Feature Articles

It is July, and Montana farmers are testing software from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on a tractor’s autosteer operating system. The software uses field data to tell a tractor where to travel for the most efficient drive path. Then, the tractor pulls a 90-foot-long agricultural sprayer that covers large swaths of a field with liquids such as fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new algorithm for picking the right spot to build utility-scale power generation or storage in cities. While traditional approaches focus on technical suitability, this algorithm incorporates not only affordable access to grid infrastructure but also social, economic and policy factors.

Scientists from the University of Regina used neutron imaging at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to examine fossilized bones from dinosaurs, including a broken rib from Scotty, the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton discovered. Neutron imaging allowed researchers to nondestructively examine the rib and corroborate earlier X-ray findings of a rare network of mineralized blood vessels preserved as the injury was healing. Combined with X-ray techniques, the neutron data are helping scientists investigate ancient injuries, healing and soft tissue preservation in fossils.

To create large-scale grid energy storage that is more affordable, powerful and safe, researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) decided to let a strong side reaction step into the limelight.The team was developing a better battery using abundant salt water as a key component. At first, they were focused on improving a weak oxygen reaction. But they discovered that an “unwanted” side reaction was a better choice to take center stage. 

Scientists are betting on a resource-efficient, highly effective strategy to recover critical minerals: Using engineered plants and symbiotic microbes to absorb minerals directly from the Earth in a process called phytomining. At the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers have created an agentic artificial intelligence system that is proving to be a powerful ally in the race to develop crops that act like living sponges, selectively hyperaccumulating critical minerals from the soil until they are harvested and processed to recover the valuable metals.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory showed that more than 93 percent of possible E. coli CRISPR-Cas9 guide RNAs — molecules that direct the gene-editing CRISPR tool to the right spot in DNA — work as intended, far higher than researchers expected. They also discovered why a small number of guides fail and developed a simple way to repair them. 

John Lajoie is a builder—not of buildings or everyday machines, but of detectors with a special purpose. A physicist at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Lajoie has shaped his career around finding hard-to-solve problems and coming up with new ways to tackle them.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories recently used reinforcement learning, a kind of machine learning, to teach drones how to play a strategic version of tag. The work could help advance algorithms for autonomous systems that need to pursue, evade or coordinate in rapidly changing environments, including future systems designed to defend critical facilities from hostile drones or other national security uses.

- ORNL-led research supporting materials science for neuromorphic computing and neurological disorders shows lipid bilayers are an integral part of biological memory and learning - Latest findings are the result of a decades-long collaboration between two Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists. - To study membrane properties under electrical stimulation, the researchers used water droplets suspended in oil, known as a droplet interface bilayer.

One year ago, Savannah River National Laboratory opened the doors to the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, a facility built with a bold purpose and a clear vision as a nexus of innovation. Today, the AMC stands proudly as a place where industry, academia, and government come together to pioneer technologies that advance national security, environmental stewardship, and energy resilience. It has quickly become a home where collaboration thrives, integration drives impact, and ideas are transformed into purposeful solutions for the nation.