Story Tips Story ideas from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Special edition -- New Horizons 1998 meeting
Story ideas from Oak Ridge National Laboratory .To arrange for an interview with any of these researchers, please call Ron Walli of Communications and Public Affairs (423) 576-0226, [email protected]
EVOLUTION -- A sprinkle a day . . . Perhaps all that separates modern humans from Neandertals is a single genetic alteration and a daily dose of iodine, a paper by ORNL's Jerome Dobson concludes. An improvement in the thyroid's ability to extract and use iodine may explain most differences in body shape and bone structure. Among modern humans, the lack of a small daily dose of iodine is known to cause cretinism, the most severe form of iodine deficiency disorder. Modern societies add iodine to table salt, and coastal residents get plenty of iodine from saltwater fish, shellfish and seaweed. But, where would Neandertals have acquired an adequate supply in inland Ice Age Europe? Dobson's theory, which will be published later this year in The Geographical Review, offers a simple solution to a complex problem that has been hotly debated since the first Neandertal skeleton was discovered in 1856. [Contact: Jerome E. Dobson]
CHEMICALS -- The real thing . . . A new lab at ORNL is allowing researchers to safely work with actual chem-bio agents -- in tiny amounts -- and should lead to better instruments to detect them. It represents a first for a national laboratory and gives the U.S. Army a powerful partner in the effort to develop instruments to protect soldiers from chemical and biological weapons in the battlefield. Better instruments can also help protect civilians from terrorist activities. In the past, Department of Energy researchers have had to either use simulated chemicals or travel to military sites where the chemicals or microorganisms are stored. Those options represent compromises in accuracy or the inconvenience and expense of research on the road, so the new state-of-the-art facility is expected to result in significant technological advances. [Contact: Wayne Griest]
ENERGY -- A cool innovation . . . Field testing of an advanced natural gas-fired chiller with 30 percent to 40 percent greater efficiency is set for the Government Center in Clark County, Nev. The project is a collaboration among the Department of Energy, ORNL, Clark County and the Nevada Test Site Development Corp. The ORNL invention is based on a triple-effect absorption cooling process using natural gas. This new triple-effect chiller was developed by York International in a joint program with ORNL and DOE. Researchers in ORNL's Energy Division note that the technology is especially important for large commercial buildings because it can reduce high summer electric peak loads. It also eliminates the use of CFCs or HCFCs, refrigerants that contribute to ozone depletion and global warming. [Contact: Marilyn Brown]
AUTOMOBILES -- An 'Audi body experience' Developing light-weight, fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow without sacrificing safety is a major challenge, but it's being met head on by researchers at ORNL. In collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and George Washington University, ORNL researchers are creating detailed computer models of an Audi A8, an all-aluminum car that may be typical of construction of future cars. That Audi -- at least its shell -- will be at the Supercomputing 98: High Performance Networking and Computing in Orlando, Fla., providing what's been dubbed an "Audi body experience." Researchers develop models by disassembling a vehicle, scanning the shape and measuring the weight and inertia of each component. They program that data into a computer and perform a number of simulated crashes, all at a fraction of what it would cost to perform actual crashes. [Contacts: Srdan Simunovic]
RSS