en-us Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00 EDT http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/story_tips.cfm Story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. webmaster@ornl.gov http://www.ornl.gov http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss/story_tips.gif Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT U.S. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=151&Article=1 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Tiny rod-like nanoparticles of gold or silver able to adsorb, transmit and reflect light at the nanoscale could hold the key to faster computers, higher-resolution microscopes, more efficient light-emitting diodes and a new generation of chemical and biological detectors. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=151&Article=2 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Millions of seashells off the coast of Japan may be able to play a role in cleaning up radioactive cesium that was dumped into the ocean after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=151&Article=3 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Shape-memory alloys are an engineer's dream ? materials that shape-shift spontaneously to accommodate changing operating conditions. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=151&Article=4 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Scientific analysis of proteins, the workhorses of the cellular world, could become easier by uniting experimental and simulation techniques, according to research published in Biophysical Journal. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=150&Article=1 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Preserving the integrity of air- or moisture-sensitive samples being transferred from a protective environment to a scanning electron microscope is now easier with a vacuum-tight transfer stage invented at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=150&Article=2 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Waste and inefficiencies in the nation's electric grid could be dramatically reduced with the implementation of a magnetic amplifier being developed by a team led by Aleks Dimitrovski of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Energy and Transportation Science Division. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=150&Article=3 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT Neutron scattering experiments performed on iron-based superconducting material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Canada's Chalk River Laboratories have unveiled surprising changes in the materials' subatomic structural and magnetic properties when subjected to relatively low pressures. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=150&Article=4 Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT The United States is responsible for 8 percent of the Toroidal Field Conductor that the huge experimental fusion reactor now being built in France requires. http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/rss_story_tip.cfm?ID=150&Article=5