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• ORNL researchers develop wildlife crossing guards
  in News
  By Stephanie Seay

  Four-toed salamanders were among the animals included in ORNL research to limit roadkill on the reservation and elsewhere.  Bryce Wade/ORNL

  The 32,000-acre reservation serves as a vast laboratory for wildlife-protection efforts

  Stephanie Seay is a senior science writer and communications specialist in the ORNL Communications Division.

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers developed a model framework that identifies ways to ensure wildlife can safely navigate their habitats while not unduly affecting infrastructure.

  The project centered on the 32,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, home to Department of Energy facilities and several at-risk species like the four-toed salamander.

  Scientists identified habitats and simulated solutions like conservation buffers and open-bottom culverts to allow safe passage for salamanders and other wildlife, which cost far less than large-scale barrier removal and similarly boost ecological connectivity.

  “Development and environmental sustainability don’t have to be at odds,” said ORNL’s Evin Carter. “Our collaborative approach with project managers and engineers shows wildlife management can be an integral part of land-use planning without introducing undue cost or delays.”

  ORNL doctoral student Bryce Wade said the model also benefited from 30 years of high-resolution data available because of the reservation’s history and management as a National Environmental Research Park.

• ORNL scientists are plugging big leaks in the plastics recycling stream
  in News
  By Ben Pounds

  ORNL polymer scientists Tomonori Saito, left, and Sungjin Kim upcycled waste plastic to create a stronger, tougher, solvent-resistant material for new additive manufacturing applications.  Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press

  Thanks to an East Tennessee science powerhouse, recycling might become easier 

  This is the first in a series about ORNL’s Technology Innovation Program 2023

  OAK RIDGE — Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a catalyst they say can break down a range of plastics, including polyesters, polycarbonates, polyurethanes and polyamides through a low-energy green process. In lay terms, the process can recycle many plastic-based carpets, ropes, other textiles, bottles, mattresses, protective equipment, car components and other things that weren’t previously easy to recycle into valuable chemicals.

  Tomoronori Saito, a researcher at ORNL’s chemical sciences division presented some results of research at ORNL on July 14 as part of a symposium highlighting commercially valuable work that takes place at one of the country’s main science laboratories. Saito and fellow researcher Arif Arifuzzaman showed off plastics in varying levels of disintegration using their catalyst. It was part of the lab’s Technology Innovation Program 2023, promoting the lab’s research for possible business partnerships.

• ORNL showcased its best science projects at July 14 tech conference
  in Feedbag
  By Thomas Fraser

  OAK RIDGE — Scientist-inventors from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory presented seven new technologies during the Technology Innovation Showcase on July 14 at the Joint Institute for Computational Sciences on ORNL’s campus.

  The inventions are supported by ORNL’s Technology Innovation Program, or TIP, which provides targeted investments in new lab-developed technologies to enhance their commercial readiness. Since 2012, ORNL has invested more than $11 million in 49 projects, resulting in 37 commercial licenses and options with partners ranging from Fortune 100 companies to early-stage startups.

  “ORNL’s researchers are creating next-generation technology for buildings, manufacturing, medicine and chemistry,” said Mike Paulus, ORNL Partnerships director. “The inventions selected for TIP investment show significant potential for commercialization.”

  The showcase brings together inventors and commercialization professionals from ORNL with industry representatives for a morning of presentations followed by one-on-one meetings, tours and demonstrations.

  — Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

• How a study of so-called “trash birds” revealed conservation clues for urban species
  in News
  By Rebecca Heisman

  The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey documented a family of peregrine falcons on the Bayonne Bridge. Port Authority

  What city birds around the world have in common

  This story was originally published by The Revelator.

  Why do some bird species seem to flourish alongside humans, eating our crumbs and nesting in our backyards, while others prefer to live as far as possible from dense human populations?

  Monte Neate-Clegg began to ponder the question while attending the American Ornithological Society’s 2019 conference in Anchorage, Alaska. “I was staying at an AirBnB and two of the birds I wanted to see in Anchorage, white-winged crossbills and boreal chickadees, were just in the yard,” said Neate-Clegg, at the time a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah. Although new and beautiful to him, the species are common in Anchorage and so omnipresent they’re typically ignored by residents.

  “I started thinking, what is it that makes these ‘trash birds’ here, and not elsewhere?”

  Neate-Clegg sounds sheepish about using the pejorative-sounding term “trash bird,” but it’s a phrase commonly used by birdwatchers to refer to species ubiquitous to a given location they cease to become interesting and can become irritating. Classic examples include pigeons in city centers and snack-stealing gulls on beaches.

  One man’s trash bird is another’s research query. Neate-Clegg wondered if specific traits make certain species more able to thrive in cities around the world. After joining ornithologist Morgan Tingley at his lab at UCLA as a postdoctoral researcher in 2021, he proposed a lab-wide project in an attempt to answer the question.

  The research drew on data providing clues which may eventually reveal a roadmap making our cities more bird friendly. 

• Earth Day is every day, but especially this Saturday
  in News
  By JJ Stambaugh

  This photo of the Southern Appalachians was taken from 30,000 feet. “Notice how the clouds are parallel with the ridges below them. Wind near the surface blowing up the western slopes forms waves in the atmosphere. At the crest of the wave, over the ridge tops, the air has cooled sufficiently to condense into clouds. As this air descends toward the wave trough, it becomes slightly warmer and drier, inhibiting condensation.”  Seth Adams via NASA

  Earth Day activities have cooled in Knoxville over the decades. The planet has not.

  KNOXVILLE — It’s been 52 years since the modern environmental movement was born on what is now known around the world as Earth Day.

  Now reckoned to be the world’s largest secular observance, Earth Day is the climax of Earth Week (April 16 to 22), which brings together an estimated billion people around the globe working to change human behavior and push for pro-environment economic and legislative action. This year’s theme is “Invest in the planet.”

  Events marking Earth Day in Knoxville tend to vary in size and tone from year-to-year, with 2023 providing environmentally minded residents with a number of ways to celebrate Mother Earth. 

  Perhaps the most memorable of those years was the very first one, when one of the most important voices in the burgeoning environmental movement spoke on the University of Tennessee campus.

  Jane Jacobs, who is now recognized as “the godmother of the New Urbanism movement,” gave a lecture to a crowd of nearly 200 people on the topic of “Man and His Environment” at the Alumni Memorial Hall, according to Jack Neely, who heads the Knoxville History Project.

• ORNL gets boost to make airliners cleaner
  in Feedbag
  By Thomas Fraser

  OAK RIDGE — The Center for Bioenergy Innovation has been renewed by the Department of Energy as one of four bioenergy research centers across the nation to advance robust, economical production of plant-based fuels and chemicals. CBI, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is focused on the development of nonfood biomass crops and specialty processes for the production of sustainable jet fuel to help decarbonize the aviation sector.

  The DOE announcement provides $590 million to the centers over the next five years. Initial funding for the four centers will total $110 million for Fiscal Year 2023. Outyear funding will total up to $120 million per year over the following four years, contingent on availability of funds.

  “To meet our future energy needs, we will need versatile renewables like bioenergy as a low-carbon fuel for some parts of our transportation sector,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Continuing to fund the important scientific work conducted at our Bioenergy Research Centers is critical to ensuring these sustainable resources can be an efficient and affordable part of our clean energy future.”

  — Sara C. Shoemaker, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• University of Tennessee satellite research opens a book in the upstairs library
  in News
  By Qiusheng Wu

  How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes

  This story was originally published by The Conversation. Qiusheng Wu is assistant professor of geography and sustainability at University of Tennessee.

  KNOXVILLE — If you want to track changes in the Amazon rainforest, see the full expanse of a hurricane or figure out where people need help after a disaster, it’s much easier to do with the view from a satellite orbiting a few hundred miles above Earth.

  Traditionally, access to satellite data has been limited to researchers and professionals with expertise in remote sensing and image processing. However, the increasing availability of open-access data from government satellites such as Landsat and Sentinel, and free cloud-computing resources such as Amazon Web Services, Google Earth Engine and Microsoft Planetary Computer, have made it possible for just about anyone to gain insight into environmental changes underway.

  I work with geospatial big data as a professor. Here’s a quick tour of where you can find satellite images, plus some free, fairly simple tools that anyone can use to create time-lapse animations from satellite images.

• Potentially toxic Oak Ridge landfill won’t be built until cleared by operator’s water research
  in News
  By Ben Pounds

  Potential water runoff issues stall future Oak Ridge landfill construction

  OAK RIDGE — A landfill intended to hold potentially toxic debris from the demolition of legacy Oak Ridge research facilities is moving forward but construction won’t start until it is definitively determined whether the site could pollute ground and surface water.

  As reported previously by Hellbenderpress, environmentalists fear toxins leaking out of the proposed landfill could contaminate waterways and make their way into fish that people might catch downstream. The landfill’s contractor, however, said leaving buildings full of toxic residue standing may be more dangerous for workers and nearby residents and the landfill will help get the buildings quickly demolished. The contractor is doing a mock-up study this year to see how best to handle water issues on the future landfill site.

  This summer, the contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC will choose a subcontractor and do field work. Ben Williams, the Department of Energy’s public affairs specialist, said roads and utilities will need to move to get the site ready at that time. But UCOR stated it won’t build the landfill until after a water study spanning “two wet seasons,” beginning later this year. 

• Advance Knox envisions three trajectories for development in Knox County, wants your opinion by Oct. 31
  in News
  By Wolf Naegeli

  Advance Knox proposes three growth scenarios for the future of the unincorporated areas of Knox County.

  If you missed the community meetings and the Zoom event during Advance Knox’s “Choices Week,” you can still take the survey online!

  If you are unfamiliar with the Advance Knox project, you may find it helpful to watch the first 19 minutes of the Choices Week webinar recording before taking the survey.

  “Advance Knox is a process to prepare a land use and transportation plan for Knox County that is informed by research and community input,” according to its website.

  In March 2022, Advance Knox offered a first round of public input opportunities during its “Ideas Week.”  As reported in Hellbender Press, community meetings were held all over the county. Participation opportunities at special group presentations, a Zoom webinar, and individual commenting on the website were similar to those of Choices Week.

• ORNL researcher models fire’s growing footprint in a changing climate
  in News
  By Thomas Fraser

  Wild turkeys forage in charred hardwood forest soon after the 2016 Gatlinburg fires, which moved from the Smokies to developed areas in Sevier County. An ORNL model predicts wildfire threats will increase in the Southern Appalachians because of climate change. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press via Knoxville Mercury

  ORNL report: Local wildfire danger will likely loom larger because of climate change

  OAK RIDGE — This cruel summer, the Southern Appalachian region is already baking in above-normal temperatures and basking in poor air quality. 

  Air temperatures in Knoxville flirted with 100 degrees on July 6, which were well above average and prompted the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory for much of the metropolitan area.

  It’s hard to definitively link a heat wave to global warming, but one oft-cited consequence of climate change is the growing intensity of wildfires, even in the traditionally moisture-rich Appalachians. The range of climate change effects is difficult to pin down, but one constant in the study of climate change is an expected increase in overall temperatures, which can power wildfires via both fuel increases and volatility.