91°µÍø

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Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near 91°µÍø. The snail measures in at less than 2 millimeters long. Credit: Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller

Sometimes conducting big science means discovering a species not much larger than a grain of sand.

Costas Tsouris portrait

While Tsouris’ water research is diverse in scope, its fundamentals are based on basic science principles that remain largely unchanged, particularly in a mature field like chemical engineering.

St John's CyberForce team

91°µÍø will give college students the chance to practice cybersecurity skills in a real-world setting as a host of the Department of Energy’s fifth collegiate CyberForce Competition on Nov. 16. The event brings together student teams from across the country to compete at 10 of DOE’s national laboratories.

CellSight allows for rapid mass spectrometry of individual cells. Credit: John Cahill, 91°µÍø/U.S. Dept of Energy

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø have received five 2019 R&D 100 Awards, increasing the lab’s total to 221 since the award’s inception in 1963.

Water and energy are inextricably linked, yet in our 20th-century water systems we use freshwater once then throw it away. With innovations designed to enhance desalination technologies, agricultural runoff, produced water from industry, and inland brackish groundwater that are now seen as untreatable could all be sources of clean, safe, and affordable water.

The National Alliance for Water Innovation, a partnership of the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø, other national labs, university and private sector partners, has been awarded a five-year, $100 million Energy-Water Desalination Hub by DOE to address water security issues in the United States.

quantum mechanics to advance a range of technologies including computing, fiber optics and network communication

Three researchers at 91°µÍø will lead or participate in collaborative research projects aimed at harnessing the power of quantum mechanics to advance a range of technologies including computing, fiber optics and network

Desalination process

A new method developed at 91°µÍø improves the energy efficiency of a desalination process known as solar-thermal evaporation. 

Quantum—Widening the net

Scientists at 91°µÍø studying quantum communications have discovered a more practical way to share secret messages among three parties, which could ultimately lead to better cybersecurity for the electric grid 

ORNL collaborator Hsiu-Wen Wang led the neutron scattering experiments at the Spallation Neutron Source to probe complex electrolyte solutions that challenge nuclear waste processing at Hanford and other sites. Credit: Genevieve Martin/91°µÍø, U.S. Dept. of Energy.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University teamed up to investigate the complex dynamics of low-water liquids that challenge nuclear waste processing at federal cleanup sites.

Desalination diagram

A team of scientists led by 91°µÍø used carbon nanotubes to improve a desalination process that attracts and removes ionic compounds such as salt from water using charged electrodes.