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Physical and Life Sciences
First-of-its-kind microscope takes 3D ghost images of nanoparticles
Ghost imaging is like a game of Battleship. Instead of seeing an object directly, scientists use entangled photons to remove the background and reveal its silhouette. This method can be used to study microscopic environments without much light, which is helpful for avoiding photodamage to biological samples. So far, quantum ghost imaging has been limited to two dimensions,…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory leads groundbreaking DeNOVO initiative in AI antibody design
In a pioneering project aimed at revolutionizing the design of antibodies and antibody-like molecules through the power of AI, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is working to transform medical countermeasure development and biologics discovery. The project is part of an interagency agreement between the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and the…
Deep-learning model predicts how toxic plumes move through cities
In 2023, a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. In 2025, a series of destructive wildfires ravaged Los Angeles. In both cases, a toxic plume — a cloud of harmful airborne materials that disperse over time and space due to wind and turbulence — was released. Toxic plumes from industrial accidents, chemical spills and structural fires can pose…
Self-driving lab to automate the discovery of novel alloys
Pure metals like aluminum or titanium don’t always have the desired material properties — strength, hardness, ductility or corrosion resistance — for a given application. For this reason, researchers seek out novel alloy solutions, mixing a primary metal element with a series of other elements to create a material with tailored properties for uses in aerospace, defense,…
Big Ideas Lab podcast visits the Forensic Science Center: part 2
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Forensic Science Center (FSC) is a unique place. It is the only forensic science center in the United States that could accept a truly mixed hazard sample — with a biological material, a chemical agent, explosives and nuclear material. It is one of only two laboratories in the United States — and among 30 in the world — that is…
LLNL and Purdue University accelerate discovery of medical countermeasures for emerging chemical threats
In a major advance for chemical defense and public safety, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Forensic Science Center (FSC) and Purdue University have developed and demonstrated a high-throughput, automated mass spectrometry platform. Their platform dramatically accelerates the discovery of medical countermeasure candidates against A-series…
Lasers measure liquid carbon structure for the first time
Carbon, one of the most abundant elements in the universe, constitutes many key components of life and technology. Because of this, the material is very well-studied — at least in its solid form. As a liquid, carbon structure is very difficult to measure because the state of matter only exists at extreme pressures and temperatures. In a recent study, published in Nature,…
Big Ideas Lab podcast delves into Forensic Science Center cases, podcast nears milestone
In May 1999, Bulgarian customs officials seized a vial containing a small amount of highly enriched uranium (HEU) at a checkpoint on the Bulgarian/Romanian border. The material, about four grams of HEU, was hidden in a shielded lead container inside the trunk of a car being driven by a Turkish citizen. The driver had first attempted to sell the material in Turkey and then…
LLNL watch party shows off Rubin telescope’s first images
The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a major new scientific facility jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, released its first imagery at an event in Washington, D.C., on June 23. The imagery shows cosmic phenomena captured at an unprecedented scale. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)…
New machine learning project will advance real-time seismic monitoring across energy industries
A new initiative designed to revolutionize seismic monitoring and forecasting using real time, advanced machine learning (ML) technologies is coming to the West Texas/New Mexico area. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) awarded $1.8 million in funding to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The TCF is administrated by the…
Cancer drug candidate developed using supercomputing & AI blocks tumor growth without toxic side effect
A new cancer drug candidate developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), BBOT (BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics) and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) has demonstrated the ability to block tumor growth without triggering a common and debilitating side effect. In early clinical trials, the compound, known as BBO-10203, has shown…
Computational trick enables better understanding of exotic state of matter
It can be found inside gas giants such as Jupiter and is briefly created during meteorite impacts or in laser fusion experiments: warm dense matter. This exotic state of matter combines features of solid, liquid and gaseous phases. Until now, simulating warm dense matter accurately has been considered a major challenge. An international team led by researchers from the…
High explosives in slow motion: freezing molecules in place shows chemical reactions
Safe and effective high explosives are critical to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) mission of stockpile stewardship. It is relatively simple to study the composition of such material before a detonation or examine the soot-like remnants afterward. But the chemistry in between, which dictates much of the detonation process, evades experimental interrogation…
Turning captured carbon into natural gas could provide cost-competitive energy storage
Solar and wind energy are highly variable, dependent on the day, weather and location of the facilities. At times, they can generate more electricity than is needed, but they can also fall short when demand is at its peak. Unfortunately, any extra energy created by these sources is often wasted, as there are few methods that adequately store it long-term. To improve energy…
Scientists solve the 50-year mystery of widely used high explosive TATB
A team of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), has made a major breakthrough in understanding how one of the world’s safest and most widely used explosives, TATB, breaks down under extreme conditions. TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) is a powerful explosive that is prized for…
LLNL’s high-resolution telescope system to usher in a new era of lunar exploration
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is playing a pivotal role supporting a groundbreaking lunar imaging effort in collaboration with Firefly Aerospace. A LLNL state-of-the-art telescope system will be deployed onboard Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle to enable Firefly’s new Ocula imaging service, as early as 2026. This marks the first planned commercial lunar…
Johanna Schwartz and collaborators selected for Scialog award
The Scialog: Automating Chemical Laboratories initiative has awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Johanna Schwartz $60,000 to pursue automated design of next-generation membranes for fuel cells. The award comes as one of seven collaborative projects funded by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), the Arnold and Mabel Beckman…
LLNL, University of California host second-annual ALS workshop
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease. While there is currently no cure, efforts are underway to change that — and to establish better treatments. Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California (UC) system are addressing ALS challenges and opportunities at scale by…
Join expert scientists for a 10-week course on warm dense matter
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) High Energy Density Science (HEDS) Center, in collaboration with the University of South Florida and University of California, San Diego, is offering a virtual course on the concepts and fundamentals of warm dense matter. In this course, you will learn from experts in the field of high energy density science as they cover…
Big Ideas Lab podcast enters the quantum realm
Imagine a particle that slips through a wall like a ghost. Now imagine two particles, separated by vast distances yet somehow linked, instantly influencing each other's states. A story with two endings, both true, until turning the final page. A universe where simply looking changes what’s real. These are not thought experiments. This is quantum physics. And for decades,…
