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Physical and Life Sciences
Jupiter shows its true stripes
There’s a reason why Jupiter’s stripes are only skin deep. It turns out that the planet’s zonal winds -- the alternating east-west jet streams seen in photographs as colorful stripes -- only descend to 3,000 kilometers in the atmosphere. Magnetic fields can make fluids that conduct electricity (like Jupiter’s atmosphere) behave more like honey than water. Deeper into the…
Lawrence Livermore climate scientist Karl Taylor elected American Geophysical Union fellow
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) climate scientist Karl Taylor has been selected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The AGU, with a membership of more than 60,000, is an international scientific association that spans the major disciplines of earth and space sciences. Each year a tenth of a percent of the members become fellows in recognition…
'Quantum annealer' shows promise in study
An international team of researchers, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Arjun Gambhir, has developed a new algorithm for solving polynomial systems of equations using a type of quantum computer called a "quantum annealer." The team systematically examined how this method scales when facing increasingly difficult mathematical equations, with…
Nerve-Agent Antidote Shows Great Potential
Scientists at LLNL’s Forensic Science Center and Biosecurity Center have formulated molecule LLNL-02, the first molecule capable of dual protection against nerve agents.
Nanowire arrays could improve solar cells
Transparent electrodes are a critical component of solar cells and electronic displays. To collect electricity in a solar cell or inject electricity for a display, you need a conductive contact, like a metal, but you also need to be able to let light in (for solar cells) or out (for displays). Metal is opaque, so the current techniques use metal oxides, most often indium…
Center Collaborates with University of Rochester to Deliver New Graduate Course
The LLNL High Energy Density Science (HEDS) Center is collaborating with the University of Rochester to offer a new graduate course focused on special topics in HED physics, as part of the Center's expanding range of educational opportunities. This course will survey the field of HED Science, extending from ultra-dense matter to the radiation-dominated regime. Topics will…
Klein named American Meteorological fellow
Atmospheric scientist Stephen Klein has been selected as a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic and hydrologic sciences. AMS membership numbers 13,000 and is divided roughly…
Study reveals new structure of gold at extremes
Gold is an extremely important material for high-pressure experiments and is considered the "gold standard" for calculating pressure in static diamond anvil cell experiments. When compressed slowly at room temperature (on the order of seconds to minutes), gold prefers to be the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure at pressures up to three times the center of the Earth…
Lab wins six tech commercialization grants
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have posted another standout year securing major grants through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). During the program’s first two years, in 2016 and 2017, Lab researchers received only two of the larger cooperative development grants – one each year. In 2018, they garnered…
Active Optimization of Chemical Catalysts
Drastic changes in climate and global losses in biodiversity are increasing the need to shift the incumbent energy and chemical infrastructure from a fossil-fuel based system to a sustainable-energy based system. Such a system will require that the production of fuels and chemicals use only sustainable energy (e.g., solar) and simple, abundant feedstocks like carbon…
Furthering the application of human identification techniques using hair
Human hair is invaluable to forensic investigations because it is one of the few biological specimen types that persist for long periods of time. However, hair contains minimal intact nuclear DNA, leading researchers to search for alternate identification methods using hair. Previous research led to a new protein-based identification technique, providing a way to identify…
Improving the coherence of superconducting circuits
In an ideal superconducting quantum computer, the underlying quantum bits (qubits) are isolated from the noisy environment with no energy loss to mechanical or vibrational modes. However, in the real world, amorphous materials and material interfaces have defect states that cause qubits to lose their energy through vibrations and interactions with the surrounding…
Under pressure: New device's 1.6 billion atmospheres per second assists impact studies
A new super-fast high-pressure device at DESY's PERA III X-ray light source allows scientists to simulate and study earthquakes and meteorite impacts more realistically in the lab. The new-generation dynamic diamond anvil cell (dDAC), developed by scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchroton (DESY), the European Synchrotron…
Gemini Plus Enables Next-Generation Planetary Composition Measurements
NASA has funded the development of a new high-purity germanium gamma-ray detector—the GeMini Plus—for use in upcoming planetary exploration missions.
Co-Optima identifies six new blendstocks for improved fuel economy, vehicle performance
Three years after embarking upon a rigorous evaluation of a pool of more than 400 candidates, researchers with the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative have identified six blendstocks from two chemical families that exhibit the greatest potential to dramatically increase efficiency when combined with petroleum-based fuels in boosted (or…
Big Data Illuminates the Physical Sciences
Astrophysics is a growth area in the Laboratory’s advancement of basic science for national and global security needs. In this field, data science helps researchers catalog and interpret objects orbiting Earth and process huge volumes of data captured by ground- and space-based telescopes.
Stellar reactions in a galaxy not so far, far away
Few people over the course of history have had a hand in discovering an atomic element. Yet nuclear chemist Dawn Shaughnessy joined a team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Russia that discovered five elements from 1989 to 2010. Now she leads the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group of the Physics and Life Sciences Directorate at LLNL and…
Did comet impacts jump-start life on Earth?
Comets screaming through the atmosphere of early Earth at tens of thousands of miles per hour likely contained measurable amounts of protein-forming amino acids. Upon impact, these amino acids self-assembled into significantly larger nitrogen-containing aromatic structures that are likely constituents of polymeric biomaterials. That is the conclusion of a new study by…
High-powered laser diodes can reduce residual stress in metal 3D printed parts
In 3D printing, residual stress can build up in parts during the printing process due to the expansion of heated material and contraction of cold material, generating forces that can distort the part and cause cracks that can weaken or tear a part to pieces, especially in metals. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California,…
Microbial growth and carbon uptake are driven mainly by nature, not nurture
For soil microorganisms, how much of their life’s work is driven by evolution (nature) versus their current environmental (nurture)? As it turns out, the evolutionary history of soil microorganisms plays a larger role in growth rates and carbon uptake, according to a new study appearing in the June 17 edition of the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. "Our results…
