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Making room for the world’s first exascale supercomputer took some supersized renovations.

The team that built Frontier set out to break the exascale barrier, but the supercomputer’s record-breaking didn’t stop there.

Frontier still holds the title of world’s fastest supercomputer after new TOP500 lists came out in November 2022, June 2023, and this week, and OLCF engineers expect further tuning to coax even faster speeds from its processors. But the team that broke the exascale barrier knows that distinction can’t last forever.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used their expertise in quantum biology, artificial intelligence and bioengineering to improve how CRISPR Cas9 genome editing tools work on organisms like microbes that can be modified to produce renewable fuels and chemicals.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been leading a project to understand how a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, could threaten power plants.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Michael McGuire has received the lab’s Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology and the Distinguished Researcher award for his leadership and contributions to materials research.

In response to a renewed international interest in molten salt reactors, researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a novel technique to visualize molten salt intrusion in graphite.

Physicists William Raphael “Raph” Hix of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and John Lajoie, who will join ORNL on Nov. 6 from Iowa State University, have been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have improved flaw detection to increase confidence in metal parts that are 3D-printed using laser powder bed fusion.

“We can detect flaw sizes of about half a millimeter — about the thickness of a business card – 90% of the time,” said ORNL researcher Luke Scime. “We’re the first to put a number value on the level of confidence possible for in situ (in process) flaw detection.” By extension, that reflects confidence in the product’s safety and reliability.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists identified a gene “hotspot” in the poplar tree that triggers dramatically increased root growth. The discovery supports development of better bioenergy crops and other plants that can thrive in difficult conditions while storing more carbon belowground.