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Physical and Life Sciences
NIF team wins esteemed plasma physics award
A far-reaching discovery about laser-matter interaction with important implications for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) has led to the selection of a team of researchers named recipients of the 2012 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research. The award, established by the American Physical Society, will be presented to LLNL researchers Debbie Callahan…
Lab to collaborate with NASA Ames Research Center
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) in Mountain View, Calif., have agreed to collaborate by sharing technology and resources on technical areas of national interest, including space missions, energy and advanced computing. LLNL director Parney Albright and ARC director Pete Worden signed the agreement Thursday in Livermore,…
Lawrence Livermore researchers delve into airborne particulates
For the first time, Lawrence Livermore researchers and international collaborators have peered into the makeup of complex airborne particulate matter so small that it can be transported into human lungs -- usually without a trace. The structure of micron-size particulate matter is important in a wide range of fields from toxicology to climate science (tobacco smoke and oil…
Lawrence Livermore wins six R&D Awards for science, technological innovation
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have won six awards for their efforts in developing breakthrough technologies with commercial potential. See video . R&D Magazine announced the winners of its annual R&D 100 Awards, sometimes called the "Oscars of Invention" on Wednesday. The awards will be presented Nov. 1 during a black-tie dinner at the SeaWorld…
NuSTAR opens out of this world view thanks to Lab technology
For astrophysicist Bill Craig and his team, NASA's NuSTAR will open up a whole new world. In fact, NuSTAR will allow them to observe a new class of objects in space, called extreme objects, which have never been seen. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (or NuSTAR), is the first focusing, high energy X-ray NASA satellite that will open the hard X-ray sky for…
Perez wins EPS Plasma Physics Ph.D. Research Award
LLNL postdoc Frederic Perez is one of three recipients of this year's Ph.D. Research Award from the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society (EPS). Perez will receive his award during the 39th EPS plasma physics conference, held in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 2-6. Perez received the award for his work on his doctoral thesis, "Study of supra-thermal electron…
Research shows humans are primary cause of global ocean warming over past 50 years
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- The oceans have warmed in the past 50 years, but not by natural events alone. New research by a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and international collaborators shows that the observed ocean warming over the last 50 years is consistent with climate models only if the models include the impacts of observed increases in…
Livermore students speak live with astronauts in space
Students at Livermore's Junction Avenue School had an opportunity that was "out of this world." They got the chance on Wednesday to talk with three astronauts via an in-flight education downlink from the International Space Station (ISS). The entire school's student body -- from kindergarten to 8th grade -- assembled in two locations to watch the videoconference. "What a…
Lawrence Livermore research identifies precise measurement of radiation damage
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have for the first time simulated and quantified the early stages of radiation damage that will occur in a given material. "A full understanding of the early stages of the radiation damage process provides knowledge and tools to manipulate them to our advantage," said Alfredo Correa, a Lawrence Fellow…
Media advisory: Lawrence Livermore, Livermore school district to host NASA space station downlink
WHO: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District are teaming up to give students the opportunity to talk with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. WHAT: After submitting an application to NASA's education program, Livermore's Junction Avenue School was selected to host an in-flight education downlink,…
LLNL study finds current lemurs retreated to riparian environs
The extinction of several species of lemurs has had a profound effect on the lemurs of today. In a new study appearing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers have found that the extinction of at least 17 species of lemurs during the last 2,000 years in Madagascar has helped determine where today's lemurs are living and breeding. The study may provide…
Livermorium and Flerovium join the periodic table of elements
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) today officially approved new names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table. Scientists of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-Dubna collaboration proposed the names as Flerovium for element 114, with the symbol Fl, and Livermorium for element 116, with…
Guilderson takes the guess work out of climate change
Climate change and the carbon cycle are tied so closely that geochemist Tom Guilderson can study an isotope of carbon and find out how the climate has varied in the past, how rapidly it changed and the external and internal factors that may have affected it. That was the subject of Guilderson's talk "Radiocarbon: Chronometer and Geochemical Tracer of the Carbon Cycle,"…
Optical Society of America names Seppala senior member
Lynn Seppala has been named a senior member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), an international society for optics and photonics scientists, engineers, educators and business leaders. Senior membership status recognizes members with more than 10 years of significant experience and professional accomplishments or service in their fields. Seppala, a senior optical…
New CO2-removing catalyst can take the heat
The current method of removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flues of coal-fired power plants uses so much energy that no one bothers to use it. So says Roger Aines, principal investigator for a team that has developed an entirely new catalyst for separating out and capturing CO2, one that mimics a naturally occurring catalyst operating in our lungs…
Lab seismic research on display at California Academy of Sciences
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory seismologists will be on hand Wednesday at the media premiere of the California Academy of Sciences' new show, "Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet." "Earthquake" is a new planetarium show and major exhibit that will open to the public on May 26. The show will launch visitors on a tour through space and time -- flying over the…
Laboratory scientists win four Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Four Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have earned $10 million in funding through the Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Program (ECRP). "Early career" is defined as principal investigators (PIs) who are within 10 years of receiving a doctorate and are either untenured assistant professors on the tenure track,…
New research shows brain injuries from blasts similar to football impacts
In an advance that may someday provide health benefits for soldiers and athletes, a team of researchers has discovered a mechanism that could be the cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in blast-exposed soldiers. The breakthrough study, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine , finds that the brain injuries suffered by soldiers from improvised…
Graphite enters different states of matter in ultrafast experiment
For the first time, scientists have seen an X-ray-irradiated mineral go to two different states of matter in about 40 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second). Using the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford, Stefan Hau-Riege of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and…
Lawrence Livermore work may improve the efficiency of the biofuel production cycle
By deciphering the makeup of a bacterium found in the soil of a tropical rain forest, scientists may have a better understanding of how to more efficiently produce biofuels. The production of liquid fuels derived from plant biomass offers a promising technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. While sugars stored within the plant cell…
