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Media Contacts
![ORNL is designing a neutronic research engine to evaluate new materials and designs for advanced vehicles using the facilities at the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy, and Southwest Research Institute.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-12/20-G01771_VULCAN_engine_proof1.png?h=e4fbc3eb&itok=f6owlGkE)
In the quest for advanced vehicles with higher energy efficiency and ultra-low emissions, ORNL researchers are accelerating a research engine that gives scientists and engineers an unprecedented view inside the atomic-level workings of combustion engines in real time.
![The first neutron structure of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease enzyme revealed unexpected electrical charges in the amino acids cysteine (negative) and histidine (positive), providing key data about the virus’s replication. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/20-G01620_Protease_PR_proof2_0.jpg?h=3e3883a3&itok=XB_ZEDFQ)
To better understand how the novel coronavirus behaves and how it can be stopped, scientists have completed a three-dimensional map that reveals the location of every atom in an enzyme molecule critical to SARS-CoV-2 reproduction.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory entrance sign](/themes/custom/ornl/images/default-thumbnail.jpg)
Geoffrey L. Greene, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who holds a joint appointment with ORNL, will be awarded the 2021 Tom Bonner Prize for Nuclear Physics from the American Physical Society.
![The n-helium-3 precision experiment, conducted at ORNL, measured the weak force between protons and neutrons by detecting the tiny electrical signal produced when a neutron and a helium-3 nucleus combine and then decay as they move through the helium gas target cell. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/3b864f25-612d-4d38-bb34-62f65072f45f_0.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=08P4u7m8)
Through a one-of-a-kind experiment at ORNL, nuclear physicists have precisely measured the weak interaction between protons and neutrons. The result quantifies the weak force theory as predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics.
![Enzyme activity during organophosphate poisoning](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/anecdote1_0.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=wpYYilBI)
Pick your poison. It can be deadly for good reasons such as protecting crops from harmful insects or fighting parasite infection as medicine — or for evil as a weapon for bioterrorism. Or, in extremely diluted amounts, it can be used to enhance beauty.
![The protease protein is both shaped like a heart and functions as one, allowing the virus replicate and spread. Inhibiting the protease would block virus reproduction. Credit: Andrey Kovalevsky/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-06/protease_dimer_3_1.png?h=aa51a450&itok=sJY7AB8d)
A team of researchers has performed the first room-temperature X-ray measurements on the SARS-CoV-2 main protease — the enzyme that enables the virus to reproduce.
![Coronavirus graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/covid19_jh_0.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=PyngFUZw)
In the race to identify solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are joining the fight by applying expertise in computational science, advanced manufacturing, data science and neutron science.
![Nuclear — Seeing inside particles](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/Kernels-nuclear%20materials-2_0.jpg?h=ae51ec69&itok=_AWiopZz)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers working on neutron imaging capabilities for nuclear materials have developed a process for seeing the inside of uranium particles – without cutting them open.
![Scientists created a novel polymer that is as effective as natural proteins in transporting protons through a membrane. Credit: ORNL/Jill Hemman](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/19-G01195_nature_feature_0.png?h=e4fbc3eb&itok=K8czXmTr)
Biological membranes, such as the “walls” of most types of living cells, primarily consist of a double layer of lipids, or “lipid bilayer,” that forms the structure, and a variety of embedded and attached proteins with highly specialized functions, including proteins that rapidly and selectively transport ions and molecules in and out of the cell.
![Materials—Engineering heat transport](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-05/Materials-Engineering_heat_transport.png?h=abd215d5&itok=PJPSWa9s)
Scientists have discovered a way to alter heat transport in thermoelectric materials, a finding that may ultimately improve energy efficiency as the materials