![Sphere that has the top right fourth removed (exposed) Colors from left are orange, dark blue with orange dots, light blue with horizontal lines, then black. Inside the exposure is green and black with boxes.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-06/slicer.jpg?h=56311bf6&itok=bCZz09pJ)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Biology and Environment (42)
- (-) National Security (48)
- (-) Neutron Science (23)
- Advanced Manufacturing (2)
- Biological Systems (1)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (55)
- Computational Biology (2)
- Computational Engineering (2)
- Computer Science (6)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Fuel Cycle Science and Technology (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (1)
- Fusion and Fission (6)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (10)
- Materials (27)
- Materials for Computing (5)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (12)
- Sensors and Controls (1)
- Supercomputing (59)
- Transportation Systems (1)
News Topics
- (-) Artificial Intelligence (26)
- (-) Biomedical (27)
- (-) Decarbonization (22)
- (-) Molten Salt (1)
- (-) National Security (35)
- (-) Security (13)
- (-) Space Exploration (3)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (17)
- Advanced Reactors (3)
- Big Data (16)
- Bioenergy (51)
- Biology (76)
- Biotechnology (13)
- Buildings (3)
- Chemical Sciences (14)
- Clean Water (13)
- Climate Change (43)
- Composites (5)
- Computer Science (47)
- Coronavirus (20)
- Critical Materials (1)
- Cybersecurity (19)
- Energy Storage (14)
- Environment (99)
- Exascale Computing (5)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Frontier (5)
- Fusion (2)
- Grid (9)
- High-Performance Computing (26)
- Hydropower (8)
- Isotopes (2)
- Machine Learning (21)
- Materials (26)
- Materials Science (29)
- Mathematics (3)
- Mercury (7)
- Microscopy (13)
- Nanotechnology (18)
- Net Zero (2)
- Neutron Science (99)
- Nuclear Energy (8)
- Partnerships (8)
- Physics (12)
- Polymers (3)
- Quantum Computing (1)
- Quantum Science (8)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Simulation (14)
- Summit (16)
- Sustainable Energy (33)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (1)
- Transportation (10)
Media Contacts
![The first neutron structure of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease enzyme revealed unexpected electrical charges in the amino acids cysteine (negative) and histidine (positive), providing key data about the virus’s replication. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/20-G01620_Protease_PR_proof2_0.jpg?h=3e3883a3&itok=XB_ZEDFQ)
To better understand how the novel coronavirus behaves and how it can be stopped, scientists have completed a three-dimensional map that reveals the location of every atom in an enzyme molecule critical to SARS-CoV-2 reproduction.
![Andrew Harter, pictured, and fellow ORNL staff members formed Horizon31 to build a set of products and services that provide customized unmanned vehicle control systems. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/2018-P09718_0.jpg?h=dd220a27&itok=n2MR7GK5)
Horizon31, LLC has exclusively licensed a novel communication system that allows users to reliably operate unmanned vehicles such as drones from anywhere in the world using only an internet connection.
![Enzyme activity during organophosphate poisoning](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/anecdote1_0.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=wpYYilBI)
Pick your poison. It can be deadly for good reasons such as protecting crops from harmful insects or fighting parasite infection as medicine — or for evil as a weapon for bioterrorism. Or, in extremely diluted amounts, it can be used to enhance beauty.
![Analyses of lung fluid cells from COVID-19 patients conducted on the nation’s fastest supercomputer point to gene expression patterns that may explain the runaway symptoms produced by the body’s response to SARS-CoV-2. Credit: Jason B. Smith/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/cells%20200%5B1%5D.png?h=b95f6d72&itok=V2OxqL5l)
A team led by Dan Jacobson of Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Summit supercomputer at ORNL to analyze genes from cells in the lung fluid of nine COVID-19 patients compared with 40 control patients.
![The protease protein is both shaped like a heart and functions as one, allowing the virus replicate and spread. Inhibiting the protease would block virus reproduction. Credit: Andrey Kovalevsky/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-06/protease_dimer_3_1.png?h=aa51a450&itok=sJY7AB8d)
A team of researchers has performed the first room-temperature X-ray measurements on the SARS-CoV-2 main protease — the enzyme that enables the virus to reproduce.
![Recent research involving Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source demonstrates crystal-like heat conduction in a solid-liquid hybrid, AgCrSe2.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-05/NIEDZELA_PNAS_graphic_0.png?h=39b94f55&itok=CA3sJhdS)
Research by an international team led by Duke University and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists could speed the way to safer rechargeable batteries for consumer electronics such as laptops and cellphones.
![Omar Demerdash](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-05/demerdash_crop.jpg?h=8831409f&itok=2J2gUqDr)
With the rise of the global pandemic, Omar Demerdash, a Liane B. Russell Distinguished Staff Fellow at ORNL since 2018, has become laser-focused on potential avenues to COVID-19 therapies.
![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.
![Coronavirus research](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/still_original.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=0Md1n6Ct)
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have used Summit, the world’s most powerful and smartest supercomputer, to identify 77 small-molecule drug compounds that might warrant further study in the fight
![Scientists created a novel polymer that is as effective as natural proteins in transporting protons through a membrane. Credit: ORNL/Jill Hemman](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/19-G01195_nature_feature_0.png?h=e4fbc3eb&itok=K8czXmTr)
Biological membranes, such as the “walls” of most types of living cells, primarily consist of a double layer of lipids, or “lipid bilayer,” that forms the structure, and a variety of embedded and attached proteins with highly specialized functions, including proteins that rapidly and selectively transport ions and molecules in and out of the cell.