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Technology developed at ORNL to monitor plant productivity and health at wide scales has been licensed to Logan, Utah-based instrumentation firm Campbell Scientific Inc.

Technology developed at ORNL to monitor plant productivity and health at wide scales has been licensed to Logan, Utah-based instrumentation firm Campbell Scientific Inc.

MDF Exterior

ORNL scientists will present new technologies available for licensing during the annual Technology Innovation Showcase. The event is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, June 16, at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL’s Hardin Valley campus.

Results show change in annual aridity for the years 2071-2100 compared to 1985-2014. Brown shadings (negative numbers) indicate drier conditions. Black dots indicate statistical significance at the 90% confidence level. Credit: Jiafu Mao/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A new analysis from Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows that intensified aridity, or drier atmospheric conditions, is caused by human-driven increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The findings point to an opportunity to address and potentially reverse the trend by reducing emissions.

Ten scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Ten scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers, according to a bibliometric analysis conducted by the scientific publication analytics firm Clarivate.

Fine roots from a larch tree peek out from a pile of peat excavated from an experimental warming plot in the SPRUCE experiment in Northern Minnesota. Credit: Colleen Iversen/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

New data hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping scientists around the world understand the secret lives of plant roots as well as their impact on the global carbon cycle and climate change.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory added new plant data to a computer model that simulates Arctic ecosystems, enabling it to better predict how vegetation in rapidly warming northern environments may respond to climate change.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory added new plant data to a computer model that simulates Arctic ecosystems, enabling it to better predict how vegetation in rapidly warming northern environments may respond to climate change.

A team of scientists found that microbes at the SPRUCE experiment in the Minnesota peatlands are increasing production of methane under warming conditions. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists studying a unique whole-ecosystem warming experiment in the Minnesota peatlands found that microorganisms are increasing methane production faster than carbon dioxide production. 

Permafrost

A study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Copenhagen, the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey showed that hotter summers and permafrost loss are causing colder water to flow into Arctic streams, which could impact sensitive fish and other wildlife.

Distinguished Inventors

Six scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were named Battelle Distinguished Inventors, in recognition of obtaining 14 or more patents during their careers at the lab.

Fungi use signaling molecules called LCOs to communicate with each other and to regulate growth. Credit: Jessy Labbe/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and collaborators have discovered that signaling molecules known to trigger symbiosis between plants and soil bacteria are also used by almost all fungi as chemical signals to communicate with each other.