Using artificial neural networks designed to emulate the inner workings of the human brain, deep-learning algorithms deftly peruse and analyze large quantities of data. Applying this technique to science problems can help unearth historically elusive solutions. One such challenge involves a biophysical phenomenon known as protein folding. Although researchers know that proteins must morph into…
ORNL-led Collaboration Solves a Beta-Decay Puzzle With Advanced Nuclear Models
An international collaboration including scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory solved a 50-year-old puzzle that explains why beta decays of atomic nuclei are slower than what is expected based on the beta decays of free neutrons. The findings, published in Nature Physics, fill a long-standing gap in physicists’ understanding of beta decay,…
New ORNL AI Tool Improves Process for Matching Cancer Patients with Clinical Trials
A team of researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory Health Data Sciences Institute have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to better match cancer patients with clinical trials. The researchers were one of ten teams to develop a digital tool to address complex challenges relevant to medical conditions such as cancer…
ORNL Hosts Inaugural Quantum Networking Symposium
Quantum experts from across government and academia descended on Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Wednesday, January 16 for the lab’s first-ever Quantum Networking Symposium. The symposium’s purpose, said organizer and ORNL senior scientist Nick Peters, was to gather quantum and classical networking expertise to better strategize and align capabilities with the nation’s needs. The one-day…
Researchers Demonstrate New Building Block in Quantum Computing
Researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a new level of control over photons encoded with quantum information. Their research was published in Optica. Joseph Lukens, Brian Williams, Nicholas Peters, and Pavel Lougovski, research scientists with ORNL’s Quantum Information Science Group, performed distinct, independent operations simultaneously on two qubits encoded on photons of…
University of Tokyo Team Performs Most Complex Earthquake Simulation to Date, Becomes Gordon Bell Prize Finalist
During a large earthquake, energy rips through the ground in the form of seismic waves that can wreak havoc on densely populated areas, causing destruction to property and loss of human life. The effects of earthquakes can be difficult to predict, and even the best modeling and simulation techniques have thus far been unable to…
ORNL-Developed Technology Streamlines Computational Science Projects
Since designing and launching a specialized workflow management system in 2010, a research team from the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has continuously updated the technology to help computational scientists develop software, visualize data and solve problems. Workflow management systems allow users to prepare, produce and analyze scientific processes to help simplify…
New Electron Glasses Sharpen Our View of Atomic-Scale Features
The Science What if we could make a powerful scientific tool even better? Atom probe tomography (APT) is a powerful way of measuring interfaces on a scale comparable to the distance between atoms in solids. It also has a chemical sensitivity of less than 10 parts per million. However, it doesn’t work as well as…
Sight Unseen: Novel Method Detects Evidence of Unmarked Human Graves
A new approach to find unmarked gravesites could help narrow the scope and potentially speed up the search for clues during crime scene investigations. Geospatial researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and forensic scientists at University of Tennessee used sophisticated laser scanning and 3D modeling techniques, known as LIDAR, to detect…
Laser Scanner Uncovers Evidence of Unmarked Human Graves
A new approach to find unmarked gravesites could help narrow the scope and potentially speed up the search for clues during crime scene investigations. Geospatial researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and forensic scientists at University of Tennessee used sophisticated laser scanning and 3D modeling techniques, known as LIDAR, to detect…
ORNL’s Summit Supercomputer Named World’s Fastest
The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is once again officially home to the fastest supercomputer in the world, according to the TOP500 List, a semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest computing systems. The recently launched Summit supercomputer was announced as No. 1 today at ISC High Performance in Frankfurt, Germany. The designation…
ORNL Launches Summit Supercomputer
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Friday unveiled Summit as the world’s most powerful and smartest scientific supercomputer. With a peak performance of 200,000 trillion calculations per second—or 200 petaflops, Summit will be eight times more powerful than ORNL’s previous top-ranked system, Titan. For certain scientific applications, Summit will also be capable…
Nuclear Physicists Leap Into Quantum Computing With First Simulations of Atomic Nucleus
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the first to successfully simulate an atomic nucleus using a quantum computer. The results, published in Physical Review Letters, demonstrate the ability of quantum systems to compute nuclear physics problems and serve as a benchmark for future calculations. Quantum computing, in which computations are carried out based…
Researchers Develop Spectroscopic Thermometer for Nanomaterials
A scientific team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has found a new way to take the local temperature of a material from an area about a billionth of a meter wide, or approximately 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. This discovery, published in Physical Review Letters, promises to improve…
GM Revs Up Diesel Combustion Modeling on Titan Supercomputer
Most car owners in the United States do not think twice about passing over the diesel pump at the gas station. Instead, diesel fuel mostly powers our shipping trucks, boats, buses, and generators—and that is because diesel engines are about 10 percent more fuel-efficient than gasoline, saving companies money transporting large deliveries. The downside to…
ORNL Researchers Use Titan to Accelerate Design, Training of Deep Learning Networks
A team of researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has married artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to achieve a peak speed of 20 petaflops in the generation and training of deep learning networks on the laboratory’s Titan supercomputer. Deep learning is a burgeoning field of artificial intelligence that uses networks modeled…
Scaling Deep Learning for Science
Deep neural networks—a form of artificial intelligence—have demonstrated mastery of tasks once thought uniquely human. Their triumphs have ranged from identifying animals in images, to recognizing human speech, to winning complex strategy games, among other successes. Now, researchers are eager to apply this computational technique—commonly referred to as deep learning—to some of science’s most persistent mysteries. But because…
Two Research Teams Receive $10.5M to Advance Quantum Computing for Science
By harnessing the power of quantum mechanics, researchers hope to create quantum computers capable of simulating phenomenon at a scale and speed unthinkable on traditional architectures, an effort of great interest to agencies such as the Department of Energy tasked with tackling some of the world’s most complex science problems. DOE’s Office of Science has…
New Method to Detect Spin Current in Quantum Materials Unlocks Potential for Alternative Electronics
A new method that precisely measures the mysterious behavior and magnetic properties of electrons flowing across the surface of quantum materials could open a path to next-generation electronics. Found at the heart of electronic devices, silicon-based semiconductors rely on the controlled electrical current responsible for powering electronics. These semiconductors can only access the electrons’ charge…
New Spin Current Technique Holds Promise for Alternative Electronics
A new method that precisely measures the mysterious behavior and magnetic properties of electrons flowing across the surface of quantum materials could open a path to next-generation electronics. Found at the heart of electronic devices, silicon-based semiconductors rely on the controlled electrical current responsible for powering electronics. These semiconductors can only access the electrons’ charge…
Learning With Light: New System Allows Optical ‘Deep Learning’
Momentum Licenses ORNL Technology
Momentum Technologies has licensed Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s 3D-printed magnet technology and plans to produce the first 3D-printed magnet made from recycled materials for use in electric vehicles, wind turbines and high-speed rail. Dallas-based Momentum Technologies has non-exclusively licensed Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s 3D-printed magnet technology and plans to commercialize the first 3D-printed magnet made…
A Nanoscale Peek at Living Cell Membranes
A research team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has performed the first-ever direct nanoscale examination of a living cell membrane. In doing so, it also resolved a long-standing debate by identifying tiny groupings of lipid molecules that are likely key to the cell’s functioning. The methods developed provide a new experimental…
Bacterial Boost For Bio-Based Fuels
“Electrical” bacteria are the key ingredient in a new process developed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory that recycles wastewater from biofuel production to generate hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be used to convert bio-oil into higher grade liquid fuels such as gasoline or diesel. “We are solving multiple problems at the…
Two-Dimensional MXene Materials Get Their Close-Up
Researchers have long sought electrically conductive materials for economical energy-storage devices. Two-dimensional (2D) ceramics called MXenes are contenders. Unlike most 2D ceramics, MXenes have inherently good conductivity because they are molecular sheets made from the carbides and nitrides of transition metals like titanium. MXenes were co-discovered by Michael Naguib, now a Wigner Fellow at the…