Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M University demonstrated bio-inspired devices that accelerate routes to neuromorphic, or brain-like, computing.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and The University of Toledo have entered into a memorandum of understanding for collaborative research into the advanced design and manufacturing of high-strength, intelligent, lightweight materials for use by the automotive sector.
ORNL story tips: Reaching the boiling point for HVACs; showcasing innovation for technology transfer; using neutrons to lend insight into human tissue; and heating the core in a fusion prototype experiment.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a way to isolate and grow targeted bacteria using genomic data, making strides toward resolving the grand challenge of uncultivated microbial “dark matter” in which the vast majority of microorganisms remain unstudied in the laboratory.
To accelerate promising artificial intelligence applications in diverse research fields, ORNL has established a labwide AI Initiative. This internal investment brings the lab’s AI expertise, computing resources and user facilities together to facilitate analyses of massive datasets.
Profiled is physicist Gaute Hagen of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who runs advanced models on powerful supercomputers to explore how protons and neutrons interact to “build” an atomic nucleus from scratch.
The National Alliance for Water Innovation, a partnership of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, other national labs, university and private sector partners, has been awarded a five-year, $100 million Energy-Water Desalination Hub by DOE to address water security issues in the United States.
Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a method to insert genes into a variety of microorganisms that previously would not accept foreign DNA, with the goal of creating custom microbes to break down plants for bioenergy.
As a computational hydrologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ethan Coon combines his talent for math with his love of coding to solve big science questions about water quality, water availability for energy production, climate change, and the movement of contaminants through watersheds.
Three researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will lead or participate in collaborative research projects aimed at harnessing the power of quantum mechanics to advance a range of technologies including computing, fiber optics and network communication.
Quanex has signed a non-exclusive agreement to license a method to produce insulating material from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The low-cost material can be used as an additive to increase thermal insulation performance and improve energy efficiency when applied to a variety of building products.
ORNL story tips: ORNL’s project for VA bridges computing prowess, VA health data to speed up suicide risk screenings for U.S. veterans; ORNL reveals ionic liquid additive lubricates better than additives in commercial gear oil; researchers use neutron scattering to probe colorful new material that could improve sensors, vivid displays; unique 3D printing approach adds more strength, toughness in certain materials.
In collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, a team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has expanded a VA-developed predictive computing model to identify veterans at risk of suicide and sped it up to run 300 times faster, a gain that could profoundly affect the VA’s ability to reach susceptible veterans quickly.
Six new nuclear reactor technologies are planned to commercially deploy between 2030 and 2040. ORNL’s Weiju Ren heads a project managing structural materials information. This conversation explores challenges and opportunities in sharing nuclear materials knowledge internationally.
As a researcher at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a DOE Nanoscience User Facility, Nina Balke explores avenues for fine-tuning materials’ physical properties to solve energy challenges and expands fundamental research opportunities for CNMS users.
Electro-Active Technologies, Inc., of Knoxville, Tenn., has exclusively licensed two biorefinery technologies invented and patented by the startup’s co-founders while working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The technologies work as a system that converts organic waste into renewable hydrogen gas for use as a biofuel.
Researchers invented a process to extract rare earth elements from scrap magnets. They patented and scaled up the process in lab demonstrations and are working with a licensee to scale the process further to produce commercial batches of rare earth oxides.
IDEMIA Identity & Security USA has licensed an advanced optical array developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The portable technology can be used to help identify individuals in challenging outdoor conditions.
Seven Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers representing a range of scientific disciplines have received Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards. The Early Career Research Program, now in its tenth year, supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research careers in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science.
ORNL story tips: Training next-generation sensors to “see,” interpret live data; 3D printing tungsten could protect fusion reactor components; detailed study estimated how much more, or less, energy U.S. residents might consume by 2050 based on seasonal weather shifts; astrophysicists used ORNL supercomputer to create highest-ever-resolution galactic wind simulations; new solar-thermal desalination method improves energy efficiency.
Researchers at Iowa State and Ames Laboratory are using neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source to improve the process of metal-flux synthesis used in manufacturing solid-state materials used to make advanced technologies such as renewables and electronics.
Collaborators at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and U.S. universities used neutron scattering and other advanced characterization techniques to study how a prominent catalyst enables the “water-gas shift” reaction to purify and generate hydrogen at industrial scale.
Two researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory--David Cullen and Kate Page--have received a 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE.
Profiled is Raphaël Hermann of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who conducts experiments to better understand materials for energy and information applications.
Construction has begun on VENUS, a state-of-the-art neutron imaging instrument, at the Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This new instrument will provide a platform for studying in real time the makeup and performance of a wide range of functional materials under varying environments.
A team of researchers led by Bill Tang of the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University recently tested its Fusion Recurrent Neural Network (FRNN) code, a novel artificial intelligence (AI) resource designed to predict plasma instabilities, on various high-performance computing (HPC) systems. A reliable way to predict and mitigate disruptions could accelerate the adoption of fusion as an environmentally friendly, virtually unlimited source of energy.
A team of scientists led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered the specific gene that controls an important symbiotic relationship between plants and soil fungi, and successfully facilitated the symbiosis in a plant that typically resists it.
Glen Ellis, who worked as a draftsman at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s, drew the plans for NASA’s contingency soil sampler, or “moon scoop,” used to collect lunar soil and rock on the Apollo missions.
Study finds waste soft drinks for carbon capture could help cut carbon dioxide emissions; sharing secret messages using quantum communications just got more practical for better cybersecurity; designed synthetic polymers for better binding in next-generation li-ion batteries; predictive modeling could point to nuclear reactors running longer; scientists to create computers that mimic human brain.
Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland used neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to capture new information about DNA and RNA molecules and enable more accurate computer simulations of how they interact with everything from proteins to viruses.
ORNL story tips: New builders’ tool by ORNL assesses design performance before construction begins; new pressure technique to manipulate magnetism in thin films could enhance electronic devices; ORNL outlines quantum sensing advances for better airport scanning, other applications.
American ingenuity is providing radical productivity improvements from advanced materials and robotic systems developed at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory welcomed seven technology innovators to join the third cohort of Innovation Crossroads, the Southeast’s only entrepreneurial research and development program based at a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory.
Researchers used neutron scattering at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source to investigate the response properties of polymer gels commonly used in products like cosmetics, adhesives, and paints. A better understanding of their behaviors will lead to improved products and potential new medical applications for drug delivery.
The Department of Energy has established the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy program, or INFUSE, to encourage private-public research partnerships for overcoming challenges in fusion energy development.
A team led by scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored how atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) crystals can grow over 3D objects and how the curvature of those objects can stretch and strain the crystals.
ORNL story tips: Tiny test fuels by ORNL explore new reactor fuels more rapidly; ORNL-developed computing method detects, reports bugs in VA’s healthcare data system; new heat transport study in thermoelectric materials may lead to better heat-to-electricity conversion.
A team led by Ivaylo Ivanov of Georgia State University used the 200-petaflop IBM AC922 Summit system, the world’s smartest and most powerful supercomputer, to develop an integrative model of the transcription preinitiation complex (PIC), a complex of proteins vital to gene expression.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory studying super-cold states of water discovered a pathway to the unexpected formation of dense, crystalline phases of ice thought to exist beyond Earth’s limits. Their findings, reported in Nature, challenge accepted theories and could lead to better understanding of ice found on other planets, moons and elsewhere in space.
Canadian researchers used neutrons at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source to better understand how tempering affects chocolate's microstructure and how that relationship impacts taste.
Scientists have demonstrated a new bio-inspired material for an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to recovering uranium from seawater. The low-cost polymer adsorbent could help push past bottlenecks in the cost and efficiency of extracting uranium resources from oceans for sustainable energy production.
Advanced Research Systems has licensed an ORNL technology designed to automatically refill liquid helium used in laboratory equipment for low-temperature scientific experiments, which will reduce downtime, recover more helium and increase overall efficiency.
The new agreement builds upon ORNL and Lincoln Electric’s previous developments by extending additive technology to new materials, leveraging data analytics and enabling rapid manufacture of metal components in excess of 100 pounds per hour.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University teamed up to investigate the complex dynamics of low-water liquids that challenge nuclear waste processing at federal cleanup sites.
Researchers from Xavier University used neutrons at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor to observe how plants communicate via underground networks of fungal hyphae. Insights gained could lead to improved agricultural applications that enable farmers to tactically introduce pesticides into an environment so that unwanted weeds are destroyed while valuable crops remain unharmed.
ORNL story tips: Using ORNL’s Summit supercomputer, scientists created some of the largest virtual universes; plant-based, super-sticky material proves stickier than mussels; method to 3D print big components with metal could promise low-cost, high-quality builds with less waste; simulated small modular reactors on Summit ran more efficiently than expected.
By partnering with ORNL, Eck Industries Inc. is using neutrons at the lab’s Spallation Neutron Source to develop tailor-made, industrial high-performance aluminum alloys and bringing them to market with remarkable turnaround time.
ORNL used artificial intelligence to analyze data about bullying to reveal potential of broader impacts; flexible sensor wraps around power cables to monitor electrical loads from household appliances; ORNL is evaluating paths for licensing remotely operated microreactors; ORNL used carbon nanotubes to improve process that removes salt from water
To accelerate the process of identifying novel uranium oxide phases, an ORNL team studied 4,600 different potential crystal structures of uranium oxide compositions on Metis, a CADES high-performance computing cluster. An improved understanding of uranium oxides, which fuel the vast majority of the U.S. nuclear power fleet, could lead to the development of improved fuels or waste storage materials.