Archived Story Tips for 2012
For more information on ORNL and its research and development activities, please refer to the resources listed below or to one of our Media Contacts. If you have a general media-related question or comment, you can send it to news@ornl.gov.
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ELECTRICITY—-Spotlight on outages . . . . . .
When a storm knocks out power, among the first questions to be answered are how many people are affected and when electricity will be restored.
AUTOMOTIVE—-Calculate your trip . . . . . .
Fueleconomy.gov's new "My Trip Calculator" (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/trip/) is an interactive trip calculator and mapping tool that hel
INSTRUMENTATION—-Focus on perfection . . . . . .
Through a cooperative research and development agreement, Hinds Instruments and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are refining a microscope that can play a role in the success of next-generation nuclear reactors.
LIGHTING—-Next-generation source . . . . . .
A team from the University of California at Santa Barbara has used NOMAD, the new Nanoscale-Ordered Materials Diffractometer at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to study the potential of a green-yellow emitting oxyfluoride solid solution phosphor for high-quality solid-state lighting.
Energy—Revolutionary heat pump . . .
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Oklahoma's
ClimateMaster Inc.
Supercomputing—The real oxygen-23 . . .
To really understand the mundane world we live in
we must also understand matter at the edge of the
nuclear landscape.
Vehicles—Charging on the move . . .
Owners of electric cars could kiss that cumbersome
cord goodbye without losing efficiency because of
a proprietary technology developed at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory.
Combustion—Hitting on all cylinders . . .
With the first demonstration of a dual-fuel
advanced combustion cycle in a modified multi-
cylinder engine, researchers have moved closer to
delivering on the promise of increased fuel
efficiency and reduced emissions.
Data—Straight to the source . . .
Data archived at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can
now be more effectively discovered, used and
tracked through a new research resource from
Thompson Reuters.
Renewables— Boost for biofuels . . .
U.S.
Biosurveillance—Filling the gaps . . .
Experts from universities, labs, industry and
first responders will gather in Washington, D.C.,
this month to share ideas and develop strategies
to protect against biological attacks.
Supercomputing—Ramping up realism . . .
A special report (see link below) shows speedups
of 1.5- to 3-fold for most scientific application
codes running on extreme-scale hybrid
supercomputers using code accelerators largely
developed for the video game industry.
Biology—Waterlogged protein . . .
Proteins' biological functions, such as the ability to metabolize drugs in our bodies, are known to rely heavily on the presence of water, but mechanisms behind the relationship have remained unclear.
Electronics—Quantum leap in security . . .
Intrusion detection is moving up a couple of notches with a technology that overcomes one of the main vulnerabilities of conventional security systems.
Materials—Steel shield . . .
A protective coating developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can extend the life of costly cutting and boring tools by more than 20 percent, potentially saving millions of dollars over the life of a project.
Nuclear Energy—Supercomputer speeds path forward . . .
By using graphic processing units in a test bed for the Titan supercomputer, researchers have more than tripled the speed of a code designed to improve efficiency, longevity and safety of nuclear reactors.
Materials—Atomic hybrids . . .
Atom-by-atom studies of a two-dimensional hybrid material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are paving the way toward novel low-power electronics.
Materials—Transparent performance . . .
Windshields, windows, solar panels, eyeglasses, heart stents and hundreds of other products representing a multi-billion-dollar market are potential targets for Oak Ridge National Laboratory's thin-film superhydrophobic technology.
Computing—Decoding the materials genome . . .
A hybrid supercomputer capable of 10 to 100 petaflops, or a quadrillion calculations per second, can support the Materials Genome Initiative, says Jeongnim Kim of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Energy—Industrial strength savings . . .
Wireless sensors that could help the steel industry save money and reduce energy use and emissions are being put to the test at Commercial Metals Co.
Supercomputing—Lower costs, less toxicity . . .
Discovery of new drugs requires the screening of thousands of compounds to identify hundreds of candidates that are winnowed to dozens of effective agents.
Engineering—Ceramics put to the test . . .
Researchers from Corning Inc.
Military—Energy boot camp . . .
U.S.
Nanotechnology—Manipulating light . . .
Tiny rod-like nanoparticles of gold or silver able to adsorb, transmit and reflect light at the nanoscale could hold the key to faster computers, higher-resolution microscopes, more efficient light-emitting diodes and a new generation of chemical and biological detectors.
Environment—Putting seashells to work . . .
Millions of seashells off the coast of Japan may be able to play a role in cleaning up radioactive cesium that was dumped into the ocean after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan.
Materials—Shaping tomorrow . . .
Shape-memory alloys are an engineer's dream — materials that shape-shift spontaneously to accommodate changing operating conditions.
Biology—When neutrons and simulation unite . . .
Scientific analysis of proteins, the workhorses of the cellular world, could become easier by uniting experimental and simulation techniques, according to research published in Biophysical Journal.
Microscopy—Transfer stage solution . . .
Preserving the integrity of air- or moisture-sensitive samples being transferred from a protective environment to a scanning electron microscope is now easier with a vacuum-tight transfer stage invented at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Electricity—Grid game changer . . .
Waste and inefficiencies in the nation's electric grid could be dramatically reduced with the implementation of a magnetic amplifier being developed by a team led by Aleks Dimitrovski of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Energy and Transportation Science Division.
Superconductors—Surprising transitions . . .
Neutron scattering experiments performed on iron-based superconducting material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Canada's Chalk River Laboratories have unveiled surprising changes in the materials' subatomic structural and magnetic properties when subjected to relatively low pressures.
Fusion—Taking the heat . . .
The United States is responsible for 8 percent of the Toroidal Field Conductor that the huge experimental fusion reactor now being built in France requires.
Biology—Tracking mercury . . .
How to clean up the mercury in the environment is a major issue for the Department of Energy.
March 2012 Story Tips - Batch 2
Materials—POWGEN open for business . . .
The Spallation Neutron Source's Powder Diffractometer POWGEN has launched a rapid access sample mail-in system for users who use the flexible general-purpose instrument for a wide range of structural studies of novel materials.
Chemistry—Unraveling methane's structure . . .
Considering how ubiquitous it is on earth, methane (natural gas) at the molecular level is a scientific unknown.
Biology—Model tells the story . . .
Casein micelles in milk, stabilized by molecules of kappa-casein, are the building blocks of dairy products such as yogurt and cheese and the vehicle for delivering calcium phosphate to newborns.
Chemistry—Workshop helps student earn publication . . .
An Oregon State University graduate student has successfully turned her participation in a two-day POWGEN Neutron Diffraction workshop at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source into a published paper in the Journal of Solid State Chemistry.
Physics—Searching for 'supersolidity' . . .
Theoretical physicists have long predicted the existence of a quantum state of matter they call "supersolidity," in which solid helium-4 loses its viscosity and flows like a liquid.
Energy—Designing tomorrow's water heater . . .
Consumers and the environment could ultimately be the beneficiaries of a high-efficiency CO2 heat pump water heater concept being researched by General Electric and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Detectors—Saving lives . . .
About 2,500 people still die each year in residential fires, but that number could be reduced with a smart fire alarm that can immediately distinguish between fires and nuisances.
Superconductors—Surprising transitions . . .
Neutron scattering experiments performed on iron-based superconducting material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Canada's Chalk River Laboratories have unveiled surprising changes in the materials' subatomic structural and magnetic properties when subjected to relatively low pressures.
Physics—ORNL scores six papers . . .
The Journal of Condensed Matter Physics has put out a special issue on the dynamics of water and glass-forming liquids that features six ORNL neutron sciences research collaborations.
Superconductivity—VULCAN delivers . . .
Neutron testing of the Japanese-made superconducting cable for the Central Solenoid magnetic system for U.S.
Biotechnology—Regenerating skin, muscle . . .
Researchers at the Bio-SANS instrument at the High Flux Isotope Reactor used contrast variation and small-angle neutron scattering to get a first insight into how macromolecules form single polyelectrolyte chains in synthetic complexes.
Heath—Virus response to pH changes . . .
The Sindbis virus, or SINV, is the prototype for viruses spread by insects, which cause some of the most devastating and widespread diseases among humans.
Fusion—Supporting ITER systems . . .
U.S.
Neutrons—Examining nanoporous carbons . . .
Several recent papers describe how Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Yuri Melnichenko and his collaborators continue to use neutrons and small-angle neutron scattering to bore through geological materials such as nanoporous carbons to understand their unique properties as storage media for greenhouse gases and for hydrogen in fuel cells used in transportation.
Materials—Next-generation electronics . . .
Changing the behavior of a material isn't big magic – it's nanoscale chemistry.
Supercomputing—Optimization tools . . .
An upgrade is transforming Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jaguar supercomputer, America's fastest, into Titan, a next-generation supercomputer that will employ the latest AMD Opteron central processing units as well as NVIDIA Tesla graphics processing units — energy-efficient processors that accelerate specific types of calculations in scientific application codes.
Biofuels—Mega biomass . . .
Molecular-level studies of tension wood formation in poplars could ultimately fuel the discovery of biomass crops with thicker cell walls, less lignin and more cellulose that can be converted into ethanol.
Biology—Tailoring toxicity of nanoparticles . . .
By selectively applying different coatings, scientists have discovered they can influence the toxicity of particles on mouse cell lines from the lung and immune system.
Neutrons—Analyzing the antibacterial assault . . .
A combination of advanced techniques at Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped researchers gain a better understanding of how some proteins attack bacteria.
Environment—Permafrost peril . . .
Carbon trapped in the top few meters of permafrost soils across nearly 19 million square kilometers of northern regions could be released at a rate of about two to five times greater than previous estimates.
Biofuels—Coast Guard going green . . .
To comply with the mandate to increase the use of alternative fuels, the Coast Guard has enlisted the help of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers with expertise in fuels and engines.
Materials—Revealing artifacts’ secrets . . .
Bronze and brass artifacts excavated at the ancient city of Petra have been imaged in three dimensions using neutrons at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Materials—Unexpected excitations . . .
A clearer understanding of magnetic interactions in insulating materials can help in developing magnets for motors in electric vehicles and can enhance the performance of magnets in many other devices.
Soft Matter—Tracking cell death protein . . .
Cell death, or apoptosis, is a naturally occurring and necessary biological process.
Soft Matter—Biologically inspired solar cells . . .
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor are getting a leg up in their research from an ingenious "low-tech" lighting tool using LEDs that, when fixed to their samples and pushed directly into the neutron beam, illuminate the response of layers of cyanobacteria to changes in light.
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