![Prasanna Balaprakash](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-08/2023-P02525.jpg?h=502e75fa&itok=ePVQC-A5)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Clean Energy (47)
- (-) Materials (16)
- (-) National Security (14)
- Biological Systems (1)
- Biology and Environment (77)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (1)
- Computer Science (1)
- Fusion and Fission (5)
- Materials for Computing (3)
- Neutron Science (10)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (4)
- Quantum information Science (1)
- Supercomputing (42)
News Topics
- (-) Advanced Reactors (3)
- (-) Big Data (5)
- (-) Bioenergy (12)
- (-) Composites (3)
- (-) Energy Storage (22)
- (-) Environment (26)
- (-) Machine Learning (9)
- (-) Mercury (1)
- (-) Summit (4)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (26)
- Artificial Intelligence (11)
- Biology (6)
- Biomedical (5)
- Biotechnology (2)
- Buildings (11)
- Chemical Sciences (8)
- Clean Water (5)
- Climate Change (11)
- Computer Science (20)
- Coronavirus (7)
- Cybersecurity (13)
- Decarbonization (16)
- Exascale Computing (1)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Fusion (2)
- Grid (16)
- High-Performance Computing (6)
- Isotopes (6)
- Materials (25)
- Materials Science (20)
- Mathematics (2)
- Microelectronics (1)
- Microscopy (8)
- Nanotechnology (9)
- National Security (23)
- Net Zero (1)
- Neutron Science (12)
- Nuclear Energy (13)
- Partnerships (6)
- Physics (11)
- Polymers (4)
- Quantum Computing (1)
- Quantum Science (2)
- Security (8)
- Simulation (1)
- Space Exploration (2)
- Sustainable Energy (15)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (2)
- Transportation (19)
Media Contacts
![Coronavirus graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/covid19_jh_0.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=PyngFUZw)
In the race to identify solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are joining the fight by applying expertise in computational science, advanced manufacturing, data science and neutron science.
![Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail measures in at less than 2 millimeters long. Credit: Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/Cave_snailREV.jpg?h=c96bab7a&itok=6rjc3NQL)
Sometimes conducting big science means discovering a species not much larger than a grain of sand.
![Ilias Belharouak portrait](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/2019-p04178.jpg?h=49ab6177&itok=eRwfvOkx)
Ilias Belharouak is leading ORNL’s research efforts in investigating new materials for solid-state batteries, which can double the charging capacity of lithium-ion batteries, commonly used today for electronic devices such as cell phones.
![Starch granules](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/starchgranules.png?h=0c9ab501&itok=eLsE3JOx)
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new method to peer deep into the nanostructure of biomaterials without damaging the sample. This novel technique can confirm structural features in starch, a carbohydrate important in biofuel production.
![Examples from the ORNL Overhead Vehicle Dataset, generated with images captured by GRIDSMART cameras. Image: Thomas Karnowski/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/truckgrid-corrected-1024x745.png?h=bc62b519&itok=HY9xstgl)
Each year, approximately 6 billion gallons of fuel are wasted as vehicles wait at stop lights or sit in dense traffic with engines idling, according to US Department of Energy estimates.
![microscope lens and lithium battery prototype](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/Lithium%20Battery%20Research%2020183101_6400_0.jpg?h=58c8a5e7&itok=v-7_CmEt)
The formation of lithium dendrites is still a mystery, but materials engineers study the conditions that enable dendrites and how to stop them.
![The students analyzed diatom images like this one to compare wild and genetically modified strains of these organisms. Credit: Alison Pawlicki/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-11/RI4362007.png?h=37702503&itok=9lQReLRe)
Students often participate in internships and receive formal training in their chosen career fields during college, but some pursue professional development opportunities even earlier.
![Elizabeth Herndon takes a soil sample at a field site outside Abisko, Sweden in July 2019.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-10/IMG_9356_BethEastPalsaCoring%20%282%29.jpg?h=ffe24dcc&itok=DQO7LfTz)
Elizabeth Herndon believes in going the distance whether she is preparing to compete in the 2020 Olympic marathon trials or examining how metals move through the environment as a geochemist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
![Misha Krassovski, a computer scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, stands in front of the Polarstern, a 400-foot long German icebreaker. Krassovski lived aboard the Polarstern during the first leg of the MOSAiC mission, the largest polar expedition ever. Credit: Misha Krassovski/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-10/IMG_0851_large.jpg?h=0d27ee61&itok=SDcaxULh)
In the vast frozen whiteness of the central Arctic, the Polarstern, a German research vessel, has settled into the ice for a yearlong float.
![A new method uses E. coli to generate DNA with methylation patterns that target microbes recognize and accept as their own, facilitating customization of microbes for biofuels production.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-09/bacteria_combinedwlabels1.png?h=f0ebf81d&itok=S-lziAuh)
Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a method to insert genes into a variety of microorganisms that previously would not accept foreign DNA, with the goal of creating custom microbes to break down plants for bioenergy.