![This photo is of a male scientist sitting at a desk working with materials, wearing protective glasses.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-07/2023-P08173.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=LnJLvflD)
Filter News
Area of Research
- Advanced Manufacturing (1)
- Biology and Environment (78)
- Clean Energy (16)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (1)
- Computational Biology (2)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (1)
- Fusion and Fission (22)
- Fusion Energy (13)
- Materials (13)
- Materials for Computing (2)
- National Security (8)
- Neutron Science (11)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (8)
- Supercomputing (49)
News Topics
- (-) Biology (100)
- (-) Fusion (55)
- (-) Summit (59)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (125)
- Advanced Reactors (34)
- Artificial Intelligence (94)
- Big Data (58)
- Bioenergy (92)
- Biomedical (59)
- Biotechnology (22)
- Buildings (57)
- Chemical Sciences (66)
- Clean Water (30)
- Climate Change (101)
- Composites (28)
- Computer Science (193)
- Coronavirus (46)
- Critical Materials (28)
- Cybersecurity (35)
- Decarbonization (80)
- Education (4)
- Element Discovery (1)
- Emergency (2)
- Energy Storage (109)
- Environment (196)
- Exascale Computing (39)
- Fossil Energy (6)
- Frontier (44)
- Grid (65)
- High-Performance Computing (88)
- Hydropower (11)
- Irradiation (3)
- Isotopes (53)
- ITER (7)
- Machine Learning (48)
- Materials (144)
- Materials Science (142)
- Mathematics (9)
- Mercury (12)
- Microelectronics (3)
- Microscopy (51)
- Molten Salt (8)
- Nanotechnology (60)
- National Security (65)
- Net Zero (14)
- Neutron Science (131)
- Nuclear Energy (109)
- Partnerships (46)
- Physics (62)
- Polymers (33)
- Quantum Computing (35)
- Quantum Science (69)
- Renewable Energy (2)
- Security (24)
- Simulation (49)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (25)
- Statistics (3)
- Sustainable Energy (129)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (7)
- Transportation (97)
Media Contacts
![Madhavi Martin portrait image](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/2023-P09857_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=4QOEKn5k)
Madhavi Martin brings a physicist’s tools and perspective to biological and environmental research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supporting advances in bioenergy, soil carbon storage and environmental monitoring, and even helping solve a murder mystery.
![From left, Gladisol Smith Vega prepares to collect field data on the Oak Ridge Reservation with mentor Scott Brooks. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL. U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/2023-P07502_0.jpg?h=ec160efd&itok=QiCa5S6F)
Nearly 100 interns were introduced to Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s biological and environmental research over the summer of 2023 as mentors and students were eager to share knowledge and skills to address the nation’s energy and environmental challenges.
![Chlorella Vulgaris](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/Chlorella%20vulgaris%20clr_0.png?h=788ed832&itok=9B4DOZn9)
In the search for ways to fight methylmercury in global waterways, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that some forms of phytoplankton are good at degrading the potent neurotoxin.
![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.
![top view of cicada wing](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-07/top_cs_0.png?h=436b82d4&itok=6o7AvyrV)
Over the past decade, teams of engineers, chemists and biologists have analyzed the physical and chemical properties of cicada wings, hoping to unlock the secret of their ability to kill microbes on contact. If this function of nature can be replicated by science, it may lead to products with inherently antibacterial surfaces that are more effective than current chemical treatments.
![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.
![HFIR](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/HFIR_0.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=8tMcVdaT)
Creating energy the way the sun and stars do — through nuclear fusion — is one of the grand challenges facing science and technology. What’s easy for the sun and its billions of relatives turns out to be particularly difficult on Earth.
![3D supernova simulations](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/Supernova%20square_0.png?h=8a7fc05e&itok=nltq-f5M)
As a result of largescale 3D supernova simulations conducted on the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility’s Summit supercomputer by researchers from the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, astrophysicists now have the most complete picture yet of what gravitational waves from exploding stars look like.
![Simulations performed on Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer generated one of the most detailed portraits to date of how turbulence disperses heat through ocean water under realistic conditions. Credit: Miles Couchman](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/Prandtl2_0.png?h=ae114f5c&itok=yd4B_sEF)
Simulations performed on the Summit supercomputer at ORNL revealed new insights into the role of turbulence in mixing fluids and could open new possibilities for projecting climate change and studying fluid dynamics.
![The Fuel Pellet Fueling Laboratory at ORNL is part of a suite of fusion energy R&D capabilities and provides test equipment and related diagnostics for carrying out experiments to develop pellet injectors for plasma fueling applications. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2021-P02876_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=8fqWlX5k)
ORNL will team up with six of eight companies that are advancing designs and research and development for fusion power plants with the mission to achieve a pilot-scale demonstration of fusion within a decade.