Biodetection Technologies 2013 and Oak Ridge National Lab’s Biosurveillance Symposium to Bring Together Leading Organizations in Alexandria, VA from June 17-19, 2013

(PRWeb) Knowledge Foundation and Oak Ridge National Laboratory brings the 2nd Biosurveillance Symposium and Biodetection Technologies 2013 to Alexandria, VA on June 17 - 19, 2013...5/22

Oak Ridge National Lab Seeking Uses for EV Batteries After They’re no Longer in Cars

(ThomasNet News) ...Right now there’s an exciting project going on involving the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where a stationary storage system is being experimented with. This system could eventually lead to an energy storage device that’s significantly cheaper than one that would be assembled from new batteries...5/22

Previous ORNL Stories

DOE

Cost of Uranium Processing Facility may be going up — again

(Knoxville News Sentinel) The government has balked at giving a definitive price tag for the Uranium Processing Facility, instead using a series of escalating cost ranges — the most recent of which was $4.2 billion to $6.5 billion — during the big project’s planning and development over the past decade...5/22

Moniz: Tesla Repayment Shows the Strength of Energy Department’s Overall Loan Portfolio

(Energy.gov) Today, Tesla Automotive repaid the entire remaining balance on a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy nine years earlier than originally required. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz made the following statement...5/22

National

White House calls drones: 'Necessary, legal and just'

(CS Monitor) Four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes, according to a letter by Attorney General Eric Holder released Wednesday. Holder's letter comes just a day before President Barack Obama will give a speech detailing new policy guidelines for drone strikes...5/22

East Tennessee

TVC Summit next week includes House majority leader

(Tennessee Today) Business, community, and political leaders and senior decision-makers will convene at the 2013 Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit next week to discuss issues that are critical to the economic engine of the Tennessee Valley...5/22

Toho Tenax closing carbon fiber line

(Knoxville News Sentinel) ...The firm is moving its carbon fiber operations to “concentrate its production at the most efficient locations,” according to a statement from the company. The material will now be made in sites in Germany and Japan...5/22

energy & science policy

Letter in Support of NSF’s Merit Review Process and Research Portfolio

(AIP) ...The text of this May 20 letter follows: “The undersigned organizations are concerned about recent Congressional actions that call into question the National Science Foundation’s merit review process for awarding research grants...5/23

science & technology

Engineers See a Path Out of Green Card Limbo

(NY Times) Sanket Sant, a citizen of India, came to the United States at age 21, earning a master’s degree in engineering, followed by a doctorate and then landing a well-paying job at a company making semiconductor equipment. Then, he waited for the American government to decide if he could stay...5/22

Pfizer takes its shot at a vaccine for evasive superbug

(Reuters) Kathrin Jansen is a microbiologist with at least two breakthrough vaccines to her name: she brought the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil to market for Merck and helped develop the $4 billion a year pneumonia and meningitis vaccine Prevnar 13 for Pfizer...5/23

A Tornado Chaser Talks About His Science and Craft

(National Geographic News) After a relatively quiet start to the season, the Great Plains states reminded us why they're collectively known as "Tornado Alley" last weekend, with a reported 29 tornadoes across five states...5/21

How Genomics Solved The Mystery Of Ireland's Great Famine

(NPR) An international group of plant pathologists has solved a historical mystery behind Ireland's Great Famine...5/22