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Physical and Life Sciences
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope deemed top priority ground-based astronomical facility
LIVERMORE, Calif. — The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), in which Lawrence Livermore plays a large role, has been ranked by a key scientific committee as the top priority for the next large ground-based astronomical facility.In a recent report, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics , a committee convened by the National Research Council for the…
Diamond experiments yield hard results
Most people know that diamond is one of the hardest solids on Earth, so strong that it can easily cut through glass and steel.Surprisingly, very little is known about the strength of diamond at extreme conditions. But new research by Laboratory scientists shows that diamond becomes even stronger during rapid compression.Using the Janus laser at LLNL and the OMEGA laser at…
Squeezing out information about 'super Earth' planets
By using a high-power laser to dynamically compress materials to high pressures, scientists have developed a new technique to identify phase transitions that may one day reveal the interior structure of "super Earth" planets. Phase transition kinetics are the time-dependent changes that materials undergo when transforming from one structure to another, whether it's a gas,…
