![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 (111)
- (-) Climate and Environmental Systems (3)
- Advanced Manufacturing (3)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (51)
- Computational Biology (2)
- Computational Engineering (2)
- Computer Science (7)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (1)
- Fusion and Fission (5)
- Fusion Energy (1)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (26)
- Materials (35)
- Materials for Computing (3)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (35)
- Neutron Science (14)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (13)
- Quantum information Science (2)
- Supercomputing (86)
News Topics
- (-) Artificial Intelligence (9)
- (-) Biology (73)
- (-) Climate Change (41)
- (-) Cybersecurity (1)
- (-) Frontier (3)
- (-) Isotopes (2)
- (-) Mathematics (3)
- (-) Mercury (8)
- (-) Molten Salt (1)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (11)
- Advanced Reactors (1)
- Big Data (9)
- Bioenergy (45)
- Biomedical (16)
- Biotechnology (13)
- Buildings (2)
- Chemical Sciences (11)
- Clean Water (11)
- Composites (5)
- Computer Science (20)
- Coronavirus (13)
- Critical Materials (1)
- Decarbonization (19)
- Energy Storage (7)
- Environment (93)
- Exascale Computing (4)
- Fusion (1)
- Grid (3)
- High-Performance Computing (20)
- Hydropower (8)
- Machine Learning (8)
- Materials (12)
- Materials Science (6)
- Microscopy (10)
- Nanotechnology (7)
- National Security (3)
- Net Zero (2)
- Neutron Science (4)
- Nuclear Energy (1)
- Partnerships (5)
- Physics (2)
- Polymers (2)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (2)
- Simulation (14)
- Summit (10)
- Sustainable Energy (30)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (1)
- Transportation (3)
Media Contacts
![Carrie Eckert](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-11/2021-P08048.jpg?h=fdb72c6d&itok=pWcXR26-)
Carrie Eckert applies her skills as a synthetic biologist at ORNL to turn microorganisms into tiny factories that produce a variety of valuable fuels, chemicals and materials for the growing bioeconomy.
![The ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor, shown in green, envelops the roots of a transgenic switchgrass plant. Switchgrass is not known to interact with this type of fungi naturally; the added PtLecRLK1 gene tells the plant to engage the fungus. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/fungi_switchgrass_0.png?h=4bcd3c64&itok=6SCoAprD)
An ORNL team has successfully introduced a poplar gene into switchgrass, an important biofuel source, that allows switchgrass to interact with a beneficial fungus, ultimately boosting the grass’ growth and viability in changing environments.
![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.
![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.
![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.
![This spring, Brood X cicadas emerged from the ground after 17 years burrowed and swarmed across the eastern United States, leaving a trail of exoskeletons and echoes of mating calls. Cicadas emerge in such large quantities to withstand predation and successfully maintain their populations, and trees actually play a key role in their life cycle. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/2021-P05177_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=070G3Zdi)
On the road leading to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, drivers may notice that many of the green trees lining the entrance to the lab are dappled with brown leaves. Just weeks past the summer solstice, this phenomenon is out of place and is in fact evidence of another natural occurrence: cicada “flagging.”
![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