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U.S. scientists celebrate Nobel Prize for Higgs discovery
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in physics today to theorists Peter Higgs and Francois Englert to recognize their work developing the theory of what is now known as the Higgs field, which gives elementary particles mass.U.S. scientists, including researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), played a significant role in…
Physicist Jim Hammer receives prestigious Edward Teller Award
Jim Hammer, a physicist in the Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate (WCI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is a recipient of the 2013 Edward Teller Medal.The Fusion Energy Division of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) presented the award recently during the International Inertial Fusion Science Applications (IFSA) conference in Nara, Japan. Hammer was…
Lawrence Livermore to build advanced laser system in Czech Republic
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), through Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (LLNS), has been awarded more than $45 million to develop and deliver a state-of-the-art laser system for the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility ( ELI-Beamlines ), under construction in Dolni Brezany near Prague in the Czech…
Elizondo 'marries' Laboratory technologies to U.S. industry
Lab scientists and engineers, as well as U.S. businesses, often turn to people like Catherine Elizondo. Elizondo, a business development executive (BDE) in the Laboratory's Industrial Partnerships Office (IPO), has been "marrying" Lab technologies to U.S. businesses for 16 years. "It's challenging, it's satisfying, and I learn something new every day," Elizondo says of her…
Lab researchers achieve record pressure for solid iron
Iron is the most abundant element in Earth's core and the sixth most abundant element in the universe. As a key component of terrestrial planets and exoplanets, iron has been one of the most studied materials under extreme conditions.In a series of campaigns led by the Lab's Yuan Ping using the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of…
Microbial who-done-it for biofuels
One of the keys to commercialization of advanced biofuels is the development of cost-competitive ways to extract fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. The use of enzymes from thermophiles -- microbes that thrive at extremely high temperatures and alkaline conditions -- holds promise for achieving this development. Finding the most effective of these microbial…
Lab scientist and engineers train to be inspectors for Test Ban Treaty Organization
The Laboratory's Don Felske, Walter Dekin and Sean Ford have traveled to the corners of the globe to train as on-site surrogate inspectors for the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Training has been held in Austria, Jordan, South Korea and, most recently, Hungary. Of the five U.S. surrogate inspectors selected for…
Lawrence Livermore celebrates 25 years of carbon dating
From developing the first accelerator mass spectrometer for use in the biology field to tracking radionuclides from the Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, the Laboratory's Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) has spent 25 years in the spotlight of not only dating ancient artifacts but solving global challenges.CAMS is celebrating its 25th anniversary this…
Carbon dating impacts non-proliferation, drug research and climate change
Research conducted at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) spans the universe, the depths of time and everything in between. Although not all elements and isotopes are able to be utilized by AMS, CAMS' researchers make the most of what nuclear physics has given them.Here is a sampling of some of the many ways CAMS is utilized, along with the important…
Laboratory academy provides teachers with 'real world' context to teach science
LIVERMORE, Calif., - California and Hawaii teachers seeking real-world knowledge to teach biotech and computational modeling are attending the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Teacher Research Academy that began on July 22.The academy is a summer-long series of professional development workshops for teachers and enrichment programs for students. The programs…
Lawrence Livermore captures five R&D 100 awards
LIVERMORE, Calif.--Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers are the recipients of five awards among the top 100 industrial innovations worldwide in 2012. The five technologies honored by the trade journal R&D Magazine were developed by three teams of LLNL scientists and engineers, a team of Lab physicists and two LLNL computational scientists who worked with…
Veteran overcomes obstacles on path to Engineering internship
(Editor's note: Among an outstanding group of summer students currently at the Lab is an engineering student who has overcome several significant obstacles. Eric Browy was wounded while serving our country in Iraq, and is currently working on a master's degree in optical science and engineering at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He shares his story about…
Livermorium goes down in the history books
Laboratory employees and city officials celebrated the discovery of the two heaviest elements on the periodic table -- 114, Flerovium, and 116, Livermorium -- during a daylong celebration Monday. The day started with a colloquium hosted by the Laboratory, titled "Elemental Science: Livermorium and the Periodic Table," with distinguished lecturers in the Bldg. 123…
Livermore scientists capture crystallization of materials in nanoseconds
Lawrence Livermore researchers for the first time have created movies of irreversible reactions that occur too rapidly to capture with conventional microscopy.The team used multi-frame, nanosecond-scale imaging in the dynamic transmission electron microscope (DTEM) to create movies of the crystallization of phase change materials used for optical and resistive memory. A…
Weapons testing data determines brain makes new neurons into adulthood
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Using data derived from nuclear weapons testing of the 1950s and '60s, Lawrence Livermore scientists have found that a small portion of the human brain involved in memory makes new neurons well into adulthood.The research may have profound impacts on human behavior and mental health. The study supports the importance of investigating the therapeutic…
Local high school seniors receive Edward Teller science scholarships
Five local high school seniors from Livermore and Tracy have been awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's prestigious Edward Teller Science Scholarship.The awards, instituted in 2004 in honor of the late Dr. Teller, renowned physicist and Lab co-founder, are given annually by the Laboratory to graduating seniors who excel in science studies.This year's award…
Alan Alda awards Lawrence Livermore engineer for making science understandable
What is time? How would you explain it to a 5th grader? Nick Williams, a retired engineer and science presenter from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory not only has done a fine job of conveying the concept of time to 11 year olds, he's being recognized for it. Williams took top honors in the written category of The Flame Challenge, a global science contest run by the…
Livermore scientists develop CO2 sequestration technique that produces 'supergreen' hydrogen fuel, offsets ocean acidification
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Lawrence Livermore scientists have discovered and demonstrated a new technique to remove and store atmospheric carbon dioxide while generating carbon-negative hydrogen and producing alkalinity, which can be used to offset ocean acidification.The team demonstrated, at a laboratory scale, a system that uses the acidity normally produced in saline water…
Nine scientists named Distinguished Members of Technical Staff
Nine Laboratory scientists have joined the ranks of 14 other researchers by being named members of the Lab's Distinguished Members of Technical Staff (DMTS) for their extraordinary scientific and technical contributions to the Laboratory and its missions as acknowledged by their professional peers and the larger community. Maya Gokhale of the Computation Directorate, Ernst…
Next 'Science on Saturday' lecture: The 'bio' in biofuels
"The 'Bio' in Biofuels: New Energy from Ancient Life," by Lab scientists Michael Thelen and Rhona Stuart, and Tracy High School teacher Ken Wedel, is the fourth and final lecture in the Science on Saturday series to be held Feb. 23 at the Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. Two presentations will be offered -- 9:30 and 11:15 a.m.The most ancient forms of life,…
