Feature Articles

A team led by Rommie Amaro of the University of California San Diego has used ORNL’s Summit supercomputer to model an aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 viral particle for the first time. The 1.05-billion-atom system is among the largest biochemical system ever simulated at the atomic level.

A research team successfully captured the most detailed view to date of water’s hydrogen bonding patterns around DNA. The findings, produced in part through neutron scattering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, open new possibilities for studying how water impacts DNA function.

Quantum entanglement occurs when two particles appear to communicate without a physical connection, a phenomenon Albert Einstein famously called “spooky action at a distance.” Nearly 90 years later, a team led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated the viability of a “quantum entanglement witness” capable of proving the presence of entanglement between magnetic particles, or spins, in a quantum material.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) did to study the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. The team used neutrons and x-rays to map part of the internal structure of the coronavirus to create an accurate 3-D model. Specifically, the scientists mapped the main protease (Mpro), an enzyme involved in the virus replication, to which they added test inhibitor molecules discovered using high-speed computer screening. One test inhibitor, labeled HL-3-68, demonstrated a superior ability to bind to and inhibit the function of Mpro compared to others that were tested. Details of the study, titled “Structural, electronic and electrostatic determinants for inhibitor binding to subsites S1 and S2 in SARS-CoV-2 main protease,” are published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Analytical chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a rapid way to measure isotopic ratios of uranium and plutonium collected on environmental swipes, which could help International Atomic Energy Agency analysts detect the presence of undeclared nuclear activities or material.

Marilyn Brown of the Georgia Institute of Technology recently began a joint faculty appointment, or JFA, with the Climate Change Science Institute at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As an internationally recognized leader in climate solutions and energy policy, Brown will collaborate with ORNL to apply insights from global climate science to inform regional strategies that reduce carbon emissions and equitably address impacts on communities.

On Sept. 28, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm joined leadership and top scientists and engineers online at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a two-hour whirlwind tour. At 14 stops, researchers highlighted the lab’s world-class facilities and projects that enable leading-edge scientific discoveries and innovations that address some of the nation’s most compelling scientific and technical challenges.

A team of experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is taking aim at one of the biggest challenges facing the international ITER fusion facility: turning cold gas into wine-cork-sized, solid pellets to help keep ITER’s plasma in check.

A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Michigan has discovered that certain bacteria can steal an essential compound from other microbes to break down methane and toxic methylmercury in the environment.