In early 2020, when the novel coronavirus was gaining momentum but had not yet been named a pandemic, computational chemist Marti Head of Oak Ridge National Laboratory – along with scientists and researchers around the globe – abruptly switched her focus to the fight against COVID-19. (See the video.)

Six science and technology innovators from across the United States will join the fifth cohort of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Innovation Crossroads program in June. As the Southeast’s only research and development program for entrepreneurs based at a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, Innovation Crossroads provides unique support to science-based startups to help advance game-changing technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Innovation Crossroads is sponsored by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office.

Decarbonizing air transportation is critical to meeting U.S. climate goals and improving the nation’s energy economy. But technologies that are transforming automobiles – such as electric motors and hydrogen fuels – are difficult to implement in aircraft.

The RamSat satellite built over seven years by students at Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge, with help from ORNL researchers, was launched onboard a SpaceX spacecraft at 1:29 p.m., Thursday, June 3, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was bound for the International Space Station. NASA TV and SpaceX livestreamed the event. That trip took about 24 hours.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered a single gene that simultaneously boosts plant growth and tolerance for stresses such as drought and salt, all while tackling the root cause of climate change by enabling plants to pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.