Environment – Invertebrates’ role in bioaccumulation …
April 01, 2015 — By studying fish and invertebrates in a creek with known mercury contamination, researchers are gaining a better understanding of the relationship between the toxin in the stream and bioaccumulation in organisms. While mercury concentrations in East Fork Poplar Creek in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Energy – School retrofit paying dividends …
April 01, 2015 — A ground source heat pump installed at rural Cedarville High School in Arkansas through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has reduced energy use by 53 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 52 percent, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory report.
Batteries – Simulation software aids design …
April 01, 2015 — Designers of safe high-performance batteries for electric vehicles are getting a hand with a new computational toolset created by a team led by Sreekanth Pannala and John Turner of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The software simulates key battery performance indicators, including charge and thermal transport, electrochemical reactions and battery mechanical stresses.
Energy – Microbes vs. buildings …
April 01, 2015 — While reflective roofs can save energy and money for homeowners, microbial communities and the biofilms they create can eat away at the effectiveness and savings. A study led by Mengdawn Cheng and Andre Desjarlais of Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that the amount of energy absorbed instead of reflected doubles from its initial value in slightly more than a month.
Computing – Reconstructing neurons …
April 01, 2015 — Supercomputing resources at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will support a new initiative designed to advance how scientists digitally reconstruct and analyze individual neurons in the human brain. Led by the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the BigNeuron project aims to create a common platform for analyzing the 3-D structure of neurons.
Buildings - Shielding against energy loss
March 13, 2015 — Air seeping from buildings is responsible for a large amount of wasted energy each year. To combat the problem, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory collaborated with the Dow Chemical Company to develop a sprayable liquid flashing that is more cost-effective than traditional sealing materials such as peel-and-stick tapes.
Tech Transfer - Innovations showcase
March 13, 2015 — Business leaders, entrepreneurs and community members will get a chance March 25 to see emerging technologies available for licensing from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee. The Fifth Annual Spark! Technology Forum will feature innovations in biotechnology, computational and cyber security, materials and materials processing, and sensor and detector systems.
Manufacturing - GE Appliances, ORNL sign agreement
March 13, 2015 — GE Appliances will be working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to test the waters for innovative products before making multi-million dollar investments. GE's FirstBuild business model takes advantage of advanced technologies and manufacturing techniques to perform rapid prototyping and low-volume production and validation of concepts through low-volume sales.
CYBER – Security focus of conference …
March 13, 2015 — Hundreds of the nation’s premier cyberspace researchers will gather at Oak Ridge National Laboratory April 7-9 to participate in the 10th Annual Cyber and Information Security Research Conference. The event will bring together cyber security researchers, program managers, decision makers, security vendors and practitioners to discuss challenges and novel solutions related to cyber security.
CLIMATE – Monitoring changes in Alaskan permafrost …
March 13, 2015 — An Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team is observing how thawing of permafrost, or frozen soil, affects the carbon cycle in the Alaskan Seward Peninsula. Trees, shrubs and grasses are creeping northward, and new lakes are appearing as permafrost thaws due to warming.