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Physical and Life Sciences
Tracing tainted food back to its source
Imagine identifying the source of an outbreak from contaminated foods within hours instead of weeks. That's what several University of Oklahoma (OU) summer interns believe an innovative Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) technology is capable of doing.OU students Alyssa Boutelle, Michael Petri and Lauren Gilbert evaluated a new market opportunity for an…
Calculating conditions at the birth of the universe
Using a calculation originally proposed seven years ago to be performed on a petaflop computer, Lawrence Livermore researchers computed conditions that simulate the birth of the universe.When the universe was less than one microsecond old and more than one trillion degrees, it transformed from a plasma of quarks and gluons into bound states of quarks - also known as…
Construction of Large Synoptic Survey Telescope to begin
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has agreed to support the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) to manage the construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). This marks the official federal start of the LSST project, the top-ranked major ground-based facility recommended by the National Research Council's Astronomy and Astrophysics…
New project is the ACME of addressing climate change
High performance computing (HPC) will be used to develop and apply the most complete climate and Earth system model to address the most challenging and demanding climate change issues. Eight national laboratories, including Lawrence Livermore, are combining forces with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, four academic institutions and one private-sector company…
It's nanotubular: New material could be used for energy storage and conversion
Lawrence Livermore researchers have made a material that is 10 times stronger and stiffer than traditional aerogels of the same density.This ultralow-density, ultrahigh surface area bulk material with an interconnected nanotubular makeup could be used in catalysis, energy storage and conversion, thermal insulation, shock energy absorption and high energy density physics…
Scientists burst onto influential list for combustion research
Lawrence Livermore scientists Charles Westbrook and William Pitzhave been named to Thomson Reuters list of "The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds."Westbrook and Pitz are part of the 3,000 researchers who were identified by analyzing citation data over the last 11 years to recognize those who published the highest-impact work (2002-2012 and 2012-2013). The two were…
Getting more life out of lithium-ion batteries
Your cell phone may stay charged longer due to advances in modeling lithium-ion battery storage capacity.New research indicates that lithium-ion batteries could benefit from a theoretical model created at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Rice University that predicts how carbon components will perform as electrodes.The growing demand for energy storage emphasizes…
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…
