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Physical and Life Sciences
Lab researchers hunt for clues in transmission of deadly Middle Eastern respiratory virus
Lawrence Livermore Lab researchers have used new genetic sequencing technology and bioinformatics analysis to define how a novel and deadly respiratory virus changes when it passes from one host to another.The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), an RNA virus related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), can cause serious respiratory illness,…
Researcher sheds light on ocean observations
Oceanographer Paul Durack of the Laboratory’s Program for Climate Modeling and Intercomparison (PCMDI) recently opined about the importance of ocean salinity observations and needed urgent attention for the ocean observing system in the journal, Nature Climate Change. The global water cycle — where, when and how it rains, and the corresponding changes to water availability…
Scientist helps NASA develop medical device
In the future, NASA astronauts journeying into deep space may give themselves a health check-up with the aid of a small medical device developed by a team of scientists, including one from LLNL.Laboratory radiobiologist Matt Coleman is part of the six-scientist team, including researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center, the University of California, Davis and Sandia…
Consequences of today's carbon emissions will linger for thousands of years, study finds
The Earth may suffer irreversible damage that could last tens of thousands of years because of the rate humans are emitting carbon into the atmosphere.In a new study in Nature Climate Change, researchers at Oregon State University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and collaborating institutions found that the longer-term impacts of climate change go well past the…
Moniz awards Ian Hutcheon memorial fellowship
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last Thursday awarded the first Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) fellowship in honor of the late Ian Hutcheon, a longtime nuclear forensics expert at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to Thomas Gray.Gray serves as a nonproliferation graduate fellow in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense…
Lab physicist awarded 2016 astrophysics prize by American Astronomical Society
The Laboratory Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) has selected LLNL researcher Peter Beiersdorfer as the recipient of the 2016 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize.This honor is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to laboratory astrophysics over an extended period of time. Beiersdorfer was cited for his numerous…
LLNL team demonstrates protein damage by shock waves in traumatic brain injury patients
New research by Lawrence Livermore scientists shows how shock waves can damage membrane proteins in traumatic brain injury patients.Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) from improvised explosive devices is the most frequent wound occurring from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Estimates suggest more than 200,000 veterans have had at least one traumatic brain…
Researchers go for the gold on a single chip
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have created a library of nanoporous gold structures on a single chip that has direct applications for high-capacity lithium ion batteries as well as neural interfaces.Nanoporous gold (np-Au), a porous metal used in energy and biomedical research, is produced through an alloy corrosion process known as dealloying that…
Livermore scientists find global ocean warming has doubled in recent decades
LIVERMORE, California -- Lawrence Livermore scientists, working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and university colleagues, have found that half of the global ocean heat content increase since 1865 has occurred over the past two decades."In recent decades the ocean has continued to warm substantially, and with time the warming signal is reaching deeper…
Lawrence Livermore to work on DOE research program for electric grid modernization
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers will be working on 14 new grid research projects as part of the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium announced Thursday by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.Moniz released a blueprint for modernizing the grid, which is built on its Grid Modernization Initiative, an ongoing effort that reflects the Obama Administration’s…
Ask this chemist about creating new elements
Ever wonder how scientists create new elements, add them to the periodic table or why they’re even interested in super heavy elements?Dawn Shaughnessy, Lawrence Livermore’s principal investigator for the Heavy Element Group, will field questions from the public on the popular social media site Reddit from 10 a.m. to noon PST on Friday, Jan. 8.Shaughnessy is part of an…
'Underground battery' could store energy, CO2
Meeting the Paris Climate Agreement goal of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels will require increased use of renewable energy and reducing the CO2 intensity of fossil energy use.The intermittency of when the wind blows and when the sun shines is one of the biggest challenges impeding…
Lawrence Livermore credited with discovery of elements 115, 117 and 118
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has confirmed that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and international collaborators have officially discovered elements 115, 117 and 118.The announcement means those three elements are one step closer to being named.Lawrence Livermore teamed with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna…
New results from experimental facility deepen understanding of dark matter
LEAD, S.D. – The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment, which operates nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, has already proven itself to be the most sensitive dark matter detector in the world. Now, a new set of calibration techniques employed by LUX scientists has further improved…
Researchers develop a new mathematical tool for analyzing and evaluating nuclear material
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have created a new method for detecting and analyzing fission chains to assess and evaluate nuclear material.The powerful mathematical tools enable the team to detect, analyze and assess unknown objects containing fissionable material in a wide range of applications, from safeguards and border security, to arms control and…
Climate models overestimate rainfall increases
Lawrence Livermore researchers and collaborators have found that most climate models overestimate the increase in global precipitation due to climate change.Specifically, the team looked at 25 models and found they underestimate the increase in absorption of sunlight by water vapor as the atmosphere becomes moister, and therefore overestimate increases in global…
Researchers 3D print 'living' blood vessels
The cardiovascular system is a complex web of tens of thousands of miles of arteries, capillaries and veins, branching throughout the body like tributaries of a great river. And now, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are recapitulating this intricate network using an emerging technology: 3D bioprinting."It’s going to change the way we do biology," said…
Scientists discover shifts in climate-sensitive plankton over the past millennium
Past and current climate change has affected the food sources in the surface waters in the North Pacific Ocean.New research by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Colorado and Universität zu Kiel in Germany, have found that there are distinct differences in how plankton respond to climate over the…
Kenneth Turteltaub named 2015 AAAS fellow
Kenneth Turteltaub of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Turteltaub was specifically noted for the development of ultra-precise accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) methods for biomedicine and work on carcinogenesis, the formation of macromolecules and low-dose pharmacokinetics …
PLS climate scientist reflects on 20 years of climate-change science
In a letter to the editors of Nature published in the November 12, 2015, edition of that journal, Lab climate scientist Ben Santer reflects on the impact of the 1995 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2nd Assessment Report, the lessons learned, and progress made since then in detecting and attributing the causes of observed changes in global climate. Santer…
