A new breed of chemical sensors is expected to make practical the monitoring of drinking water, groundwater and streams near industrial discharge sites. Bioluminescent bioreporter integrated circuits developed by researchers in the Instrumentation and Controls Division and the University of Tennesse...
Paper laboratory notebooks may go the way of the typewriter with the invention of the DOE Electronic Notebook. It provides scientists and inventors with a system to input and retrieve information much like a paper notebook but has many additional advantages. Researchers will be able to share a commo...
Manufacturers of components made of plastics, polymers and metals may be able to reduce time and energy costs significantly with direct thermal systems developed by researchers in the Metals and Ceramics Division. The direct thermal systems use a non-conventional heating method that permits the appl...
ORNL researchers have built a "smart" transistor that takes advantage of their recent materials breakthrough in depositing a high-quality film of barium titanate on germanium. The device, which is the world's most powerful ferroelectric transistor, is "smart" because of barium titanate's semi-perman...
An instrument that can detect tiny (nano) explosions could lead to a hand-held instrument to screen people and luggage at airports or to detect land mines. The technology is based on miniature micro-machined silicon cantilevers one-tenth the width of a human hair that can detect tiny forces caused b...
New green chemistry technology that substitutes benign carbon dioxide for noxious industrial solvents holds great promise for the $368 billion per year U.S. chemical industry. The chemical industry plays a vital role in the nation's economy, representing 10 percent of all manufacturing and employing...
China's decrease in cloud cover accompanied by increased average nighttime temperatures casts into shadows the generally accepted theory that ties increases in global nighttime temperatures to increased cloud cover. The time series analysis by ORNL's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIA...
ORNL and Advanced Optical Systems are developing lightweight mirror technologies that could provide an alternative way to manufacture mirrors for telescopes used for space exploration and military applications. The key is in using existing technologies such as casting, nickel plating and precision m...