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Physical and Life Sciences
Revitalized materials and chemistry internship wraps up successful summer
Each summer, hundreds of college students from around the country flock to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) campus to participate in LLNL’s varied and unique internship opportunities. This year, Megan Freyman and Rene Mercado, both graduate students at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), joined 82 other students in one such opportunity—a newly…
Research to focus on microbes in peat moss
Mention "peat moss" and many people will conjure up the curly brown plant material that gardeners use. "Oh, the thing you get at Home Depot" is a common reaction Joel Kostka receives when he mentions that he studies peat moss. His response: "Peat moss is a really cool plant that’s important to the global carbon cycle." The National Science Foundation has just awarded…
Using supercomputers to quantify Bay Area earthquake hazard and risk
With unprecedented resolution, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratory scientists and engineers are simulating precisely how a large-magnitude earthquake along the Hayward Fault would affect different locations and buildings across the San Francisco Bay Area. The researchers reported on their recent simulations in June at the U.S. National Conference…
Imaging of detonation fronts using scattered synchrotron radiation
Many high explosives contain carbon, which condenses during detonation to produce nanometer-scale graphite and diamonds. These forms of carbon and their particle growth reaction rates are neither well known nor easily measured because the optical opacity at the detonation front has, until now, hindered the measurement and study of detonation phenomena at nanoscale time and…
Reviewing the evolution and application of kinetic reaction mechanisms
When researchers use kinetics to understand and predict the chemical behavior of reactive systems, the basic tool connecting the kinetics and the reactive system is the reaction mechanism. The characteristics and capabilities of current kinetic reaction mechanisms are the product of a great deal of directed evolution, which is motivated by the need to be able to model the…
Journey to explore the inexhaustible resource of genetic information found in microorganisms
The microbial production of enzymes, chemicals and fuels could become more efficient and economical with a newly engineered system for controlling genes called "Jungle Express." Scientists and collaborators from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and San Francisco State…
HEDS Center Strategic Plan Emphasizes Education and Collaborative Research
LLNL’s High Energy Density Science (HEDS) Center released its five-year strategic plan in September 2018, highlighting the Center’s focus on fostering expanded research collaborations in the field of HED science and increasing the number of scientists working in this rapidly evolving discipline. The strategic planning group—led by HEDS Center Director Frank Graziani—met…
Hierarchical 3D printing of nanoporous gold could 'revolutionize' electrochemical reactor design
Nanoporous metals are superior catalysts for chemical reactions due to their large surface area and high electrical conductivity, making them perfect candidates for applications such as electrochemical reactors, sensors and actuators. In a study published today in the journal Science Advances, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, along with their…
Energy Secretary honors Lab scientist's contributions to stockpile stewardship
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry recognized Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) chemist Bill McLean with a Secretary’s Achievement Award Wednesday in recognition of "pioneering technical contributions that have led to significant advancements in science-based stockpile stewardship." The Secretary’s Honor Awards are bestowed on individuals who have a singular…
Scientists now know the fate of the majority of Higgs bosons particles produced in the LHC
At CERN, the Large Hadron Collider experiments ATLAS and CMS have taken a big step forward in the quest to understand how the Higgs boson enables fundamental particles to acquire mass. The team announced the discovery of the Higgs boson particle transforming into bottom quarks as it decays. This is predicted to be the most common way for Higgs bosons to decay, yet was a…
Five researchers named to '40 Under 40' list
Five Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers join an eclectic group of entrepreneurs, writers, executives, philanthropists and more on Diablo Magazine’s annual "40 Under 40" list, which recognizes young professionals in the East Bay who are leading the charge in their fields. Louisa Pickworth, an experimental physicist and group leader in the Physics…
Victory Through Annihilation: Jason Brodsky’s Neutrinos that Saved the Universe
Jason Brodsky says his work is like “looking for a candle in a raging inferno.” But the Lawrence Livermore physicist believes finding that “candle” could be the key to understanding existence itself. Brodsky’s specialty is rare-event detection, both during his Princeton graduate work on dark matter and his current postdoctoral research at LLNL, in which he searches for…
Learning to love science from gazing at planets
The moment Louisa Pickworth saw the rings of Saturn through her father’s backyard telescope, she knew she wanted to become a scientist to learn "more and more and more." Today, Pickworth, 32, is one of LLNL’s heralded young physicists for her work developing cutting-edge X-ray diagnostics to help scientists learn more about ultrahigh energy physics and inertial confinement…
Four Lawrence Livermore scientists named Distinguished Members of Technical Staff
Four Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have been named Distinguished Members of Technical Staff (DMTS) for their extraordinary scientific and technical contributions to the Laboratory and its missions, as acknowledged by their professional peers and the larger community. Peter Beiersdorfer and Paul Springer of the Physical and Life Sciences…
Theory aids analysis of nuclear materials
Nuclear emergency teams, safeguards specialists and others may one day benefit from an expanded nuclear fission chain theory and detectors developed by a team of Lawrence Livermore Nationla Laboratory (LLNL) physicists. The Livermore scientists have bolstered their theory for understanding nuclear fission chains -- a cascade of atomic nuclei splitting, each initiated by a…
LLNL and Virginia Tech researchers achieve more complex 3D-printed graphene aerogel
Graphene aerogel is lighter than air but as strong as steel, and it’s already proven useful in aerospace, energy storage and insulation. While there have been recent advances in 3D printing of the novel material, achieving complex structures has been elusive, hampering the unique material’s full potential. To date, 3D printing of graphene aerogel has been done using direct…
Summer scholars learn value of team science
A group of NIF & Photon Science summer scholars and visiting graduate students are experiencing the value of teamwork as they conduct experiments at LLNL’s Jupiter Laser Facility (JLF). Jesus Hinojosa, 26, a University of Michigan graduate student, and Matthew Thibodeau, 21, a Rice University undergraduate, joined a team of veteran scientists and researchers to explore…
National Ignition Facility reveals how hydrogen becomes metallic inside gas giant planets
Swirling dense metallic hydrogen dominates the interiors of Jupiter, Saturn and many extra-solar planets. Building precise models of these giant planets requires an accurate description of the transition of pressurized hydrogen into this metallic substance — a long-standing scientific challenge. In a paper published today by Science, a research team led by scientists at…
Quest for source of black hole dark matter
Like a game of "hide and seek," Lawrence Livermore astrophysicists know that there are black holes hiding in the Milky Way, just not where. If they find them toward the galactic bulge (a tightly packed group of stars) and the Magellanic Clouds, then black holes as massive as 10,000 times the mass of the sun might make up dark matter. If they are only toward the galactic…
Lab researchers find magnetic fields impact atmospheric circulation of gas giant planets
Magnetic fields around a planet or a star can overpower the zonal jets that affect atmospheric circulation. New research by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and a collaborator from the Australian National University (ANU) provides a theoretical explanation for why self-organized fluid flows called zonal jets or "zonal flows" can be suppressed by…
