Feature Articles

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-Jul-2025 18:10 ET (11-Jul-2025 22:10 GMT/UTC)

Oak Ridge, Argonne national laboratories collaborate with Wabtec on hydrogen-powered trains to decarbonize rail industry

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

As the United States shifts away from fossil-fuel-burning cars and trucks, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories are exploring options for another form of transportation: trains. The research focuses on zero-carbon hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels as viable alternatives to diesel for the rail industry.

Taking it to the streets: ORNL models climate solutions for US cities

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are deploying their broad expertise in climate data and modeling to create science-based mitigation strategies for cities stressed by climate change as part of two U.S. Department of Energy Urban Integrated Field Laboratory projects.

Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

Gang Seob “GS” Jung: Solving scientific puzzles using computational models

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Jung, a member of the Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate at ORNL, is using his fellowship to develop essential tools of multiscale models for universal materials. He is interested in modeling materials using computational science to help develop new technology for new materials.

New report ensures hydropower sustainability amid climate change

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has provided hydropower operators with new data to better prepare for extreme weather events and shifts in seasonal energy demands caused by climate change.

Lab experiments support COVID-19 bradykinin storm theory

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A new paper published in Nature Communications adds further evidence to the bradykinin storm theory of COVID-19’s viral pathogenesis — a theory that was posited two years ago by a team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, NIH/National Institutes of Health

Libby Johnson: On the frontier for nuclear safety

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory physicist Elizabeth “Libby” Johnson (1921-1996), one of the world’s first nuclear reactor operators, standardized the field of criticality safety with peers from ORNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Her work came on the heels of two incidents involving nuclear materials that took the lives of two government researchers at the end of the Manhattan Project.

Unearthing the secrets of plant health, carbon storage with rhizosphere-on-a-chip

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a miniaturized environment to study the ecosystem around poplar tree roots for insights into plant health and soil carbon sequestration.

Journal: Lab on a Chip
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Sensor research helps fight wildfires

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

As climate change leads to larger and more frequent wildfires, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using sensors, drones and machine learning to both prevent fires and reduce their damage to the electric grid. Engineers are honing technology to remotely sense electrical arcing and faulty equipment, as well as the direction of spreading fires.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service

Adsorbent material filters toxic chromium, arsenic from water supplies

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are tackling a global water challenge with a unique material designed to target not one, but two toxic, heavy metal pollutants for simultaneous removal.

Microbes enhance resilience of carbon-rich peatlands to warming

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that certain bacteria increase the climate resilience of Sphagnum moss, the tiny plant responsible for storing a third of the world’s soil carbon in peat bogs. Heat tolerant microbes transfer that protection to the plants, helping them survive climate warming.

Journal: New Phytologist
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

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