![Weyl semimetal](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-08/Picture4.jpg?h=b38bf506&itok=nYXXiLDs)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Biology and Environment (89)
- (-) National Security (5)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (54)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (5)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (1)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (1)
- Fusion and Fission (2)
- Isotopes (1)
- Materials (15)
- Materials for Computing (1)
- Mathematics (1)
- Neutron Science (8)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (1)
- Supercomputing (21)
News Topics
- (-) Environment (91)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (13)
- Advanced Reactors (2)
- Artificial Intelligence (21)
- Big Data (15)
- Bioenergy (46)
- Biology (74)
- Biomedical (17)
- Biotechnology (13)
- Buildings (3)
- Chemical Sciences (12)
- Clean Water (11)
- Climate Change (43)
- Composites (5)
- Computer Science (36)
- Coronavirus (15)
- Critical Materials (1)
- Cybersecurity (19)
- Decarbonization (20)
- Energy Storage (8)
- Exascale Computing (5)
- Frontier (4)
- Fusion (2)
- Grid (9)
- High-Performance Computing (24)
- Hydropower (8)
- Isotopes (2)
- Machine Learning (19)
- Materials (13)
- Materials Science (9)
- Mathematics (3)
- Mercury (7)
- Microscopy (10)
- Molten Salt (1)
- Nanotechnology (8)
- National Security (35)
- Net Zero (2)
- Neutron Science (7)
- Nuclear Energy (6)
- Partnerships (9)
- Physics (3)
- Polymers (2)
- Quantum Science (1)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (12)
- Simulation (14)
- Summit (12)
- Sustainable Energy (32)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (1)
- Transportation (5)
Media Contacts
![Researchers gained new insights into the mechanisms some methane-feeding bacteria called methanotrophs (pictured) use to break down the toxin methylmercury. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy; Jeremy Semrau/Univ. of Michigan](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/OB3b_5Cu_5a01.jpg?h=535a555c&itok=FLOo_uRv)
A team led by ORNL and the University of Michigan have discovered that certain bacteria can steal an essential compound from other microbes to break down methane and toxic methylmercury in the environment.
![The Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park encompasses a 20,000 acre area that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/2019-P16158_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=_6tQ24p4)
Anyone familiar with ORNL knows it’s a hub for world-class science. The nearly 33,000-acre space surrounding the lab is less known, but also unique.
![Fine roots from a larch tree peek out from a pile of peat excavated from an experimental warming plot in the SPRUCE experiment in Northern Minnesota. Credit: Colleen Iversen/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/Larch%20roots_0.jpg?h=71976bb4&itok=WYJjhB98)
New data hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping scientists around the world understand the secret lives of plant roots as well as their impact on the global carbon cycle and climate change.
![Researchers at Colorado State University and ORNL evaluated 14 urban megaregions to simulate the effects of climate change on water resources. Credit: CSU/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/hydrology_map03_Kao_0.png?h=06037b31&itok=y1CKG8fX)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with Colorado State University to simulate how a warming climate may affect U.S. urban hydrological systems.
![As the leader of ORNL’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Group, environmental scientist Teresa Mathews works to understand the impacts of energy generation on water and solve challenging problems, including mercury pollution. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/2021-P05311%5B10%5D%5B13%5D_0.jpg?h=f99713cc&itok=zd0wGqpx)
Moving to landlocked Tennessee isn’t an obvious choice for most scientists with new doctorate degrees in coastal oceanography.
![As part of the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments Arctic project, scientists are gathering and incorporating new data about the Alaskan tundra into global models that predict the future of our planet. Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/NGEE_eddy%20covariance%20Busey.jpg?h=2d5be524&itok=VFtVDdzq)
Improved data, models and analyses from ORNL scientists and many other researchers in the latest global climate assessment report provide new levels of certainty about what the future holds for the planet
![Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory added new plant data to a computer model that simulates Arctic ecosystems, enabling it to better predict how vegetation in rapidly warming northern environments may respond to climate change.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/P7040032cc_small_0.jpg?h=827069f2&itok=0cPOEjIi)
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory added new plant data to a computer model that simulates Arctic ecosystems, enabling it to better predict how vegetation in rapidly warming northern environments may respond to climate change.
![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.
![Researchers studying secondary metabolites in the fungus Aspergillus flavus, pictured, found unique mixes of metabolites corresponding to genetically distinct populations. The finding suggests local environmental conditions play a key role in secondary metabolite production, influencing the discovery of drugs and other useful compounds. Credit: Tomás Allen Rush/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/DSC0351.jpg?h=b2d9f031&itok=PNgYY5eW)
Scientists at ORNL and the University of Wisconsin–Madison have discovered that genetically distinct populations within the same species of fungi can produce unique mixes of secondary metabolites, which are organic compounds with applications in
![A team of scientists found that microbes at the SPRUCE experiment in the Minnesota peatlands are increasing production of methane under warming conditions. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/spruce_0.jpg?h=c282529e&itok=VExEOgns)
Scientists studying a unique whole-ecosystem warming experiment in the Minnesota peatlands found that microorganisms are increasing methane production faster than carbon dioxide production.