a variety of valuable fuels, chemicals and materials for the growing bioeconomy.
![ORNL metabolic engineer Adam Guss develops genetic tools to modify microbes that can perform a range of processes needed to create sustainable biofuels and bioproducts. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/2021-P05224.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=_5e3ckBD)
As a metabolic engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Adam Guss modifies microbes to perform the diverse processes needed to make sustainable biofuels and bioproducts.
![ORNL’s Josh Michener, a microbiologist and metabolic engineer, led the discovery of a useful new enzyme that breaks down stubborn bonds in lignin, a polymer found in plants that typically becomes waste during bioconversion. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-06/2019-P05683_0.jpg?h=4c5cadcc&itok=FSVdbEYP)
In a step toward increasing the cost-effectiveness of renewable biofuels and bioproducts, scientists at ORNL discovered a microbial enzyme that degrades tough-to-break bonds in lignin, a waste product of biorefineries.
![L-R: ORNL’s Omer Onar and Veda Galigekere with the dynamic wireless charging test bed at ORNL’s Grid Research Integration and Deployment Center. Credit: Carlos Jones, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-05/2021-P03094.jpg?h=67a66a08&itok=P9ygUoBW)
Consumer buy-in is key to the future of a decarbonized transportation sector in which electric vehicles largely replace today’s conventionally fueled cars and trucks.
![Heavy-duty vehicles contribute 23% of transportation emissions of greenhouse gases and account for almost one-quarter of the fuel consumed annually in the U.S. Credit: Chris Bair/Unsplash](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-04/highways_stock_0.jpg?h=1cbed347&itok=0cBMibFU)
Through a consortium of Department of Energy national laboratories, ORNL scientists are applying their expertise to provide solutions that enable the commercialization of emission-free hydrogen fuel cell technology for heavy-duty
![Verónica Melesse Vergara speaks with third and fourth graders at East Side Intermediate School in Brownsville. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-02/EWeek_vergara_0.jpg?h=c44fcfa1&itok=-FdYpHed)
Twenty-seven ORNL researchers Zoomed into 11 middle schools across Tennessee during the annual Engineers Week in February. East Tennessee schools throughout Oak Ridge and Roane, Sevier, Blount and Loudon counties participated, with three West Tennessee schools joining in.
![Researchers Adam Guss and Melissa Tumen-Velasquez work with microbes to understand how the organisms consume plastics and break them into chemical components that can be used to make higher-value products.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-11/2020-P17629.jpg?h=98541007&itok=54ubVna4)
From soda bottles to car bumpers to piping, electronics, and packaging, plastics have become a ubiquitous part of our lives.
![Jianlin Li employs ORNL’s world-class battery research facility to validate the innovative safety technology. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-01/2020-P14810-blurred_0.jpg?h=245bf488&itok=DMmYlD02)
Soteria Battery Innovation Group has exclusively licensed and optioned a technology developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed to eliminate thermal runaway in lithium ion batteries due to mechanical damage.
![Joe Hagerman is expanding connected neighborhood research at ORNL and envisions buildings of the future as resources capable of managing the flow and exchange of energy based on economic and market signals – a concept known as transactive energy. Credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/2020-P08672%5B2%5D_1.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=CFroD1Y2)
Joe Hagerman, ORNL research lead for buildings integration and controls, understands the impact building technology innovations can have during times of crisis. Over a decade ago, he found himself in the middle of one of the most devastating natural disasters of the century, Hurricane Katrina.
![Battery materials at interface](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/Electrode-ionic_liquid_coupling_0.jpg?h=a5725010&itok=ARp1MsG8)
Scientists seeking ways to improve a battery’s ability to hold a charge longer, using advanced materials that are safe, stable and efficient, have determined that the materials themselves are only part of the solution.