Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Materials (104)
- (-) Nuclear Science and Technology (15)
- (-) Supercomputing (73)
- Advanced Manufacturing (5)
- Biology and Environment (56)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (57)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (2)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (2)
- Computer Science (2)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (1)
- Fusion and Fission (25)
- Fusion Energy (13)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (25)
- Materials Characterization (1)
- Materials for Computing (20)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (10)
- Neutron Science (29)
- Transportation Systems (1)
News Topics
- (-) Climate Change (21)
- (-) Fusion (16)
- (-) Isotopes (16)
- (-) Materials Science (84)
- (-) Polymers (18)
- (-) Summit (42)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (28)
- Advanced Reactors (15)
- Artificial Intelligence (38)
- Big Data (19)
- Bioenergy (18)
- Biology (14)
- Biomedical (23)
- Biotechnology (2)
- Buildings (8)
- Chemical Sciences (32)
- Clean Water (3)
- Composites (9)
- Computer Science (99)
- Coronavirus (17)
- Critical Materials (15)
- Cybersecurity (9)
- Decarbonization (11)
- Energy Storage (37)
- Environment (35)
- Exascale Computing (22)
- Frontier (28)
- Grid (9)
- High-Performance Computing (40)
- Irradiation (1)
- ITER (1)
- Machine Learning (14)
- Materials (79)
- Mathematics (1)
- Microscopy (29)
- Molten Salt (7)
- Nanotechnology (42)
- National Security (8)
- Net Zero (2)
- Neutron Science (46)
- Nuclear Energy (52)
- Partnerships (11)
- Physics (36)
- Quantum Computing (20)
- Quantum Science (32)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (6)
- Simulation (14)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (10)
- Sustainable Energy (19)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (5)
- Transportation (19)
Media Contacts
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have conducted a series of breakthrough experimental and computational studies that cast doubt on a 40-year-old theory describing how polymers in plastic materials behave during processing.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Halil Tekinalp combines silanes and polylactic acid to create supertough renewable plastic. Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Halil Tekinalp combines silanes and polylactic acid to create supertough renewable plastic.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/02%20Materials-Supertough_bioplastic.jpg?itok=64jAyN8y)
A novel method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory creates supertough renewable plastic with improved manufacturability. Working with polylactic acid, a biobased plastic often used in packaging, textiles, biomedical implants and 3D printing, the research team added tiny amo...
![ORNL’s Xiahan Sang unambiguously resolved the atomic structure of MXene, a 2D material promising for energy storage, catalysis and electronic conductivity. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; photographer Carlos Jones ORNL’s Xiahan Sang unambiguously resolved the atomic structure of MXene, a 2D material promising for energy storage, catalysis and electronic conductivity. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; photographer Carlos Jones](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/Sang_2016-P07680_0.jpg?itok=w0e5eR_U)
Researchers have long sought electrically conductive materials for economical energy-storage devices. Two-dimensional (2D) ceramics called MXenes are contenders. Unlike most 2D ceramics, MXenes have inherently good conductivity because they are molecular sheets made from the carbides ...
![By producing 50 grams of plutonium-238, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have demonstrated the nation’s ability to provide a valuable energy source for deep space missions. By producing 50 grams of plutonium-238, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have demonstrated the nation’s ability to provide a valuable energy source for deep space missions.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/front_page_slide_assets/2015-P07524.jpg?itok=MEy22Na3)
With the production of 50 grams of plutonium-238, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have restored a U.S. capability dormant for nearly 30 years and set the course to provide power for NASA and other missions.
![Pellet selector Pellet selector](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/Fusion%20pellet%20art%202.jpg?itok=4KhWRcQt)
When it’s up and running, the ITER fusion reactor will be very big and very hot, with more than 800 cubic meters of hydrogen plasma reaching 170 million degrees centigrade. The systems that fuel and control it, on the other hand, will be small and very cold. Pellets of frozen gas will be shot int...
![Vanadium atoms (blue) have unusually large thermal vibrations that stabilize the metallic state of a vanadium dioxide crystal. Red depicts oxygen atoms.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-06/82289_web.jpg?h=05d1a54d&itok=_5hHRzzR)
For more than 50 years, scientists have debated what turns particular oxide insulators, in which electrons barely move, into metals, in which electrons flow freely.