13-May-2026 Driving smarter toward fuel savings DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Compiled by researchers at the National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the annual guide highlights new vehicle fuel economy and explains how driving habits and vehicle maintenance impact mileage and overall costs. Funder U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
11-May-2026 Vitriform3D and ORNL give glass a second life through 3D printing DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Glass bottles tossed in the trash are finding new life thanks to a collaboration between the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Vitriform3D, an advanced manufacturing company. Together, they found a way to turn old glass into new products using 3D printing.
8-May-2026 A different kind of leader: Scaling impact in geospatial science DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory David Page, head of the Geographic Data Science Section at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, leads with a focus on judgment, collaboration and empowering teams. Drawing on experience in academia, entrepreneurship and national security science, he has helped advance faster, scalable geospatial analysis while building resilient, forward-looking research teams.
6-May-2026 Digital twin innovation cuts energy costs in water purification DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) created twin systems—one real, one virtual—linked in real time to reduce energy consumption and costs while ensuring safe drinking water.
29-Apr-2026 ORNL’s breakthrough detector protects trucking shipments from GPS deception DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory To protect transportation systems, a multidisciplinary team at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory develops technology to expose manipulation of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals that tell us where we are in space and time. Its portable GPS spoofing detector outperforms industry-developed versions at protecting the trucking industry and its cargo by recognizing spoofing and identifying the source, even while moving.
29-Apr-2026 Tapping water supply systems for energy production DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Scott DeNeale studies in-conduit hydropower, a type of largely unutilized energy production that harnesses the water flowing through water pipes in municipal settings and industrial plants to make energy, no dam required.
28-Apr-2026 US partnership aligns drone innovation for national security DOE/Idaho National Laboratory From the skies over Ukraine to the southern U.S. border, drones are transforming the nature of global conflict and domestic security. Unauthorized unmanned aerial systems, and efforts to detect, track, identify and mitigate them, shape homeland security operations daily.
27-Apr-2026 Powerful X-ray generator gets a refresh DOE/Sandia National Laboratories After nearly 40 years of service and 4,726 firings, called “shots,” Sandia National Laboratories’ Saturn accelerator, one of the nation’s brightest X-ray generators, received redesigned switches, a new core section and a reengineered X-ray source.
24-Apr-2026 Twenty years of discovery science at the Spallation Neutron Source DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory On a clear April day in 2006, a team of engineers and scientists erupted with excitement from the control room of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a newly built user facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A pulse of protons — racing at nearly the speed of light — shot from the accelerator and struck liquid mercury at the facility’s first target station, freeing tens of millions of neutrons. That moment launched a new era of discovery science that continues to shape technologies we use every day, from spacecraft to smartphones. As the challenges we currently face require a historic national effort, comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project, ORNL once again stands at the ready to answer the nation’s need for AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery.
22-Apr-2026 VENUS instrument at ORNL delivers first neutron imaging results for users DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory The Versatile Neutron Imaging Instrument (VENUS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source has officially opened to users, demonstrating major advances in fast, high‑precision 3D neutron imaging. Early experiments led by Stuart Miller and Dayakar Penumadu validated a new dual‑camera system and transparent scintillator technology that boosts detection efficiency by 10–100× and sharply improves spatial resolution. Their results mark a milestone for neutron imaging, enabling clearer insights into materials—from composites to complex engineered systems—and underscoring VENUS’s role as a next‑generation tool for researchers across science and engineering.
