Nanoribbons of silicon configured so the atoms resemble chicken wire could hold the key to ultrahigh density data storage and information processing systems of the future. This was a key finding of an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team who used scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to validate first principle calculation that for years had predicted this outcome.
In a push to lower the cost of solar power, the U.S. Department of Energy has funded two projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory focused on improving concentrating solar power collector and receiver performance.
A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a strain relaxation phenomenon in cobaltites that has eluded researchers for decades and may lead to advances in fuel cells, magnetic sensors, and a host of energy-related materials. The finding could change the conventional wisdom that accommodating the strain inherent during the formation of epitaxial thin films involves structural defects.
Researchers at the Spallation Neutron Source BASIS beam line at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have successfully developed a method to study biomolecules (proteins) at temperatures far below freezing using a lithium chloride preparation in the aqueous solvent that prevents freezing.
A new kind of roof-and-attic system field tested at Oak Ridge National Laboratory keeps homes cool in summer and prevents heat loss in winter, a multiseasonal efficiency uncommon in roof and attic design. The system improves efficiency using controls for radiation, convenction, and insulation, including a passive ventilation system that pulls air from the underbelly of the attic into an inclined air space above the roof.
A neutron detector developed for studies focused on life science, drug discovery, and materials technology has been licensed by PartTec Ltd. The Indiana-based manufacturer of radiation detection technologies is moving the technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory toward the commercial marketplace.
An Oak Ridge engineering services firm with an international footprint has teamed with three Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists to form a subsidiary and market a text analysis system. The subsidiary, Global Security Information Analysts LLC, is the product of Professional Project Services and the inventors of Piranha, software used by military and Department of Homeland Security to analyze large sets of streaming data.
Knowing the position of missing oxygen atoms could be the key to cheaper solid oxide fuel cells with longer lifetimes. New microscopy research from Oak Ridge National Laboratory is enabling scientists to map these vacancies at an atomic scale.
A new carbon cycling model developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory better accounts for the carbon dioxide-releasing activity of microbes in the ground, improving scientists' understanding of the role soil will play in future climate change.
The mobile instrument platform on NASA’s Curiosity rover, which recently landed on Mars, is too large to rely on solar-powered batteries and uses a plutonium oxide-powered generator. Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed and fabricated protective iridium alloy cladding that is designed to be so resistant to heat and impact that it remains intact even during an unplanned reentry during the spacecraft's launch or subsequent gravitational-assist flybys.
A Tennessee company has licensed award-winning software from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that will help industries install wireless networks more cost-effectively in challenging environments such as mines, offshore drilling platforms and factory floors. Networcsim signed an agreement today to license the Radio Channel Simulator software, which won an R&D 100 Award this month.
Arcam and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have signed a cooperation agreement under which the parties will facilitate the introduction of Arcam's EBM technology to U.S. industry through a manufacturing demonstration facility.
Environmental researchers who investigate climate change, invasive species, infectious diseases, and other data-intensive topics can now benefit from easy access to diverse data sets through technology released by the Data Observation Network for Earth, or DataONE.
Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have been awarded processing time on a new supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study how proteins fold into their 3D shapes.
Researchers donned safety glasses and put their arms into a high-purity, inert atmosphere glove box recently, to prepare protein samples for neutron scattering on the Cold Neutron Chopper Spectrometer at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In their experiment, they are using picosecond time lengths to study the dynamics of green fluorescent protein.
An Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee team has used the Jaguar supercomputer to calculate the number of isotopes allowed by the laws of physics. The team used a quantum approach known as density functional theory, applying it independently to six models of the nuclear interaction to determine that there are about 7,000 possible combinations of protons and neutrons allowed in bound nuclei with up to 120 protons.
Future automotive batteries could cost less and pack more power because of a new manufacturing research and development facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The $3 million Department of Energy facility allows for collaboration with industry and other national labs while protecting intellectual property of industrial partners.
Sensors that work flawlessly in laboratory settings may stumble when it comes to performing in real-world conditions, according to researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. These shortcomings are important as they relate to safeguarding the nation's food and water supplies.
Shape-memory alloys are an engineer's dream, able to shape-shift spontaneously to accommodate changing operating conditions. A research team from NASA and the University of Central Florida is studying the internal mechanisms of these real-life "transformers" at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with an eye toward increasing their use in everyday scenarios.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Yale University have developed a new concept for use in a high-speed genomic sequencing device that may have the potential to substantially drive down costs. The researchers have created nanopores with a radio frequency electric field capable of trapping segments of DNA and other biomolecules.
The boundary between electronics and biology is blurring with the first detection by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory of ferroelectric properties in an amino acid called glycine. A multi-institutional research team used a combination of experiments and modeling to identify and explain the presence of ferroelectricity in the simplest known amino acid—glycine.
According to recent research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, light of specific wavelengths can be used to boost an enzyme's function by as much as 30-fold, potentially establishing a path to less expensive biofuels, detergents and a host of other products.
Materials such as bismuth samarium ferrite and lead zirconium titanate are often called "materials on the brink" in reference to their enigmatic behavior, which is closely tied to the transition between two different phases. Recent electron microscopy sponsored by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has helped build knowledge about these materials and related flexoelectric theory, which describes materials that change polarization when bent.
Scientists have for decades contemplated communicating via neutrinos when other methods won’t do. For the first time, physicists and engineers at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s MINERvA detector have successfully transmitted a message through 240 m of rock using these ghost-like particles.
Small-angle neutron scattering instrument at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can be used for a surprising variety of biological studies. Recently, researchers in The Netherlands successfully analyzed and characterized the internal protein structure and composite particles of a cow named Martha.