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New research predicts peak groundwater extraction for key basins around the globe by the year 2050. The map indicates groundwater storage trends for Earth’s 37 largest aquifers using data from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory GRACE satellite. Credit: NASA.

Groundwater withdrawals are expected to peak in about one-third of the world’s basins by 2050, potentially triggering significant trade and agriculture shifts, a new analysis finds. 

: ORNL climate modeling expertise contributed to an AI-backed model that assesses global emissions of ammonia from croplands now and in a warmer future, while identifying mitigation strategies. This map highlights croplands around the world. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

ORNL climate modeling expertise contributed to a project that assessed global emissions of ammonia from croplands now and in a warmer future, while also identifying solutions tuned to local growing conditions.

When an electron beam drills holes in heated graphene, single-atom vacancies, shown in purple, diffuse until they join with other vacancies to form stationary structures and chains, shown in blue. Credit: Ondrej Dyck/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers quantified human behaviors during the early days of COVID-19, which could be useful for disaster response or city planning. Credit: Nathan Armistead/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have empirically quantified the shifts in routine daytime activities, such as getting a morning coffee or takeaway dinner, following safer at home orders during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers built an Earth-to-space communications system to work with private and government partners with the goal of directly connecting data downlinks to high performance computing. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is debuting a small satellite ground station that uses high-performance computing to support automated detection of changes to Earth’s landscape.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated center-of-mass scanning transmission electron microscopy to observe lithium along with heavier elements in battery materials at atomic resolution. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers demonstrated an electron microscopy technique for imaging lithium in energy storage materials, such as lithium ion batteries, at the atomic scale.

ORNL is making underused or inaccessible bioenergy data available to accelerate innovation for the bioeconomy. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A research team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory has identified and improved the usability of data that can help accelerate innovation for the growing bioeconomy.

ORNL’s Eva Zarkadoula seeks piezoelectric materials for sensors that can withstand irradiation, which causes cascading collisions that displace atoms and produces defects. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

To advance sensor technologies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers studied piezoelectric materials, which convert mechanical stress into electrical energy, to see how they could handle bombardment with energetic neutrons.

Researchers used an atomic force microscope to test how easily particles of the novel coronavirus cling to certain surfaces, a property known as adhesion energy. Credit: Ali Passian/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A study by Department of Energy researchers detailed a potential method to detect the novel coronavirus

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Data Center in Crested Butte, Colorado.

New data hosted through the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Data Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will help improve models that predict climate change effects on the water supply in the Colorado River Basin.