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Leah Broussard: Breaking the standard model to fix understanding of the universe

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Leah Broussard, a physicist at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has so much fun exploring the neutron that she alternates between calling it her 'laboratory' and 'playground' for understanding the universe. Neutrons can help identify where the Standard Model 'breaks.' Some of Broussard's experiments amount to 'crash tests' that push physics to its limits to see what in the model is missing or wrong.

Seven ORNL researchers named 2019 INCITE award winners

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Seven researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been chosen by the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment, also known as INCITE, program to lead scientific investigations that require the nation's most powerful computers. The ORNL-based projects span a broad range of the scientific spectrum and represent the potential of high-performance computing in ensuring America's scientific competitiveness and energy security.

Self-sensing materials are here

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory invented a roll-to-roll process to coat electrically conductive carbon fibers with semiconducting silicon carbide nanoparticles. This nanomaterial-embedded composite is stronger than other fiber-reinforced composites and imbued with a new capability--the ability to monitor its own structural health.

Big jobs: Safety, planning key to increasing production performance at SNS

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

In December 2017, the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory entered into an extended 5-month scheduled outage to perform a number of high-priority jobs. Most notable were the replacement of the facility's inner reflector plug and the accelerator's radio frequency quadrupole. The success of the long outage demonstrated the ability to plan and execute future upgrade and construction projects such as the Proton Power Upgrade and the Second Target Station.

Scientists find great diversity, novel molecules in microbiome of tree roots

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Researchers with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered that communities of microbes living in and around poplar tree roots are ten times more diverse than the human microbiome and produce a cornucopia of novel molecules that could be useful as antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, or for agricultural applications.

Feeling the need for speed, neutrons study fluid flow for hypersonic flight

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Searching for solutions to supersonic fluid flow behavior, researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the U.S. Air Force are using neutron radiography at DOE's ORNL. The team says a better understanding of spray dynamics will lead to improved fuel injector designs for the aeronautic and automotive industries as well as other spray-related applications used in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and more.

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, November 2018

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

ORNL story tips: ORNL's simulation shows 40 percent fuel savings when cars drive themselves; colliding tin isotopes helps scientists better understand unstable nuclei in exploding stars; new method to control HVACs in buildings provides grid stability, occupant comfort; AK Steel uses neutrons to see how new steel for vehicle components performs during various manufacturing processes.

Journal: IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles
Funder: DOE Nuclear Physics, EERE Vehicle Technologies Office, US Department of Energy's Office of Science, EERE Building Technologies Office, DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Seeing a salt solution's structure supports one hypothesis about how minerals form

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutrons, isotopes and simulations to 'see' the atomic structure of a saturated solution and found evidence supporting one of two competing hypotheses about how ions come together to form minerals. The study, reported in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, may improve understanding of ion-water interactions in catalysis, environmental remediation and industrial engineering.

ORNL demonstrates 120-kilowatt wireless charging for vehicles

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Business Announcement

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a 120-kilowatt wireless charging system for vehicles--providing six times the power of previous ORNL technology and a big step toward charging times that rival the speed and convenience of a gas station fill-up.

Funder: DOE/Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office, Vehicle Technologies Office

Genetic behavior reveals cause of death in poplars essential to ecosystems, industry

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists studying a valuable, but vulnerable, species of poplar have identified the genetic mechanism responsible for the species' inability to resist a pervasive and deadly disease. Their finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to more successful hybrid poplar varieties for increased biofuels and forestry production and protect native trees against infection.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Department of Energy's Office of Science

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