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Vast amounts of information that could hold the key to breakthroughs in environmental research will be made readily available through a network created by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and partners.

An upgrade to a Cray XT5 high-performance computing system deployed by the Department of Energy has made the "Jaguar" supercomputer the world's fastest. Located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jaguar is the scientific research community's most powerful computational tool for exploring solutions to some of today's most difficult problems.

Fuel economy ratings for the new 2010 model year automobiles are posted at www.fueleconomy.gov, which ORNL maintains for the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency. A team led by ORNL's Nina Balke has moved closer to developing more rugged memory and logic devices. Heavy trucks are less heavy but just as safe and rugged because of steel rail frames. A new approach to crunching massive volumes of data uses neural networks like an artificial brain.

Graphene, a single-layer sheet of graphite, has potential as a remarkable material, particularly for electronics and composite applications. Information sharing technologies are being integrated into a freight tracking system that could revolutionize the industry.

For the first time, climate scientists from across the country have successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations for climate change, questioning previous assumptions regarding carbon feedback and potentially helping to refine model forecasts about global warming.

The US Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source, already the world's most powerful facility for pulsed neutron scattering science, is now the first pulsed spallation neutron source to break the one-megawatt barrier.

The challenge of controlling climate change is a goal that, to many, appears to be at odds with the equally important goal of energy security. However, the idea that the two goals are somehow mutually exclusive is not one accepted by ORNL energy researcher David Greene. "We don't want to sacrifice one for the other," he says. "We want -- and we believe it possible -- to achieve environmental goals and energy security goals at the same time.

Specialized cameras at weigh stations in Kentucky are helping ensure that operators of commercial vehicles are abiding by all state and federal laws. ORNL is partnering with SBE Inc., a Barre, Vt., power and electronics firm, to help test and improve electric vehicle capacitors. Even the smallest detail has been included in an ORNL study that examines the consumption and release of carbon by humans. Thin-layer chromatography produces high-resolution separations faster and at lower costs than other methods.

A method to detect contaminants in municipal water supplies has undergone further refinements. The new work demonstrates that the technology that uses algae as sentinels has broader applications than previously reported.

One of ORNL's international partners, Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institute, is delivering a massive 16-Tesla magnet at the DOE's SNS. A first-ever systematic study of the effectiveness of reverse 911 calls shows it worked like a charm. People producing child pornography and using the Internet to share their material could be living dangerously because of a technology developed at ORNL and Y-12 National Security Complex. Researchers at DOE's SNS at ORNL set a new world record.