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Physical and Life Sciences
Feeling the force between sand grains
For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have measured how forces move through 3D granular materials, determining how this important class of materials might pack and behave in processes throughout nature and industry. Granular materials such as sand, soil and rice exist everywhere around us. However, scientists and engineers do not yet…
Going beyond 3D printing to add a new dimension for additive manufacturing
A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers has demonstrated the 3D printing of shape-shifting structures that can fold or unfold to reshape themselves when exposed to heat or electricity. The micro-architected structures were fabricated from a conductive, environmentally responsive polymer ink developed at the Lab. In an article published recently by the…
Nuclear forensics program aims for critical mass
A sure sign of summer is the return of interns to the Lawrence Livermore campus. Students interact with premier researchers and access equipment and facilities not available anywhere else, while scientists lay groundwork for advancing their fields. Within the Physical and Life Sciences directorate, the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute runs an eight-week summer internship for…
Lab collaborates with small businesses in gas turbine manufacturing and geothermal projects
Two small businesses working with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will receive more than $350,000 for expertise in advanced gas turbine manufacturing and geothermal engineering as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Small Business Voucher (SBV) pilot. With vouchers in hand, these businesses can better leverage the world-class capabilities of the…
New electron microscope expands materials characterization capabilities at Laboratory
A new Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) installed at the Lab earlier this year is giving LLNL researchers a clearer look at the atomic level of structures than they’ve had before. The Titan 80-300 TEM, manufactured by FEI Company, was installed in December and brings an expanded capability to the existing transmission electron microscope the Lab has had for about 20…
Scientists find de-icing agent remains stable at more than a million atmospheres of pressure
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have combined X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectroscopy measurements together with first-principle calculations to examine the high-pressure structural behavior of magnesium chloride. Magnesium chloride (MgCl2) is well known to be an effective de-icing agent, for example, in the aviation industry. Magnesium compounds,…
Team tracks core of massive object in universe
International scientists have identified the dynamics of the core of one of the most massive objects in the known universe, bringing insight into the cosmology of clusters of galaxies. The Hitomi collaboration, in which Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Greg Brown is a member, found that the turbulent motion of the intracluster gas in the Perseus cluster is…
'Second skin' uniform protects soldiers from biological and chemical agents in the field
In work that aims to protect soldiers from biological and chemical threats, a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists has created a material that is highly breathable yet protective from biological agents. This material is the first key component of futuristic smart uniforms that also will respond to and protect from environmental chemical hazards. The…
Pitt engineers will use Lab's electron microscope to study rapid metal solidification
University of Pittsburgh engineers will utilize a unique transmission electron microscope developed and housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to better understand how microstructures form in metals and alloys as they solidify after laser beam melting. Under a three-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Jörg Wiezorek, a professor of…
Lawrence Livermore COLLECTS funding to improve solar power efficiency
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with Giant Leap Technologies, received $1.75 million Thursday from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to improve solar power efficiency. The project is part of DOE’s SunShot Initiative, which is a collaborative national effort that aggressively drives innovation to make…
Lab team measures peripheral nervous system activity with microchip-based platform
For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have successfully incorporated adult human peripheral nervous system (PNS) cells on a microelectrode platform for long-term testing of chemical and toxic effects on cell health and function. The study, part of a project known as iCHIP (in-vitro Chip-Based Human Investigational Platform), was…
Scientists find evidence for climate change in satellite cloud record
Scientists have found that changes in cloud patterns during the last three decades match those predicted by climate model simulations. These cloud changes are likely to have had a warming effect on the planet. Records of cloudiness from satellites originally designed to monitor weather are plagued by erroneous variability related to changes in satellite orbit, instrument…
Lab's high performance computing will play major role in Cancer Moonshot initiative
Vice President Joe Biden and his wfie Jill Biden hosted the Cancer Moonshot Summit Wednesday to announce several efforts to expand cancer research in hopes of finding a cure. The Cancer Moonshot is a new national effort to double the rate of progress - to make a decade's worth of advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care in five years - and to ultimately…
Lab engineers garner DOE tech transfer awards
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the selection of two proposals from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers for grants under the department’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), a program intended to help promising energy technologies move from national laboratories to the marketplace. DOE awarded LLNL engineer Brian Guidry a $432…
Putting pressure on 3D-printed structures
Through a series of dynamic compression experiments on additively manufactured (AM) structured lattices, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team, supported by colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has found that the assemblies have unique properties not exhibited by disordered cellular materials. During the experiment, elastic deflection of the structure…
3-D printed polymer turns methane to methanol
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have combined biology and 3-D printing to create the first reactor that can continuously produce methanol from methane at room temperature and pressure.The team removed enzymes from methanotrophs, bacteria that eat methane, and mixed them with polymers that they printed or molded into innovative reactors.The research, which…
LLNL supports NYC subway biodefense test
Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) researchers took to the New York City subway system May 9-13 to help study how a surrogate for a biological agent, such as anthrax, might disperse throughout the nation’s largest rapid transit system as a result of a terrorist attack or an accidental release. As part of a multi-agency test sponsored by the Department of Homeland…
Public comment sought on new element names
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) opened a public comment period Wednesday for the recommended names of elements 115, 117 and 118.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia (JINR), were credited late last year for discovering elements 115 and 118. LLNL, JINR, Oak Ridge National…
'Human-on-a-chip' could replace animal testing
Development of new prescription drugs and antidotes to toxins currently relies extensively on animal testing in the early stages of development, which is not only expensive and time consuming, it can give scientists inaccurate data about how humans will respond to such agents. But what if researchers could predict the impacts of potentially harmful chemicals, viruses or…
Team IDs gene involved with fracture healing
New identification of a gene involved in the fracture healing process could lead to the development of new therapeutic treatments for difficult-to-heal injuries.Fracture healing involves communication between bone, muscle, vasculature and the thin membrane covering the outer surface of bones (periosteum) during the fracture repair. The periosteum contains stem cells that…
