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Physical and Life Sciences
Quantifying human contribution to terrestrial drying
Historical drying trends have been demonstrated to occur over the lands surface, mostly in the subtropics and midlatitudes. Such drying trends are also widely projected to continue during the twenty-first century, especially under high greenhouse gas emission pathways. The causes of terrestrial drying can be understood in terms of the effects of natural climate variability…
LLNL chemists double down with breakthrough method to study radioactive materials
Studying radioactive materials is notoriously difficult due to their radiation-induced toxicity and risk of contamination when handling. The cost of the radioactive isotopes used in research also is a major barrier, with some costing more than $10,000 per microgram. Certain radioisotopes also cannot be produced in sufficient quantity so it is simply impossible for…
Collapsing bubbles show new ejecta production mechanism can occur under multiple-shock conditions
New research led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) provides a better understanding of ejecta production, which has been the subject of broad interest for more than 60 years throughout the scientific community. Ejecta are particles of material forced out or ejected from an area. The phenomena are observed across many multi-disciplinary applications, including…
LLNL biomedical licensee collaborating with two drug companies to advance treatments for autoimmune diseases
People afflicted with autoimmune diseases may someday receive help through treatments now under development by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) licensee and its’ collaborations with two major pharmaceutical companies. In late 2017, LLNL licensed a biomedical technology called nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs), which can deliver vaccines and drugs inside the…
Five Lab teams recognized with Secretary’s Honor Achievement Awards
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employees, participating in five project teams, recently earned Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary’s Honor Achievement Awards. Representing some of the highest internal, non-monetary recognition that DOE employees and contractors can receive, the Secretary’s Honor Awards recognize DOE employees and contractors for their…
Going small and thin for better hydrogen storage
A collaboration including scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Sandia National Laboratories, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has created 3-4 nanometer ultrathin nanosheets of a metal hydride that increase hydrogen storage capacity. The research appears in the journal Small. There is a need…
Lawrence Livermore’s Science on Saturday lecture series moves to Las Positas College
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) popular lecture series, “Science on Saturday,” returns Feb. 4 and runs through Feb. 25. The new location of the lecture series is the Mertes Theater, Building 4000 at Las Positas College, 3000 Campus Hill Drive in Livermore. The series kicks off on Feb. 4 and offers four different lectures with the theme, “70 Years of Science…
Kersting elected vice chair of the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology
The American Chemical Society (ACS) recently elected LLNL’s Annie Kersting to serve as vice chair of the Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology for a three-year term. The term is delineated by three assignments where Kersting will serve her first year as vice chair, her second year as chair, and her third year as program chair. Some of her responsibilities will…
Beating the odds: Former Energetic Materials Center intern named U.S. Air Force Cadet of the Year
Second Lt. Hannah Fletcher, a 2021 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) summer intern, has been named the 2022 United States Air Force (USAF) Cadet of the Year. This award recognizes the best cadet in an Air Force commissioning program based on military performance, academics and physical fitness. LLNL’s ROTC internship…
Cross-directorate team works to survey the Lab’s biodiversity
From the rolling hills of Tracy to the grassy plains of Livermore, LLNL’s lands are replete with biodiversity, and keeping track of the resident flora and fauna is no small feat. Acoustic monitoring was used to passively search for rare bat species. Wildlife biologists from ECORP Consulting are shown installing a Wildlife Acoustics SM4BAT-FS unit using the SMM-U2…
Water modified ancient asteroid
Samples from asteroid Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa2 mission contain evidence of extensive alteration by water and appear related to CI chondrites, which are believed to best represent the bulk of the solar system composition. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists in collaboration with an international team looked at the isotopic composition of oxygen,…
LLNL, University of California initiative fosters academic partnership
A new joint initiative between the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Weapons and Complex Integration (WCI) Directorate and the University of California (UC) is aimed at developing next generation academic leadership with strong and enduring national laboratory connections. The LLNL Early Career UC Faculty Initiative is accepting proposals from untenured, tenure…
LLNL scientist named to Forbes ’30 under 30’ list
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory materials scientist Daniel Schwalbe-Koda has been named one of Forbes “30 under 30” for 2023 in the science category. Forbes features a list of 600 individuals under the age of 30 each year, who have impactful careers and/or accomplishments across a span of industries — healthcare, science, consumer technology, Hollywood, retail,…
Charging up with carbon nanotubes
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have created vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes on metal foils that could be a boon for energy storage and the electronics industry. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) have exceptional mechanical, electrical and transport properties in addition to an aligned architecture, which is key for…
Environmental DNA uncovers a 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland
Around 2 million years ago, climate in Greenland resembled the forecast of a future under global warming: with trees such as poplars and birch and animals like hare, lemmings, mastodons and reindeer. Paleoclimatic records show strong polar amplification with annual temperatures of 11–19 degrees Celsius above current values. The biological communities inhabiting the Arctic…
Improving precision of pressure determination in nanosecond X-ray diffraction experiments
X-ray diffraction measurements under laser-driven dynamic compression allow researchers to investigate the atomic structure of matter at hundreds of thousands of atmospheres of pressure and temperatures of thousands of degrees, with broad implications for condensed matter physics, planetary science and astronomy. Pressure determination in these experiments often relies on…
Iron under Extremes
Lawrence Livermore scientists have performed a series of experiments through the National Ignition Facility’s (NIF’s) Discovery Science Program to replicate the extreme conditions within super-Earth cores and answered many questions posited by theoretical predictions and extrapolations from previously established relatively low pressure–temperature experimental data.
LLNL Forensic Science Center team develops new technique to analyze fentanyl in blood and urine
A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists has developed a new technique to analyze fentanyl in human blood and urine samples that could aid work in the fields of medicine and chemical forensics. Led by Carlos Valdez, an LLNL synthetic chemist and lead author, the team discussed its new fentanyl analysis approach in a paper recently published in the…
Machine-learning model instantly predicts polymer properties
Hundreds of millions of tons of polymer materials are produced globally for use in a vast and ever-growing application space with new material demands such as green chemistry polymers, consumer packaging, adhesives, automotive components, fabrics and solar cells. But discovering suitable polymer materials for use in these applications lies in accurately predicting the…
Honoring our veterans: Meet PLS’s James Jones
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) holds a quarterly Veterans Showcase to spotlight the work our veterans did while serving the nation and the work they continue to do in their Laboratory careers. The showcase held on November 9, 2022, highlighted the accomplishments of third-generation military veteran James Jones, who after joining the army at the age of 17,…
