![Weyl semimetal](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-08/Picture4.jpg?h=b38bf506&itok=nYXXiLDs)
Filter News
Area of Research
- Advanced Manufacturing (1)
- Biological Systems (2)
- Biology and Environment (58)
- Clean Energy (31)
- Computer Science (1)
- Fusion and Fission (2)
- Materials (16)
- Materials for Computing (1)
- National Security (4)
- Neutron Science (6)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (5)
- Quantum information Science (1)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Supercomputing (32)
News Topics
- (-) Bioenergy (92)
- (-) Exascale Computing (39)
- (-) Hydropower (11)
- (-) Molten Salt (8)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (125)
- Advanced Reactors (34)
- Artificial Intelligence (95)
- Big Data (58)
- Biology (100)
- Biomedical (59)
- Biotechnology (23)
- Buildings (59)
- Chemical Sciences (69)
- Clean Water (30)
- Climate Change (103)
- Composites (29)
- Computer Science (194)
- Coronavirus (46)
- Critical Materials (29)
- Cybersecurity (35)
- Decarbonization (81)
- Education (4)
- Element Discovery (1)
- Emergency (2)
- Energy Storage (111)
- Environment (198)
- Fossil Energy (6)
- Frontier (44)
- Fusion (55)
- Grid (65)
- High-Performance Computing (88)
- Irradiation (3)
- Isotopes (54)
- ITER (7)
- Machine Learning (48)
- Materials (145)
- Materials Science (144)
- Mathematics (9)
- Mercury (12)
- Microelectronics (4)
- Microscopy (51)
- Nanotechnology (60)
- National Security (68)
- Net Zero (14)
- Neutron Science (133)
- Nuclear Energy (110)
- Partnerships (49)
- Physics (63)
- Polymers (33)
- Quantum Computing (35)
- Quantum Science (70)
- Renewable Energy (2)
- Security (24)
- Simulation (49)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (25)
- Statistics (3)
- Summit (59)
- Sustainable Energy (129)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (7)
- Transportation (97)
Media Contacts
![Scientists conducted microbial DNA sampling at a Yellowstone National Park hot spring for a study sponsored by DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research program, the National Science Foundation and NASA. Credit: Mircea Podar/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/hot-springs_0.png?h=e68b456d&itok=ioNfSScN)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists studied hot springs on different continents and found similarities in how some microbes adapted despite their geographic diversity.
![Steven Hamilton, an R&D scientist in the HPC Methods for Nuclear Applications group at ORNL, leads the ExaSMR project. ExaSMR was developed to run on the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility’s exascale-class supercomputer, Frontier. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/2023-P00165_1.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=YE6_qVLk)
The Exascale Small Modular Reactor effort, or ExaSMR, is a software stack developed over seven years under the Department of Energy’s Exascale Computing Project to produce the highest-resolution simulations of nuclear reactor systems to date. Now, ExaSMR has been nominated for a 2023 Gordon Bell Prize by the Association for Computing Machinery and is one of six finalists for the annual award, which honors outstanding achievements in high-performance computing from a variety of scientific domains.
![A rendering of the CFM RISE program’s open fan architecture. (bottom) A GE visualization of turbulent flow in the tip region of an open fan blade using the Frontier supercomputer at ORNL. Credit: CFM, GE Research (CFM is a 50–50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines)](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/GEAerospaceEngine_0.jpg?h=435bf7b9&itok=PmNjtECq)
Outside the high-performance computing, or HPC, community, exascale may seem more like fodder for science fiction than a powerful tool for scientific research. Yet, when seen through the lens of real-world applications, exascale computing goes from ethereal concept to tangible reality with exceptional benefits.
![Mirko Musa was always fascinated by the power of rivers, specifically how these mighty waterways sculpt landscapes. Now, as a water power researcher, he’s finding ways to harness that power and protect rivers at the same time. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/mirkomusa_2023-p05038.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=3Az47BKS)
Mirko Musa spent his childhood zigzagging his bike along the Po River. The Po, Italy’s longest river, cuts through a lush valley of grain and vegetable fields, which look like a green and gold ocean spreading out from the river’s banks.
![ORNL’s Fernanda Santos examines a soil sample at an NGEE Arctic field site in the Alaskan tundra in June 2022. Credit: Amy Breen, University of Alaska Fairbanks.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/Fernanda_Nome_June2022.jpg?h=06de31ac&itok=VGxKV_uY)
Wildfires are an ancient force shaping the environment, but they have grown in frequency, range and intensity in response to a changing climate. At ORNL, scientists are working on several fronts to better understand and predict these events and what they mean for the carbon cycle and biodiversity.
![Clouds of gray smoke in the lower left are funneled northward from wildfires in Western Canada, reaching the edge of the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean. A second path of thick smoke is visible at the top center of the image, emanating from wildfires in the boreal areas of Russia’s Far East, in this image captured on July 13, 2023. Credit: NASA MODIS](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-07/NASA%20Arctic%20Circle%20wildfire%20smoke_image07182023_1km_1.jpg?h=dbdc3f84&itok=oHQVs6Bn)
Wildfires have shaped the environment for millennia, but they are increasing in frequency, range and intensity in response to a hotter climate. The phenomenon is being incorporated into high-resolution simulations of the Earth’s climate by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with a mission to better understand and predict environmental change.
![Reuben Budiardja, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory computational scientist, worked with the early users who helped prepare Frontier, the world’s first exascale supercomputer, for scientific operations. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/OLCF_Reuben_0.jpg?h=37d8d407&itok=xzEd2WaJ)
With the world’s first exascale supercomputer now fully open for scientific business, researchers can thank the early users who helped get the machine up to speed.
![Illustration of a laser-based analytical method to accelerate understanding of critical plant and soil properties with the aim of co-optimizing bioenergy plant growth and soil carbon storage](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/soilPlantCube02_0.jpg?h=b044a8f9&itok=dPD5kVSg)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers recently demonstrated use of a laser-based analytical method to accelerate understanding of critical plant and soil properties that affect bioenergy plant growth and soil carbon storage.
![CFM’s RISE open fan engine architecture. Image: GE Aerospace](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/02-CFM_RISE_Program_Open_Fan%5B1%5D_0.jpg?h=790be497&itok=Ulzp5W_p)
To support the development of a revolutionary new open fan engine architecture for the future of flight, GE Aerospace has run simulations using the world’s fastest supercomputer capable of crunching data in excess of exascale speed, or more than a quintillion calculations per second.
![ORNL researchers, from left, Yang Liu, Xiaohan Yang and Torik Islam, collaborated on the development of a new capability to insert multiple genes simultaneously for fast, efficient transformation of plants into better bioenergy feedstocks. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/Gene%20stacking%202023-P03111_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=RSUZXZ8U)
In a discovery aimed at accelerating the development of process-advantaged crops for jet biofuels, scientists at ORNL developed a capability to insert multiple genes into plants in a single step.