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Physical and Life Sciences
Unprecedented multiscale model of protein behavior linked to cancer-causing mutations
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers and a multi-institutional team of scientists have developed a highly detailed, machine learning-backed multiscale model revealing the importance of lipids to the signaling dynamics of RAS, a family of proteins whose mutations are linked to numerous cancers. Published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of…
LLNL scientist honored as 2022 American Astronomical Society fellow
LLNL physicist Richard Klein has been selected as a 2022 fellow of the American Astronomical Society. Klein, who was selected “for broad and influential contributions to computational astrophysics, for scientific achievements on radiatively-driven stellar winds and star formation theory and for training a generation of students and postdoctoral scholars,” is one of 23…
Fire may increase long-term carbon storage
Wildfires and prescribed burns, which can promote soil organic matter stability, may be an important nature-based climate solution to increase long-term carbon storage. That is the conclusion of an international team of researchers, including a scientist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), who looked at the effect of wildfires and prescribed burns on the…
The Path to a Carbon Neutral California
A Livermore report outlines a strategy to reduce California’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2045.
A Shot Like No Other
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers aligned energetic materials knowledge and high-energy-density science expertise with experimental capabilities at the world’s most energetic laser, the National Ignition Facility.
Lost in space: Rocky planets formed from missing solar system material
By looking at the range of isotopic variations in terrestrial and meteoritic samples, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators have figured out that Earth and Mars formed by collisions of planetary embryos originating from the inner solar system. Rocky planets may have formed by two fundamentally different processes, but it is unclear…
Digital twins for cancer patients could be ‘paradigm shift’ for predictive oncology
A multi-institutional team, including a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) contributor, has proposed a framework for digital twin models of cancer patients that researchers say would create a “paradigm shift” for predictive oncology. Published online in Nature Medicine on Nov. 25, the proposed framework for Cancer Patient Digital Twins (CPDTs) — virtual…
In the neighborhood of microalgae, location is key to bacterial carbon use
Microscopic algae are responsible for half of the global atmospheric carbon fixed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and may be used as a sustainable bioenergy source. The water immediately outside their cells, called the “phycosphere,” is rich with algal-excreted organic carbon, and is an ideal ecosystem for bacterial growth. However, detecting and measuring…
Microfabricated thin-film electrodes show therapeutic promise
Earlier this year, thin-film microgrid arrays developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and used in neurologist Jon Kleen’s patients at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) showed that hippocampal brain activity consisted of waves that traveled bi-directionally during behavioral tasks. These thin-film microgrid arrays are designed not just to…
Radiation to cancer patients in a ‘FLASH’
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have shown for the first time the potential for linear induction accelerators (LIAs) to deliver effective, targeted doses of “FLASH” radiation to cancer patients. The new technique selectively kills cancer cells with minimal damage to healthy cells. The approach is outlined in a Scientific Reports paper. For…
Playing it safe: LLNL scientist creates energetic compounds with isotopic labels
Ana Racoveanu is able to do something most others throughout the nuclear security enterprise cannot do — something challenging and extremely valuable throughout the complex. Racoveanu, a staff scientist in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Materials Science Division, is able to synthesize energetic compounds with isotopic labels. The primary goal of this work is to…
Research looks at entropy generation from hydrodynamic mixing in ICF experiments
Research conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is taking a closer look at entropy — the measure of internal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work — in experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Work by LLNL physicist Peter Amendt is highlighted as an Editor’s Pick in Physics of Plasma, showing that an added…
HPC for Energy Innovation issues new solicitation for clean energy projects
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) initiative, managed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is seeking proposals for projects that can leverage DOE supercomputing to advance clean energy technologies. The fall 2021 solicitation targets industry partners for collaborations with DOE national laboratories that…
Soil carbon storage rocks on
Rock weathering controls the potential for soil carbon storage at a continental scale. New research from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and collaborators found that rock weathering — the process of chemical transformation by long exposure to water and the atmosphere — boosts soil organic carbon storage by altering soil mineralogy. The research appears in the…
Livermore Lab Foundation, Lawrence Livermore National Lab launch carbon education and outreach program
Helping the general public and students learn about carbon neutrality, the options for carbon dioxide removal, as well as the effects of climate change, is the focus of the Carbon Cleanup Initiative, a unique public awareness partnership from the Livermore Lab Foundation (LLF) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). “We are proud to partner with the scientists…
LLNL-led team uses machine learning to derive black hole motion from gravitational waves
The announcement that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) had detected gravitational waves during the merger of two black holes sent ripples throughout the scientific community in 2016. The earthshaking news not only confirmed one of Albert Einstein’s key predictions in his general theory of relativity, but also opened a door to a better…
Human-caused climate change increases wildfire activity
The western United States has experienced a rapid increase of fire weather as the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increases in the area during the warm season. New research by scientists at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) shows that two-thirds (approximately 68 percent) of the increase in VPD is due to human…
Disorder in surface materials key to better hydrogen storage
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have found that atomic disorder in certain boron-based hydrogen storage systems can potentially improve the rate of hydrogen uptake. Metal boride surfaces and their single-layer variants — known as borophenes — are generally thought to feature a regular arrangement of atoms at low to moderate temperatures. The LLNL…
Survivor salmon persist through drought and ocean warming
In drought years and when marine heat waves warm the Pacific Ocean, the rare late-migrating juvenile spring-run Chinook salmon of California’s Central Valley are the survivors. They are among the few salmon that return to spawning rivers in those difficult years to keep their populations alive, according to results published today in Nature Climate Change. The trouble is…
Polymer Production Enclave Puts Additive Manufacturing on the Fast Track
Since its establishment, Lawrence Livermore has played a critical role in designing components for the Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE), and more recently, in developing additively manufactured polymer parts to replace aging weapons stockpile parts.
