Feature Articles

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-Dec-2025 07:11 ET (17-Dec-2025 12:11 GMT/UTC)

Transforming plants into allies in the fight against climate change

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nature-based solutions are an effective tool to combat climate change triggered by rising carbon emissions, whether it’s by clearing the skies with bio-based aviation fuels or boosting natural carbon sinks. At the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists are leading research to transform plants into key drivers of decarbonization, from creating biomass crops for new fuels to enhancing the ability of plants to absorb and store carbon.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

ORNL establishes Seaborg initiative for study of actinides

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory joins four other national laboratories — Idaho, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley — that have institutes named after nuclear chemist and Nobel Prize winner Glenn T. Seaborg.

RSICC, ORNL’s longest running institution, observes 60th anniversary

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Amid the tumultuous backdrop of 1962, nuclear physicist Alvin M. Weinberg recommended a repository of radiation safety information at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that persists to this day.

Firsthand fieldwork: ORNL scientists establish monitoring in at-risk coastal ecosystem

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

As a biogeochemist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Matthew Berens studies how carbon, nutrients and minerals move through water and soil. In this firsthand account, Berens describes recent fieldwork in Louisiana with colleagues to better understand key processes in coastal ecosystems.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Generations of separation: EMIS keeps improving

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORNL’s electromagnetic isotope separator, or EMIS, made history in 2018 when it produced 500 milligrams of the rare isotope ruthenium-96, unavailable anywhere else in the world. And EMIS technology just keeps getting better, said Brian Egle, who heads the Enrichment Science and Engineering Division’s Stable Isotope Research, Development and Production Section. “It’s capable of, essentially, separating the whole periodic table,” he said.

Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

ORNL inventor Tomonori Saito honored at Battelle Celebration of Solvers

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Tomonori Saito, a distinguished innovator in the field of polymer science and senior R&D staff member at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was honored on May 11 in Columbus, Ohio, at Battelle’s Celebration of Solvers.

Funder: US Department of Energy Office of Science

The copper key to more efficient biomass breakdown

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nonfood, plant-based biofuels have potential as a green alternative to fossil fuels, but the enzymes required for production are too inefficient and costly to produce. However, new research is shining a light on enzymes from fungi that could make biofuels economically viable.

Journal: Chemical Science

Cybersecurity goes undercover to protect electric grid data

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Inspired by one of the mysteries of human perception, an ORNL researcher invented a new way to hide sensitive electric grid information from cyberattack: Within a constantly-changing color palette.

ORNL celebrates 80th anniversary, unveils International Hall representing diversity

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory leadership and staff gathered at the lab’s main campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on April 27 to dedicate a renovated International Hall of flags and unveil new displays reflecting the lab’s rich 80-year history.

Yue Yuan, Weinberg Research Fellow, uses nature to create sustainable materials

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Profile of Yue Yuan, Weinberg Distinguished Staff Fellow at ORNL, who is researching ways to create new materials to help the environment.

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