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Hart returns to head Forensic Science Center
A former researcher in the Lab's Forensic Science Center (FSC) has returned to the Laboratory to lead the center. Brad Hart, who worked as a staff scientist at the FSC from 2004 to 2009, has been named the center's director and started his new position in early October. He returns to LLNL after working for more than two years at the Washington, D.C.-based Defense…
Dick Post: A life in service to the country
Editor's note: Seventy years ago today, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, leading to the U.S. involvement in World War II. In memory of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Lab scientist Dick Post shares his experience during that tumultuous time. On Dec. 7, 1941, Dick Post was at work. He had earned his bachelor's degree from Pomona College the previous year and…
Proton beam experiments open new areas of research
By focusing proton beams using high-intensity lasers, a team of scientists have discovered a new way to heat material and create new states of matter in the laboratory. Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Hemoltz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf of…
Jan. 9 deadline for submitting clean energy proposals
Energy businesses that would like to collaborate with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory teams of experts to advance clean energy technology through high performance computing (HPC) must submit a one page letter of intent by the close of business Monday, Jan. 9. The initial call for proposals was made Oct. 25. This one-year pilot program, called the hpc4energy…
Livermore and Russian scientists propose new names for elements 114 and 116
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) today recommended new proposed 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 and Livermorium for element 116. In June 2011, the IUPAC…
Lawrence Livermore scientists provide support for launch of the Mars Science Laboratory
When an Atlas V rocket lifts the Mars Science Laboratory into space, one of the most comprehensive radiological emergency preparedness systems will be on the ground to monitor the launch. In preparation for the launch, now expected to occur this Saturday (Nov. 26), NASA has installed 30 radiological monitors -- called Environmental Continuous Air Monitors, or ECAMs -- on…
Lab entertains thousands during Science Discovery Day at AT&T Park
On Sunday, Nov. 6, more than 21,000 people crowded AT&T Park for a day of hands-on experiments, exhibits, games and shows during Science Discovery Day at AT&T Park. The event was the culmination of the Bay Area Science Festival's week-long science festivities, which featured more than 100 fun, interactive science and technology events. See more photos . During the…
Bay Area Science Festival to offer weekend fun
The Lab has been a proud supporter of the first annual Bay Area Science Festival, an event that brings together an unprecedented brain trust of the region's scientific and educational partners to produce one of the largest science-based events ever held in the United States, featuring more than 100 fun, interactive science and technology events. Before the festival comes…
Fun with Science at the Discovery Center
Family and friends of Lab employees are invited to the popular "Fun with Science" show hosted by the Public Affairs Office. Space is available for the following: Saturday, Nov. 5 Session 1: 10:30 a.m.-noonSession 2: 12:30-2 p.m.Location: Discovery Center Designed for children at the fifth grade level (though it also can be enjoyed by children younger and older), Fun with…
Lab-based PCR research most accessed article in August
A scientific paper written by a team of LLNL researchers and engineers was the most-accessed article for the month of August for the international journal Analyst . The paper, describing a device for the sub-three-minute amplification of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), was written by a team that includes lead author and chemical engineer…
Lab team helps measure femtosecond pulses of X-ray free electron
An international team including three LLNL researchers have measured for the first time the spatial and temporal coherence of a single femtosecond X-ray pulse generated by the first hard X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The LLNL team, which includes Regina Soufli, Stefan Hau-Riege and…
Reed elected to executive board of the International Council for Science
Lab Physicist Kennedy Reed was elected to the executive board of the International Council for Science (ICSU). ICSU is a non-governmental organization with a global membership of national scientific bodies (such as national scientific academies) representing 141 countries, and 30 International Scientific Unions. Reed was elected at the 30th ICSU General Assembly, which was…
Lab biophysicist invents improvement to Monte Carlo technique
Jerome P. Nilmeier, a biophysicist working in computational biology, is willing to bet his new research will provide a breakthrough in the use of the Monte Carlo probability code in biological simulations. Working with Gavin E. Crooks at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, David D. L. Minh at Argonne, and John D. Chodera, from the University of California, Berkeley, Nilmeier…
Former LLNL postdocs are PECASE recipients
Former Laboratory postdocs Fotini Katopodes Chow and Logan Liu were among the recently announced winners of this year's Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Both were nominated by LLNL.Chow, currently an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, received the award for research…
LLNL helps open a new era of plasma nuclear science
In a unique experiment recently published in Physical Review Letters , researchers used the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester to make precise measurements of a fundamental nuclear process -- the elastic scattering of neutrons off heavy forms of hydrogen. This is the first time a fundamental nuclear physics experiment has been achieved using a high-energy…
Greg Bronevetsky receives Presidential Early Career Award
The White House announced Monday that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) computer scientist Greg Bronevetsky has been named a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for helping advance the state-of-the-art in high performance computing. The Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE, is the…
Fat turnover in obese slower than average
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- It may be more difficult for obese people to lose fat because the "turnover" rate is much slower for those overweight than average weight individuals. New research in the Sept. 25 online edition of the journal Nature shows that the turnover (storage and loss rate) of fat in the human body is about 1 1/2 years compared to fat cells, which turnover about…
Compression experiments lead to shocking results
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Using acceleration 1 trillion times faster than a jet fighter in a maximum turn, researchers have gained new insight into dynamic compression of aluminum at ultrahigh strain rates. Controlled shock compression has been used for decades to examine the behavior of materials under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. Using an ultrafast…
DOE awards LLNL more than $850,000 for geothermal research
The Laboratory has received $890,000 from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to help accelerate geothermal energy technology. The main project, "Stochastic Joint Inversion for Integrated Data Interpretation in Geothermal Exploration," is led by Rob Mellors and colleagues Abe Ramirez, Bill Foxall and Xianjin Yang. The project aims to reduce resource…
An underwater adventure
Many of Bruce Warner's most vivid memories revolve around water. Some of his first recollections as a toddler are of clinging to the side of a pool, ready for swimming lessons with his twin brother, Allen. Those early lessons set the foundation for a lifetime of comfort in water, one that has come far from that dark, damp Philadelphia pool. Warner, the Lab's associate…
