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Media Contacts
![The DEMAND single crystal diffractometer at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR, is the latest neutron instrument at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to be equipped with machine learning-assisted software, called ReTIA. Credit: Jeremy Rumsey/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/DEMAND%20thumbnail%20image_0.jpg?h=c673cd1c&itok=5YAVwaP6)
Neutron experiments can take days to complete, requiring researchers to work long shifts to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments. But thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, experiments can now be done remotely and in half the time.
![Group of young kids sitting at a lab table.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/Photo%20Jun%2017%202023%2C%2010%2009%2002%20AM_0.jpg?h=d77929c1&itok=XXUibmMr)
A group at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory made a difference for local youth through hands-on projects that connected neutron science and engineering intuitively.
![Credit: NAIC Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF; (INSET) Michelle Negron, National Science Foundation](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/ARECIBO_0.png?h=c2ee2dc6&itok=aDzexNCM)
For more than half a century, the 1,000-foot-diameter spherical reflector dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was the largest radio telescope in the world. Completed in 1963, the dish was built in a natural sinkhole, with the telescope’s feed antenna suspended 500 feet above the dish on a 1.8-million-pound steel platform. Three concrete towers and more than 4 miles of steel cables supported the platform.
![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.
![This map illustrates the natural climate variability that affects the cold-season climate of the Central Southwest Asian region. Credit: Moetasim Ashfaq/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-07/moet_pr_v2.png?h=0bda418b&itok=V62vm4cC)
As extreme weather devastates communities worldwide, scientists are using modeling and simulation to understand how climate change impacts the frequency and intensity of these events. Although long-term climate projections and models are important, they are less helpful for short-term prediction of extreme weather that may rapidly displace thousands of people or require emergency aid.
![Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were the first to use neutron reflectometry to peer inside a working solid-state battery and monitor its electrochemistry.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/23-G04141_Browning_proof2_0.png?h=27870e4a&itok=Tore760r)
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were the first to use neutron reflectometry to peer inside a working solid-state battery and monitor its electrochemistry.
![Tristen Mullins. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/mullins_0.jpg?h=dab30fcb&itok=dsFGJyMz)
Tristen Mullins enjoys the hidden side of computers. As a signals processing engineer for ORNL, she tries to uncover information hidden in components used on the nation’s power grid — information that may be susceptible to cyberattacks.
![Herwig shared the impacts of neutron science with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm during a tour of SNS in November 2021. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2021-P09386_0.jpg?h=dce8aa9f&itok=BTb6xmeI)
Ken Herwig's scientific drive crystallized in his youth when he solved a tough algebra word problem in his head while tossing newspapers from his bicycle. He said the joy he felt in that moment as a teenager fueled his determination to conquer mathematical mysteries. And he did.
![Simulations performed on Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer generated one of the most detailed portraits to date of how turbulence disperses heat through ocean water under realistic conditions. Credit: Miles Couchman](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/Prandtl2_0.png?h=ae114f5c&itok=yd4B_sEF)
Simulations performed on the Summit supercomputer at ORNL revealed new insights into the role of turbulence in mixing fluids and could open new possibilities for projecting climate change and studying fluid dynamics.
![ORNL’s Yun Liu stands before one of the 10 laser comb-based beam diagnostics stations at the Spallation Neutron Source. The laser comb solves the longstanding problem of measuring changes in the beam across time. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2023-P05174_0_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=MH2NQJPT)
When opportunity meets talent, great things happen. The laser comb developed at ORNL serves as such an example.