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Artist’s depiction of NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft exploring the icy, hydrocarbon-rich landscapes of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. (Courtesy image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

LLNL delivers advanced gamma-ray spectrometer for NASA’s Dragonfly mission to explore Titan

Hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth, the landscape of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, bears a striking resemblance to our own planet — but with dunes of hydrocarbon sands rather than silica sands, and rain, rivers, lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane rather than liquid water. The NASA Dragonfly mission is set to explore this world in unprecedented detail…

The latest Big Ideas Lab episode examines the how the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-managed High-Performance Computing for Energy Innovation program is translating advanced computing into measurable impact for U.S. industry and expanding what’s possible for American manufacturing, Listen on Apple or Spotify.

Big Ideas Lab explores how HPC for Energy Innovation advances U.S. industry

Some of the toughest challenges in American manufacturing are being solved without ever stepping onto a factory floor. Inside supercomputers, scientists are modeling systems too complex, costly or time-consuming to test in the real world. In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) spotlights the High-Performance…

The magnetic microcalorimetry team operates a dilution refrigerator used for ultra-sensitive magnetic microcalorimetry. Their work enables the precise measurement of nuclear decay events at extremely low temperatures. From left to right: Inwook Kim, Chang Lee, Geon-Bo Kim (corresponding author), Ryan Wood (first author) and Nathan Hines.

Cryogenic micro-calorimetry offers a novel material-dating method for nuclear forensics and safeguards

The moment nuclear material is produced, processed or purified, it sets off a hidden countdown, marked by the half-life of its radioactive atoms as they begin to decay. For scientists tracking the origins of these substances, decoding this natural clock is crucial for verifying material histories in support of global security efforts. In a new study published in the…

Robert Maxwell has been recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (Photo by Randy Wong)

LLNL’s Robert Maxwell selected as 2025 AAAS Fellow

Robert S. Maxwell, Strategic Deterrence (SD) program director for Materials and Manufacturing Transformation, was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of nearly three decades of leadership and significant contributions in materials chemistry related to national security. “I am incredibly honored and humbled by…

Big Ideas Lab energetic materials podcast graphic

Big Ideas Lab podcast explores energetic materials and the science behind explosive performance

In less than a millionth of a second, a high explosive can release its energy, generating pressures and temperatures that push materials to their limits. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), scientists in the Energetic Materials Center (EMC) study these extreme conditions using experiments, computation and specialized facilities. The latest episode of the Big…

In a new study, researchers genetically engineered the metabolic pathways in yeast to consume sugar and produce oxalic acid. The latter can be used to separate rare earth elements from other metals. (Graphic: Dan Herchek/LLNL)

Engineered yeast produce acids needed to refine rare-earth elements

From mining to magnet manufacturing, the process for refining rare-earth elements is complex and intensive. The supply chain for such critical materials is dominated by China — and so is the oxalic acid needed for the separation and purification stages. To move toward a U.S. supply chain for rare-earth element recovery, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and computational engineers report on using machine learning to analyze electronic health records of more than 11,000 veterans diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

LLNL-led study uses machine learning, veterans’ health records to identify ALS drug-repurposing candidate

A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-led team of scientists and computational engineers has identified several existing medications that may be associated with longer survival in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), using one of the largest electronic health record datasets ever assembled for ALS. Published in The Lancet Digital Health, the study…

In a pioneering partnership to accelerate materials discovery with AI, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Meta have created the world’s largest open dataset of atomistic polymer chemistry

LLNL, Meta co-develop groundbreaking polymer-chemistry dataset for training AI models

Polymers are fundamental to our daily lives, serving as the core components for a wide array of goods, including clothing, packaging, transportation infrastructure, construction materials and electronics. Advances in polymer science open pathways for recycling and upcycling waste materials into more valuable chemical feedstocks. They also can have an outsized environmental…

Shaun Kerr and Dean Rusby have refined the MeV x-ray generation of NIF’s Advanced Radiographic Capability, leading to unprecedented imaging of dense materials. Photo by Blaise Douros.

Advanced Radiographic Capability achievements featured in Physics of Plasmas

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC), NIF’s laser-within-the-laser. How this is possible and how it’s measured is detailed in the cover paper of the December 2025…

LLNL scientist Gianpaolo Carosi (right) discusses the inner workings of the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment. Expertise in this cavity technology (shown here plated in copper) is enhancing current efforts in quantum computing.

Finding resonance: How LLNL expertise is amplifying collaboration in quantum computing

In November, the Department of Energy Office of Science renewed the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS), hosted by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, with $125 million over the next five years to accelerate breakthroughs in quantum information science. The investment continues to unite more than 300 experts from 43 partner institutions across…

National Ignition Facility (NIF) Director Gordon Brunton (right foreground) shows NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams a target used for inertial confinement fusion experiments at NIF on Feb. 9.

NNSA Administrator Williams visits LLNL to discuss stockpile modernization, AI and future deterrence

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Brandon Williams visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Feb. 9 for briefings and tours focused on stockpile modernization, AI, supercomputing and the future of deterrence. During the visit, Williams met with LLNL…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory computer scientist Peter Lindstrom received the 2025 IEEE VIS Test of Time Award

LLNL’s Lindstrom honored with IEEE VIS Test of Time Award

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) computer scientist Peter Lindstrom recently received a 2025 IEEE VIS Test of Time Award for his 2014 paper on near-lossless data compression, recognizing its lasting influence on the field of scientific visualization and high-performance computing. Presented annually at the IEEE VIS Conference, the Test of Time Award honors…

AI in Eight Pages

LLNL, CFCE and Livermore Lab Foundation release AI primer for state lawmakers

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the California Foundation for Commerce and Education (CFCE) and the Livermore Lab Foundation (LLF) today released a new educational brief on the relationship between AI and California, designed to provide state lawmakers with science-based context as they consider AI policy decisions. The primer is intended to be a practical,…

Energy I-Corps 10 year anniversary celebration event

LLNL and Energy I-Corps take science from big ideas to big market impact

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) pursues big ideas to solve the most important security challenges facing the U.S. and the world. In that pursuit, scientific breakthroughs with market potential are discovered, protected and licensed to (or collaborated on) with industry partners through a process called technology transfer. LLNL’s Innovation and Partnerships…

Researchers on stage accepting an award

LLNL, UT & UCSD win Gordon Bell Prize with exascale tsunami forecasting

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) Oden Institute and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) on Nov. 20 were awarded the prestigious 2025 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Prize for developing a real-time tsunami early-warning framework…

Examples of rocket plume simulation

Gordon Bell finalist team pushes scale of rocket simulation on El Capitan

Researchers used Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) exascale supercomputer El Capitan to perform the largest fluid dynamics simulation ever — surpassing one quadrillion degrees of freedom in a single computational fluid dynamics (CFD) problem. The team focused the effort on rocket–rocket plume interactions. El Capitan is funded by the National Nuclear Security…

Falcone receipt of the inaugural AI Honors in Public Science Award

LLNL Deputy Director Pat Falcone receives inaugural AI Honors in Public Science Award

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Deputy Director for Science and Technology Patricia Falcone was presented with the AI Honors in Public Science award at the inaugural AI Honors Gala on June 3 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington, D.C. Coinciding with the AI+ Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the AI Honors Gala convened more than 300…

Four people in hard hats

U.S. Energy Secretary Wright visits Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to see firsthand the Lab’s vital contributions to national security and advancing America’s scientific and technological leadership. Secretary Wright met with top Lab leaders, including LLNL Director Kim Budil, and participated in an all-hands meeting with Lab employees…

A large group of people at a summit

LLNL leadership engages in global fusion energy efforts

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leadership is engaging with world leaders to make fusion energy a reality. Last week, LLNL Director Kim Budil joined the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inaugural meeting of leading fusion energy experts and high-level policymakers from 35 countries in Rome. “In the face of growing global competition and a…

A set of scientific instruments on a table

LLNL and BioVind achieve diagnostics milestone

Technology designed to aid on-the-field diagnostics for military applications is gaining a wider reach as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and BioVind, LLC achieved a milestone in their partnership: the exclusive licensing of LLNL pathogen diagnostics technology focused on oil and gas applications. The technology, called BioID, is a rapid and portable…