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ORNL's Communications team works with news media seeking information about the laboratory. Media may use the resources listed below or send questions to news@ornl.gov.

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Artist's rendering depicts a cantilever's sharp tip in an atomic force microscope scanning a material's surface to measure domain wall movement

As demand for energy-intensive computing grows, researchers at ORNL have developed a new technique that lets scientists see how interfaces move in promising materials for computing and other applications. The method, now available to users at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at ORNL, could help design dramatically more energy-efficient technologies.

Illustration of a quantum experiment: atoms in a lattice (inset) with entanglement effects radiating from a central particle on a textured surface.

Working at nanoscale dimensions, billionths of a meter in size, a team of scientists led by ORNL revealed a new way to measure high-speed fluctuations in magnetic materials. Knowledge obtained by these new measurements could be used to advance technologies ranging from traditional computing to the emerging field of quantum computing. 

Three egg-shaped orbs of varying opacity are shown on a dark blue background, increasing transparency revealing they are filled with smaller round balls of red and blue. Arrows indicate counterclockwise rotation of the orbs, and green squiggles imply motion of the smaller balls.

Using the Frontier supercomputer at ORNL, researchers have developed a new technique that predicts nuclear properties in record detail. The study revealed how the structure of a nucleus relates to the force that holds it together. This understanding could advance efforts in quantum physics and across a variety of sectors, from to energy production to national security.

Computer rendering of the FRIB Decay Station initiator, featuring cylindrical components, vacuum chambers, and a greenish glow, used to measure the decays of exotic isotopes at FRIB.

Scientists at ORNL are using advanced germanium detectors to explore fundamental questions in nuclear physics, such as the nature of neutrinos and the matter-antimatter imbalance. The ongoing LEGEND project, an international collaboration, aims to discover neutrinoless double beta decay, which could significantly advance the understanding of the universe.

Neus Domingo Marimon, ORNL scientist, poses for a photo in black with hair down

Neus Domingo Marimon, leader of the Functional Atomic Force Microscopy group at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences of ORNL, has been elevated to senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Pictured is the process of converting greenhouse gases to syngas, shown with a city scape with CO2 and CH4 turning to a mountain landscape with CO and H2

A chemical reaction can convert two polluting greenhouse gases into valuable building blocks for cleaner fuels and feedstocks, but the high temperature required for the reaction also deactivates the catalyst. A team led by ORNL has found a way to thwart deactivation. The strategy may apply broadly to other catalysts.

The left/right columns show a time series of the neutron/proton number densities in log scale for a typical fission trajectory. The bar relates the color to the decimal logarithm of the number density.

Researchers used the Summit supercomputer at ORNL to answer one of fission’s big questions: What exactly happens during the nucleus’s “neck rupture” as it splits in two? Scission neutrons have been theorized to be among those particles emitted during neck rupture, although their exact characteristics have been debated due to a lack of conclusive experimental evidence of their existence.

An observation tower overlooks a Panama rainforest

Plants the world over are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously thought. The research, detailed in the journal Nature, is expected to improve Earth system simulations that scientists use to predict the future climate, and spotlights the importance of natural carbon sequestration for greenhouse gas mitigation. 

Image of Giuseppe Barca looking at two computer monitors, representing the team using Frontier to perform the first quantum chemistry calculations to exceed an exaflop.

Researchers led by the University of Melbourne, Australia, have been nominated for the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2024 Gordon Bell Prize in supercomputing for conducting a quantum molecular dynamics simulation 1,000 times greater in size and speed than any previous simulation of its kind.

Pictured is a 3D printer that creates objects using electron beam melting, looks like a glowing orb.

Researchers have developed and 3D printed the lightest crack-free alloy capable of operating without melting at temperatures above 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit, which could enable additively manufactured turbine blades to better handle extreme temperatures, reducing the carbon footprint of gas turbine engines such as those used in airplanes.