Filter News
Area of Research
News Topics
- (-) Machine Learning (15)
- (-) Materials Science (16)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (20)
- Advanced Reactors (3)
- Artificial Intelligence (26)
- Big Data (10)
- Bioenergy (22)
- Biology (29)
- Biomedical (7)
- Biotechnology (6)
- Buildings (14)
- Chemical Sciences (24)
- Clean Water (5)
- Climate Change (31)
- Composites (6)
- Computer Science (23)
- Coronavirus (4)
- Critical Materials (6)
- Cybersecurity (9)
- Decarbonization (30)
- Education (3)
- Emergency (1)
- Energy Storage (21)
- Environment (43)
- Exascale Computing (15)
- Fossil Energy (2)
- Frontier (19)
- Fusion (9)
- Grid (16)
- High-Performance Computing (33)
- Hydropower (3)
- Irradiation (2)
- Isotopes (11)
- Materials (59)
- Mathematics (2)
- Mercury (2)
- Microelectronics (2)
- Microscopy (7)
- Molten Salt (1)
- Nanotechnology (7)
- National Security (21)
- Net Zero (5)
- Neutron Science (32)
- Nuclear Energy (21)
- Partnerships (24)
- Physics (14)
- Polymers (4)
- Quantum Computing (12)
- Quantum Science (9)
- Renewable Energy (2)
- Security (3)
- Simulation (29)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (4)
- Summit (9)
- Sustainable Energy (17)
- Transportation (18)
Media Contacts
![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.
![Clouds of gray smoke in the lower left are funneled northward from wildfires in Western Canada, reaching the edge of the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean. A second path of thick smoke is visible at the top center of the image, emanating from wildfires in the boreal areas of Russia’s Far East, in this image captured on July 13, 2023. Credit: NASA MODIS](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-07/NASA%20Arctic%20Circle%20wildfire%20smoke_image07182023_1km_1.jpg?h=dbdc3f84&itok=oHQVs6Bn)
Wildfires have shaped the environment for millennia, but they are increasing in frequency, range and intensity in response to a hotter climate. The phenomenon is being incorporated into high-resolution simulations of the Earth’s climate by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with a mission to better understand and predict environmental change.
![Two researchers standing back to back in a grassy area](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-07/CSJ_1716_updated.jpg?h=2dfa0735&itok=U-3yNm3M)
When geoinformatics engineering researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory wanted to better understand changes in land areas and points of interest around the world, they turned to the locals — their data, at least.
![Jerry Parks leads the Molecular Biophysics group at ORNL, leveraging his expertise in computational chemistry and bioinformatics to unlock the inner workings of proteins—molecules that govern cellular structure and function and are essential to life. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-05/2023-P06611.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=qZ5p6Pq8)
When reading the novel Jurassic Park as a teenager, Jerry Parks found the passages about gene sequencing and supercomputers fascinating, but never imagined he might someday pursue such futuristic-sounding science.
![A study led by ORNL researchers examines the causes behind ordering of cations, the positive ions that help make double perovskite oxides look promising as an energy source. Credit: Getty Images](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-05/CationBanner.png?h=ae114f5c&itok=czF5YUhD)
A study led by researchers at ORNL could uncover new ways to produce more powerful, longer-lasting batteries and memory devices.
![UKAEA will provide novel fusion materials to be irradiated in ORNL’s HFIR facility over the next four years. From left, Kathy McCarthy, Jeremy Busby, Mickey Wade, Prof Sir Ian Chapman (UKAEA CEO), Cynthia Jenks and Yutai Kato will represent this new partnership. Not pictured: Dr. Amanda Quadling, UKAEA’s Director of Materials Research Facility. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/ukaea_0.png?h=781886b5&itok=8TMsXYxx)
ORNL has entered a strategic research partnership with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, or UKAEA, to investigate how different types of materials behave under the influence of high-energy neutron sources. The $4 million project is part of UKAEA's roadmap program, which aims to produce electricity from fusion.
![From left are UWindsor students Isabelle Dib, Dominik Dziura, Stuart Castillo and Maksymilian Dziura at ORNL’s Neutron Spin Echo spectrometer. Their work advances studies on a natural cancer treatment. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/2022-P14758_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=YJLFDsPp)
A scientific instrument at ORNL could help create a noninvasive cancer treatment derived from a common tropical plant.
![Heat is typically carried through a material by vibrations known as phonons. In some crystals, however, different atomic motions — known as phasons — carry heat three times faster and farther. This illustration shows phasons made by rearranging atoms, shown by arrows. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-02/23-G01840_Phason_Manly_proof3_0.png?h=10d202d3&itok=3NpjriWi)
Warming a crystal of the mineral fresnoite, ORNL scientists discovered that excitations called phasons carried heat three times farther and faster than phonons, the excitations that usually carry heat through a material.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory entrance sign](/themes/custom/ornl/images/default-thumbnail.jpg)
Zheng Gai, a senior staff scientist at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, has been selected as editor-in-chief of the Spin Crossover and Spintronics section of Magnetochemistry.
![A new license to U2opia pairs two technologies developed in ORNL’s Cyber Resilience and Intelligence Division: Situ and Heartbeat. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-02/cyber-illo_0_1.png?h=9e499333&itok=Ep_VYWNj)
U2opia Technology, a consortium of technology and administrative executives with extensive experience in both industry and defense, has exclusively licensed two technologies from ORNL that offer a new method for advanced cybersecurity monitoring in real time.