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Media Contacts
![Caption: Jaswinder Sharma makes battery coin cells with a lightweight current collector made of thin layers of aligned carbon fibers in a polymer with carbon nanotubes. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/sharma1_1.jpg?h=f7dae89e&itok=JiSsMewF)
Electric vehicles can drive longer distances if their lithium-ion batteries deliver more energy in a lighter package. A prime weight-loss candidate is the current collector, a component that often adds 10% to the weight of a battery cell without contributing energy.
![ORNL intern Jack Orebaugh holds the drone used in his research to help locate human remains. Credit: Lena Shoemaker/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/jack.jpg?h=0261ddcd&itok=yZ9N5dAh)
Jack Orebaugh, a forensic anthropology major at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has a big heart for families with missing loved ones. When someone disappears in an area of dense vegetation, search and recovery efforts can be difficult, especially when a missing person’s last location is unknown. Recognizing the agony of not knowing what happened to a family or friend, Orebaugh decided to use his internship at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to find better ways to search for lost and deceased people using cameras and drones.
![ORNL retiree Duane Starr and his wife, Nancy, pose with the critical frequencies demo unit Duane designed, built and donated to the laboratory to support nuclear workshops. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P06566.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=tIETe2jc)
For years, Duane Starr led workshops at ORNL to help others from across the U.S. government understand uranium processing technologies. After his retirement, Starr donated a 5-foot-tall working model, built in his garage, that demonstrates vibration harmonics, consistent with operation of a super critical gas centrifuge rotor, a valuable resource to ongoing ORNL-led workshops.
![A collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Caterpillar Inc. will investigate using methanol as an alternative fuel source for marine vessels. Members of the research team kicked off the project with the installation of a 6-cylinder engine at the Department of Energy’s National Transportation Research Center at ORNL.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P19061%5B26%5D.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=F0MRmlmI)
ORNL and Caterpillar Inc. have entered into a cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, to investigate using methanol as an alternative fuel source for four-stroke internal combustion marine engines.
![Eric Nafziger, a technical staff member at the National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Hardin Valley Campus, supports the installation of the largest alternative fuels research engines for marine and rail in the U.S. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P16593.jpeg?h=a73d1746&itok=jpdVXbUY)
Within the Department of Energy’s National Transportation Research Center at ORNL’s Hardin Valley Campus, scientists investigate engines designed to help the U.S. pivot to a clean mobility future.
![ORNL researchers are establishing a digital thread of data, algorithms and workflows to produce a continuously updated model of earth systems.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/MicrosoftTeams-image%20%2823%29_0.png?h=c6980913&itok=cK99Pg3y)
Digital twins are exactly what they sound like: virtual models of physical reality that continuously update to reflect changes in the real world.
![2023 Battelle Distinguished Inventors](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/23-G07641-Battelle-Distinguished-Inventor-graphic-pcg_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=uhmqAKgT)
Four scientists affiliated with ORNL were named Battelle Distinguished Inventors during the lab’s annual Innovation Awards on Dec. 1 in recognition of being granted 14 or more United States patents.
![ORNL researchers Lu Yu and Yaocai Bai examine vials that contain a chemical solution that causes the cobalt and lithium to separate from a spent battery, followed by a second stage when cobalt precipitates in the bottom. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/2023-P12386_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=CVJOHRVM)
Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries.
![An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, can be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere or by an electromagnetic generator in a vehicle or aircraft. Here’s the chain of reactions it could cause to harm electrical equipment on the ground. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/EMP_illust04_0.png?h=21cd0a81&itok=M9UNd-n0)
Researchers at ORNL have been leading a project to understand how a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, could threaten power plants.
![SM2ART team members receive the CAMX Combined Strength Award at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Pictured here are, from left, ORNL’s Dan Coughlin, Sana Elyas, Halil Tekinalp, Amber Hubbard, Soydan Ozcan; University of Maine’s Susan MacKay, Angelina Buzzelli, Scott Tomlinson, Wesley Bisson; and ORNL’s Matt Korey and Vlastimil Kunc. Credit: University of Maine](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/IMG_4600-FINAL.jpg?h=4521fff0&itok=TjvLqEmG)
The Hub & Spoke Sustainable Materials & Manufacturing Alliance for Renewable Technologies, or SM2ART, program has been honored with the composites industry’s Combined Strength Award at the Composites and Advanced Materials Expo, or CAMX, 2023 in Atlanta. This distinction goes to the team that applies their knowledge, resources and talent to solve a problem by making the best use of composites materials.