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Physical and Life Sciences
Peering into giant planets from in and out of this world
Lawrence Livermore scientists for the first time have experimentally re-created the conditions that exist deep inside giant planets, such as Jupiter, Uranus and many of the planets recently discovered outside our solar system.Researchers can now re-create and accurately measure material properties that control how these planets evolve over time, information essential for…
Lab expertise tapped to understand how the brain retrieves memories
Livermore scientists are developing electrode array technology for monitoring brain activity as part of a collaborative research project with UC San Francisco to better understand how the neural circuitry of the brain works during memory retrieval.The long term goal of the research is a deeper understanding of the brain's memory processes so physicians can better treat…
Lawrence Livermore technology could screen for emerging viral diseases
A microbe detection array technology developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory(LLNL) scientists could provide a new rapid method for public health authorities to conduct surveillance for emerging viral diseases.This possible use of the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA) was studied by an international team of researchers from eight nations in a…
International research team shoots molecular movies of photosynthesis
An international team of scientists, including researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has caught a central step of photosynthesis in action for the first time.The team, led by Petra Fromme of Arizona State University, used the world's most powerful X-ray flashlight at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to record still frames of a molecular…
Lawrence Livermore scientists measure rock in a hard place
Measuring the extreme pressures and temperatures of hydrothermal systems in the Earth's crust is no easy feat.However, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have made a new tool that allows them to probe pressures up to 20 kbar (20,000 Earth atmospheres of pressure).The equation of state of the Earth's crust where water-rock interactions occur is believed to be…
Evidence of a Turbulent Beginning
Research from a Livermore-led team suggests our solar system’s birth was chaotic and included input from a nearby supernova explosion early in its evolution.
LLNL researchers define boundaries for petawatt laser absorption
The absorption of petawatt (10 15 watts) laser light by solid matter is a crucial problem that has been the subject of theoretical and experimental study for more than two decades. In a newly-published paper, Lawrence Livermore scientists have defined, for the first time, a set of theoretical boundaries for the absorption of petawatt laser light. The scientists present…
Heading toward the hydrogen highway
Lawrence Livermore scientists are working on a project that will use particles considerably smaller than the size of a human hair to improve the storage capacity of hydrogen-powered vehicles.Using $1.2 million from the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) over three years, LLNL scientist Brandon Wood said that through theory and…
Lawrence Livermore Lab awarded $5.6 million to develop next generation neural devices
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently received $5.6 million from the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an implantable neural interface with the ability to record and stimulate neurons within the brain for treating neuropsychiatric disorders.The technology will help doctors to better understand…
Students, scientists and community members hang out on Livermorium Day
Livermore students virtually got up close and personal with Lawrence Livermore scientists and Livermore Mayor John Marchand on the anniversary of Livermorium Day. Established in 2013, Marchand decreed May 30 as Livermorium Day to recognize the naming of element 116, which was named after the City Livermore and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. During a Google Hangout…
A tool to better screen and treat aneurysm patients
New research by an international consortium, including a researcher from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, may help physicians better understand the chronological development of a brain aneurysm.Using radiocarbon dating to date samples of ruptured and unruptured cerebral aneurysm (CA) tissue, the team, led by neurosurgeon Nima Etminan, found that the main structural…
Celebrate Livermorium Day events Friday, May 30
LIVERMORE, Calif. --Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the City of Livermore and the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District will be hosting a day of events, both online and downtown, to celebrate the first anniversary of Livermorium Day on Friday, May 30.Livermore Mayor John Marchand proclaimed May 30 Livermorium Day to recognize the discovery of…
Giant telescope tackles orbit and size of exoplanet
Using one of the world's largest telescopes, a Lawrence Livermore team and international collaborators have tracked the orbit of a planet at least four times the size of Jupiter.The scientists were able to identify the orbit of the exoplanet, Beta Pictoris b, which sits 63 light years from our solar system, by using the Gemini Planet Imager's (GPI) next-generation, high…
California to experience more droughts, wildfires in the future
California will experience increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks and more wildfires, according to a new report released Tuesday by the White House.The National Climate Assessment reportalso explains how California will have to deal with declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat and flooding and erosion in coastal…
Sustainability efforts recognized during ceremony
Last week, three teams of Lawrence Livermore employees were recognized for their efforts in implementing sustainability projects at the Laboratory. These projects received 2013 Sustainability Awards from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).The awards recognize exemplary individual and team performance in advancing sustainability objectives through…
Element 117, discovered by Laboratory, one step closer to being named
Element 117, first discovered by Lawrence Livermor escientists and international collaborators in 2010, is one step closer to being named.The existence of element 117 and its decay chain to elements 115 and 113 have been confirmed by a second international team led by scientists at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, an accelerator laboratory located in Darmstadt,…
Putting iron to the stress test
Using an ultrafast laser system, a group in Physical and Life Sciences at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have subjected iron to extremely rapid dynamic compression and have shown that the transition from one crystal structure to another can take place in less than 100 trillionths of a second after the compression begins.If a material is squeezed hard enough, the…
Lab researcher discovers the green in Greenland
At one point in history, Greenland was actually green and not a country covered in ice.An international team of researchers, including a former scientist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has discovered that ancient dirt in Greenland was cryogenically frozen for millions of years under nearly two miles of ice.More than 2.5 million years ago. Greenland looked…
Tiny But Mighty Potential Allies in the Toxic Metal Cleanup Effort
Livermore microbiologist Yongqin Jiao is midway through a five-year study to investigate how certain aerobic bacteria interact with uranium in aquatic environments.
Climate scientist aims to clear the air on clouds
Mark Zelinka has his head in the clouds.The researcher in the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison is delving into research on how climate change affects cloud properties and vice versa.Using detailed data from satellites and climate models, Zelinka, who was recently converted from a postdoc to staff scientist, examines the vertical structure and optical…
