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JMS FIRST Lego League hosts Atomic City Invitational

Posted at 12:51 pm February 12, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Jefferson Middle School FIRST Lego League teams hosted the 8th annual Atomic City Invitational on Jan. 15, 2022. Area teams were invited to come participate in the FIRST Lego League Cargo Connect challenge and alliance challenge, sumo bots, and Lego Great Ball Contraption. Fifteen area teams entered 45 robots into the events. (Photo by Janie Shanafield, Jefferson Middle School)

By Janie Shanafield, Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School FIRST Lego League teams hosted the 8th annual Atomic City Invitational on January 15. Area teams were invited to participate in the FIRST Lego League Cargo Connect challenge and alliance challenge, sumo bots, and Lego Great Ball Contraption. Fifteen area teams entered 45 robots into the events.

The winners were as follows:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: Atomic City Invitational, FIRST LEGO League, Jefferson Middle School

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Scientist-entrepreneur to talk about regenerative medicine, potential COVID treatment

Posted at 5:36 pm February 3, 2022
By Carolyn Hay Krause Leave a Comment

Cymbeline “Bem” Culiat

A former molecular geneticist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss regenerative medicine and a potential treatment for severe COVID-19 disease patients and those who struggle with “long haul” symptoms.

The talk by Cymbeline “Bem” Culiat—co-founder, president, and chief science officer of NellOne Therapeutics in Knoxville—will speak virtually to Friends of ORNL at noon Tuesday, February 8.

“While at ORNL, Culiat discovered the role of the NELL1 signaling protein in fostering the growth and maturation of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular tissues in mice and other mammals, including humans,” a press release said. “Her biotech company focuses on using her discovery to advance regenerative medicine, which involves replacing, engineering, or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues, or organs to promote healing and restore normal function. In contrast, traditional medicine typically provides treatment of symptoms rather than addressing root causes.”

To view the virtual lecture, click on the talk title on the homepage of the www.fornl.org website and click on the Zoom link near the top of the page describing the lecture. Here is Culiat’s summary of what she will talk about: [Read more…]

Filed Under: COVID-19, Front Page News, Health, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: COVID-19, Cymbeline "Bem" Culiat, Friends of ORNL, long haul, molecular geneticist, NELL1, NellOne Therapeutics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, regenerative medicine, severe COVID-19

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Secretary’s Honor Awards recognize ORNL employees

Posted at 4:55 pm January 31, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks at the Secretary’s Honor Awards Ceremony, which was presented virtually. (Photo credit: Jaimee Janiga/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees received Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Awards from Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in January for their work on projects related to computer tools and classified information, a new alloy, and the production of plutonium-238 and special components for the Mars Perseverance rover.

The annual awards recognized 21 teams and three individuals for service and contributions to DOE’s mission and to the benefit of the nation, a press release said. More than 50 current employees and recent retirees from ORNL received awards.

“The Department of Energy’s core mission—promoting scientific discovery, maintaining the nuclear deterrent, and remediating environmental harms—have never been more important,” Granholm said. “Our role in tackling the climate emergency and ensuring America’s continued security and prosperity is absolutely critical, and it could not be done without the dedicated and diverse team of world-class scientists, engineers, policy experts, and mission support personnel employed at our headquarters, fields sites, and laboratories across the country.”

The teams and ORNL employees named in achievement awards include:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: ACTICI, Advanced Computer Tools to Identify Classified Information Program, Allison Neal, Alloy 617 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code Qualification, Ben Roach, Bob Morris, Bob Wham, Bryson Hutchison, Chelsey Dunivan Stahl, Chris Jensen, Christopher Stahl, Dean Pierce, DOE, Doug Kyle, Dustin Reinert, Easo George, Eric Vidal, George Ulrich, Glenn Romanoski, Govindarajan Muralidharan, Idaho National Laboratory, Jeff Pryor, Jennifer Granholm, Jessica Osborn, Jim Miller, Joshua Greene, Kevin Hanson, Kevin Redden, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mars, Michael McAlister, Mike Medley, Nick Sullivan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Perseverance Rover, plutonium-238, Porter Bailey, Radioisotope Power Systems, Ray Vedder, Rex Veach, Roger Miller, Secretary's Honor Awards, Steven Young, Tom Lecomte, Tom Muth, U.S. Department of Energy, Yanli Wang

Learn about bird courtship on Thursday

Posted at 11:10 pm January 29, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will host a presentation next week about bird courtship and pair bonding.

The First Thursday Nature Supper Club program is titled “Love is in the Air.” It is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 3.

“Though it is only February, bird courtship has begun,” a press release said. “Male birds vie for the attention of the females in a variety of ways. We will explore what all that cooing is about!”

“You provide your own stay-at-home supper, and we provide the nature as local naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales will entertain and teach us via Zoom what counts for beauty in the avian world,” the press release said. “We will look at many species. Great horned owls are the first to start courtship rituals, while cedar waxwings typically do not begin their pair bonding until June.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: bird courtship, pair bonding, Stephen Lyn Bales, University of Tennessee Arboretum Society, UT Arboretum Society

Ten ORNL scientists among world’s most highly cited researchers

Posted at 7:17 pm November 16, 2021
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Submitted photo)

Ten scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers, according to a bibliometric analysis conducted by the scientific publication analytics firm Clarivate. 
 
The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their field through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. These researchers authored publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index. 
 
“Researchers at ORNL are leading the advancement of scientific knowledge in multiple fields,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said in a press release. “This recognition demonstrates that the laboratory and our scientists are engaged in cutting-edge research and development to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.” 
 
The ORNL scientists listed are:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Anthony Walker, Art Ragauskas, bibliometric analysis, Clarivate, Colleen Iversen, David Mandrus, Easo George, highly cited researchers, Jiaqiang Yan, Karren More, Miaofang Chi, Michael McGuire, Michael Naguib, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Richard Norby, Sheng Dai, Thomas Zacharia, Web of Science

Summit at ORNL still No. 2 supercomputer

Posted at 8:22 am November 16, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment


The Summit supercomputer, an IBM system that is the world’s second-most powerful, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy Katie Bethea/ORNL)


 

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory remained the fastest system in the United States and the second-most powerful in the world in the biannual TOP500 list released Monday.

Fugaku in Kobe, Japan, remained No. 1, where it has been since June 2020. The 442-petaflop system has been at the top of the list four consecutive times.

Summit, an IBM system, was the world’s most powerful supercomputer from June 2018 to November 2019, when the U.S. Department of Energy had the two fastest systems in the world. DOE still has the second and third most powerful supercomputers, Summit at number two and Sierra at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California at number three.

Fugaku is installed at the Riken Center for Computational Science. It was co-developed by Riken and Fujitsu, and it has 7,630,848 cores. It is based on Fujitsu’s custom ARM A64FX processor, TOP500 said. Fugaku uses a Fujitsu interconnect known as Tofu D to transfer data between nodes.

TOP500 said Fugaku’s 442-petaflop performance on a benchmark test makes it three times as powerful as Summit, which has 2,414,592 cores. The TOP500 list uses a benchmark test to rank the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

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The Summit supercomputer, an IBM system that is the world’s second-most powerful, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy Katie Bethea/ORNL)


 

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory remained the fastest system in the United States and the second-most powerful in the world in the biannual TOP500 list released Monday.

Fugaku in Kobe, Japan, remained No. 1, where it has been since June 2020. The 442-petaflop system has been at the top of the list four consecutive times.

Summit, an IBM system, was the world’s most powerful supercomputer from June 2018 to November 2019, when the U.S. Department of Energy had the two fastest systems in the world. DOE still has the second and third most powerful supercomputers, Summit at number two and Sierra at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California at number three.

Fugaku is installed at the Riken Center for Computational Science. It was co-developed by Riken and Fujitsu, and it has 7,630,848 cores. It is based on Fujitsu’s custom ARM A64FX processor, TOP500 said. Fugaku uses a Fujitsu interconnect known as Tofu D to transfer data between nodes.

TOP500 said Fugaku’s 442-petaflop performance on a benchmark test makes it three times as powerful as Summit, which has 2,414,592 cores. The TOP500 list uses a benchmark test to rank the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Premium Content, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: exaflops, Frontier, Fugaku, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Perlmutter, petaflops, Riken Center for Computational Science, Sierra, summit, supercomputer, Top500

Lecture to discuss ORNL work for NASA’s space nuclear thermal propulsion program

Posted at 5:02 am August 18, 2021
By David E. Fields Leave a Comment

Thomas Harrison

Thomas Harrison, a group leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will give an overview this evening of the work that ORNL performs for NASA’s space nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) program, a press release said.

ORNL performs research on materials, fuels, instrumentation and control components and techniques, and systems analysis, all of which are vital to the successful deployment of NTP, the press release said. Harrison will also describe some of the challenges facing the technology and the methods that ORNL researchers are using to overcome them.

Harrison is currently the Advanced Nuclear System Safety and Licensing Group Leader at ORNL, the press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: David Fields, education, NASA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORION, Roane State Community College, Space Nuclear Thermal, space nuclear thermal propulsion program, Tamke-Allan Observatory, Thomas Harrison

NASA selects ORAU for postdoc program

Posted at 11:28 am June 9, 2021
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Part of the ORAU campus in central Oak Ridge is pictured above on May 29, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

NASA has selected Oak Ridge Associated Universities to provide the agency with administrative support and coordination of research opportunities between NASA’s mission directorates and centers across the agency.

The NASA Postdoctoral Program 2 (NPP-2) contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with a maximum potential value of approximately $129.7 million. The one-year base performance period begins September 9, 2021, and it is followed by four one-year options, which would end September 8, 2026, NASA said in a press release.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, College, Education, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Science, Science, Slider Tagged With: Andy Page, Jeff Miller, NASA, NASA Postdoctoral Program 2, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, ORAU, postdoc, postdoctoral, Scott Miller

‘Great Conjunction’ of Jupiter, Saturn in night sky this evening

Posted at 2:15 pm December 21, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Jupiter and Saturn will appear to come together in the night sky this evening, as the two bright planets closely align and Jupiter overtakes Saturn, from our vantage point, in its orbit around the Sun.

It’s an astronomical event known as the “Great Conjunction.” It’s also popularly known as the “Christmas Star,” according to NASA.

Tonight (Monday, December 21) will be the culmination of the planetary conjunction.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Science, Top Stories Tagged With: Christmas Star, Great Conjunction, Jupiter, NASA, Saturn

Japanese supercomputer displaces ORNL’s Summit as world’s most powerful

Posted at 1:05 pm June 22, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A Japanese supercomputer has displaced the Summit supercomputer, pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as the world’s most powerful. Summit is a 200-petaflop IBM system. (Photo courtesy Katie Bethea/ORNL)

Note: This story was last updated at 3 p.m. June 24.

A Japanese supercomputer has displaced the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the world’s most powerful and bumped other U.S. and Chinese machines down one spot on a semiannual list of the fastest systems.

Summit had been ranked the world’s most powerful supercomputer on the semiannual TOP500 list since June 2018. It was bumped to number two when the new TOP500 list was released Monday.

The new top system is installed in Kobe, Japan, and it is named Fugaku. In a high-performance test, it performed at 415.5 petaflops. A petaflop is a quadrillion floating-point operations per second.

Fugaku’s performance was 2.8 times better than Summit’s, according to TOP500. Summit delivered 148.8 petaflops on the high-performance test.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: China, Cray, exaflop, Frontier, Fugaku, Fujitsu, IBM, Japan, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Mellanox, Milky Way-2A, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, NVIDIA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, petaflop, Rick Perry, Sierra, summit, Sunway TaihuLight, supercomputer, Tianhe-2A, Top500, U.S. Department of Energy, United States

ORNL researcher helps discover new species of cave snail

Posted at 11:59 am April 20, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail is less than two millimeters long. (Photo credit: ORNL/Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller)

A researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped discover a small cave snail.

The new snail species has been named the Tennessee cavesnail, or Antrorbis tennesseensis. Its name honors the state where it was found and the fact that several researchers involved in its discovery are affiliated with the University of Tennessee. A paper describing and naming the species was published in December.

The snail, which is less than two millimeters long, was found in two caves in Roane County a few miles south of the Oak Ridge Reservation. The reservation includes ORNL and parts of the city of Oak Ridge.

The snail is found on or under rocks far inside the caves, usually in streams that aren’t too muddy or silty, ORNL said. Researchers recommended that the species be listed as endangered.

The ORNL researcher is Evin Carter. He is a research associate and wildlife ecologist at ORNL, which is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. With only a handful of surveys completed so far, Carter has plans to survey the 40 or so other caves on the Oak Ridge Reservation, ORNL said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: College, Education, Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Annette Engel, Antrorbis tennesseensis, Cave Conservancy Foundation, cave snail, DOE, DOE Reservation Management, endangered, Evelyn Pieper, Evin Carter, Katherine Dooley, Kathryn Perez, Matthew Niemiller, Nathaniel Shoobs, Nick Gladstone, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation, Office of Science, ORNL, species, Tennesse cavesnail, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Tennessee

With key isotopes depleted, DOE plans production center at ORNL

Posted at 2:44 pm March 6, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed an isotope production and research center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that could be important for medical, national security, and research projects.

In a budget request released in February, DOE said its supply of certain key enriched stable isotopes has been depleted, making the United States more dependent upon foreign imports for enriched stable isotopes. Isotopes are forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different number of neutrons in their nuclei.

DOE said the demand for enriched stable isotopes continues to grow substantially, including for the medical, national security, and fundamental research projects.

The new center at ORNL, the U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, would reduce the nation’s dependence upon foreign countries for those isotopes, DOE said.

DOE approved the mission need for the facility in January 2019. Although the cost range could change, the current project estimate is between $175 million and $298 million.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: budget request, DOE, Enriched Stable Isotope Prototype Plant, enriched stable isotopes, isotope production, isotopes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, Y-12 National Security Complex

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