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Technical illustration of an EV battery collector with vehicle placement shown in background.

Strengthening the competitiveness of the U.S. transportation industry depends on developing domestic EV batteries that combine rapid charging with long-range performance — two goals that often conflict. Researchers at ORNL have addressed this challenge by redesigning a key battery component, enabling fast, 10-minute charging while improving energy density and reducing reliance on copper.

Close up image of researcher's hands showing a PAN nanofiber next to a strand of human hair.

Stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum, carbon fiber is a staple in aerospace and high-performance vehicles — and now, scientists at ORNL have found a way to make it even stronger.

ORNL researcher Van Graves examines a transparent cylindrical device he developed and tested at CERN in 2007 to demonstrate that a jet of liquid mercury could serve as a target for a neutrino factory or muon collider.

Van Graves, an engineering manager at ORNL, is celebrating 40 years of dedicated service leading a diverse range of prominent engineering projects at ORNL and internationally. 

Five scientists and one in a boat are conducting fish sampling for the biological monitoring program on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation.

ORNL’s Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program, or BMAP, is marking 40 years of helping steward the DOE’s 33,476 acres of land on which some of the nation’s most powerful science and technology missions are carried out. 

Graphic depiction of a neutron star, which looks like orange beans inside a cage

Using the Frontier supercomputer, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted large-scale calculations to chart the isospin density of a neutron star across a range of conditions. Their work provides new insights into how pressure and density interact within neutron stars, offering important predictions about their inner workings.

Illustration of the GRETA detector, a spherical array of metal cylinders. The detector is divided into two halves to show the inside of the machine. Both halves are attached to metal harnesses, displayed against a black and green cyber-themed background.

Analyzing massive datasets from nuclear physics experiments can take hours or days to process, but researchers are working to radically reduce that time to mere seconds using special software being developed at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge national laboratories.  

Illustration of a glowing black box emitting digital particles that form into a 3D model of an electrical grid infrastructure, set against a background of binary code and data visualizations.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a modeling method that uses machine learning to accurately simulate electric grid behavior while protecting proprietary equipment details. The approach overcomes a key barrier to accurate grid modeling, helping utilities plan for future demand and prevent blackouts. 

 

Illustration of a virtual meeting on a laptop screen featuring diverse cartoon avatars of people in a grid layout. In the center, a logo reads “Winter Classic Invitational Student Cluster Competition.” The background consists of digital blue circuitry and data flow patterns, suggesting a technology or computing theme.

ORNL researchers helped introduce college students to quantum computing for the first time during the 2025 Winter Classic Invitational, providing hands-on access to real quantum hardware and training future high-performance computing users through a unique challenge that bridged classical and quantum technologies.

Wall of black computer chords with blue wiring

Researchers from ORNL have developed a new application to increase efficiency in memory systems for high performance computing. Rather than allow data to bog down traditional memory systems in supercomputers and impact performance, the team from ORNL, along with researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, created a framework to manage data more efficiently with memory systems that employ more complex structures. 

A deep look inside a cell membrane showing the production of materials from plant biomass, shown with shapes that consist of four green balls connected with a red ball on one end, dotted with smaller white balls on each surface.

Scientists at ORNL and the University of Cincinnati achieved a breakthrough in understanding the vulnerability of microbes to the butanol they produce during fermentation of plant biomass. The discovery could pave the way for more efficient production of domestic fuels, chemicals and materials.