![White car (Porsche Taycan) with the hood popped is inside the building with an american flag on the wall.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-06/2024-P09317.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=m6sQhZRq)
Filter News
Area of Research
- Advanced Manufacturing (6)
- Biology and Environment (21)
- Clean Energy (41)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (1)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (2)
- Fusion and Fission (2)
- Fusion Energy (1)
- Isotopes (4)
- Materials (74)
- Materials Characterization (2)
- Materials for Computing (10)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- National Security (2)
- Neutron Science (14)
- Supercomputing (16)
News Topics
- (-) Materials (143)
- (-) Mercury (12)
- (-) Net Zero (13)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (119)
- Advanced Reactors (34)
- Artificial Intelligence (91)
- Big Data (53)
- Bioenergy (91)
- Biology (98)
- Biomedical (58)
- Biotechnology (22)
- Buildings (57)
- Chemical Sciences (63)
- Clean Water (29)
- Climate Change (99)
- Composites (26)
- Computer Science (187)
- Coronavirus (46)
- Critical Materials (25)
- Cybersecurity (35)
- Decarbonization (79)
- Education (4)
- Element Discovery (1)
- Emergency (2)
- Energy Storage (108)
- Environment (194)
- Exascale Computing (37)
- Fossil Energy (5)
- Frontier (42)
- Fusion (53)
- Grid (62)
- High-Performance Computing (84)
- Hydropower (11)
- Irradiation (3)
- Isotopes (53)
- ITER (7)
- Machine Learning (47)
- Materials Science (139)
- Mathematics (7)
- Microelectronics (2)
- Microscopy (51)
- Molten Salt (8)
- Nanotechnology (60)
- National Security (60)
- Neutron Science (131)
- Nuclear Energy (106)
- Partnerships (43)
- Physics (61)
- Polymers (33)
- Quantum Computing (34)
- Quantum Science (69)
- Renewable Energy (2)
- Security (24)
- Simulation (47)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (25)
- Statistics (3)
- Summit (57)
- Sustainable Energy (125)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (7)
- Transportation (97)
Media Contacts
![Paul Kent, shown above posing with Summit in April 2018, received the 2020 ORNL Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-11/DA_Kent.jpg?h=48cf6540&itok=Ocw9WcgV)
The annual Director's Awards recognized four individuals and teams including awards for leadership in quantum simulation development and application on high-performance computing platforms, and revolutionary advancements in the area of microbial
![Water from local creeks now flows through these simulated streams in the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, providing new opportunities to study mercury pollution and advance solutions. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/img_3692.jpg?h=77bd3ecb&itok=dM1eszup)
New capabilities and equipment recently installed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are bringing a creek right into the lab to advance understanding of mercury pollution and accelerate solutions.
![Alex Johs at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-06/2019-p01807.jpg?h=f8570409&itok=KBUOueeI)
Sometimes solutions to the biggest problems can be found in the smallest details. The work of biochemist Alex Johs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory bears this out, as he focuses on understanding protein structures and molecular interactions to resolve complex global problems like the spread of mercury pollution in waterways and the food supply.
![Methanogen_mercury_study3.jpg Methanogen_mercury_study3.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/Methanogen_mercury_study3.jpg?itok=a79hsOOv)
Biologists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have confirmed that microorganisms called methanogens can transform mercury into the neurotoxin methylmercury with varying efficiency across species.
![Methanotroph_OB3b_cells Methanotroph_OB3b_cells](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/Methanotroph_OB3b_cells_2.jpg?itok=Iml9vTIS)
A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has identified a novel microbial process that can break down toxic methylmercury in the environment, a fundamental scientific discovery that could potentially reduce mercury toxicity levels and sup...
![By wet-sieving stream sediment, (from left) Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Kenneth Lowe, Melanie Mayes and John Dickson sort sediment into different particle size in this stream near Rocky Top. By wet-sieving stream sediment, (from left) Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Kenneth Lowe, Melanie Mayes and John Dickson sort sediment into different particle size in this stream near Rocky Top.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/02%20mercury%20story%20tip.jpg?itok=wCk3MAYJ)
An Oak Ridge National Laboratory study is providing an unprecedented watershed-scale understanding of mercury in soils and sediments. Researchers focused on evaluating mercury and soil properties along the banks of a mercury-contaminated stream in Oak Ridge, Tenn., sampling 145 loca...
![Andrew King loads a gel with amplified gene fragments to detect the presence of mercury methylation genes in samples from East Fork Poplar Creek in Oak Ridge. Andrew King loads a gel with amplified gene fragments to detect the presence of mercury methylation genes in samples from East Fork Poplar Creek in Oak Ridge.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/Andrew_2.png?itok=ScVCkCyd)
Environmental scientists can more efficiently detect genes required to convert mercury in the environment into more toxic methylmercury with molecular probes developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “We now have a quic...