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Physical and Life Sciences
LLNL researcher awarded $2.4 million from NIH
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Pejman Naraghi-Arani has been awarded $2.4 million by the National Institutes of Health under the Partnerships for Biodefense Program, which aims to develop various tools that can be applied to detect, mitigate the effects of or protect against a biological terrorism attack. Naraghi-Arani and partners, including the…
Lab dominates technology transfer awards
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory once again is receiving honors for its efforts to move breakthrough ideas from the Lab into the marketplace. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer is a national network of federal laboratories that develops strategies and opportunities for connecting the labs to the marketplace. Since it was…
Moon and Earth may be younger than originally thought
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- New research using a technique that measures the isotopes of lead and neodymium in lunar crustal rocks shows that the moon and Earth may be millions of years younger than originally thought. The common estimate of the moon's age is as old as 4.5 billion years old (roughly the same age as the solar system) as determined by mineralogy and chemical…
Lab and Spain sign agreement to collaborate on fusion
The Laboratory has signed a memorandum of understanding to engage in joint research and to promote the exchange of personnel with Spain's Instituto de Fusion Nuclear (IFN), a research institute of the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM) to explore the highest level of nuclear fusion research. The Laboratory and IFN have had a long history of collaboration; the MOU…
Lindl, Rosen, Santer and Spencer named Distinguished Members Technical Staff
Four Laboratory employees have been named 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. John Lindl of the NIF and Photon Science Principal Directorate, Mordy Rosen of the Weapons Complex and Integration…
LLNL's Yuan Ping receives 2011 Katherine E. Weimer Award
Lab researcher Yuan Ping of the Physics Division has been named the recipient of the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics (APS-DPP) 2011 Katherine E. Weimer Award. The award, established in 2001, recognizes the contribution and potential of women in plasma science and is given every three years to a female physicist in the first 10 years of her career. …
National Science Board authorizes LSST preliminary design review
The National Science Board has given permission for the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct a preliminary design review for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).Livermore has played a pivotal role in the LSST project over the last decade, including: development of the overall optical design, leadership in the…
LLNL set to host International Lattice Physics Conference
Next week, nearly 400 scientists from around the world will converge at the pristine mountains near Lake Tahoe to discuss all aspects of physics related to the fundamental particles of nature, quarks and gluons that form the matter we observe within our visible universe. They also will discuss the physics of new particles that may be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider…
From the stars to nuclear forensics
Using an instrument originally developed to probe the minute amounts of stellar dust found in meteorites, Kim Knight has developed a technique to analyze raw materials to determine the fallout from a nuclear explosion. Called Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry or RIMS, Knight and LLNL colleague Ian Hutcheon, along with collaborators at Argonne National Laboratory and…
Yang elected to Fellowship in Institute of Physics
Lab physicist Lin Yang of the Condensed Matter and Materials Division (CMMD) has been named a fellow of the Institute of Physics in recognition of his "personal contribution to the advancement of physics as a discipline and a profession," as well as for his work in dual areas of multi-discipline physics. "It's truly an honor to be recognized for something that I enjoy…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory opens High Performance Computing Innovation Center for collaboration with industry
In an initiative that aims to boost the nation's economic competitiveness, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory today announced the opening of the High Performance Computing Innovation Center (HPCIC).The innovation center will facilitate national lab/industry collaboration, applying high performance computing to product design, development and manufacturing, data…
Increased production of smelly sulfur compound in Southern Ocean tied to climate change
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- An organic compound that smells like cabbage and has been called the "smell of the sea" could be more sensitive to global climate change than commonly believed. In a recent report, a Livermore researcher, along with colleagues from Los Alamos and Oak Ridge national laboratories and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, found through…
New form of girl's best friend is lighter than ever
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- By combining high pressure with high temperature, Livermore researchers have created a nanocyrstalline diamond aerogel that could improve the optics for something as big as a telescope or as small as the lenses in eyeglasses. Aerogels are a class of materials that exhibit the lowest density, thermal conductivity, refractive index and sound velocity of…
Laboratory scientists win three Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Three Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have earned $7.5 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 Ph.D. and are either untenured assistant professors on the tenure track,…
Foot and mouth disease may spread through shedding skin cells
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Skin cells shed from livestock infected with foot and mouth disease could very well spread the disease.In a new paper appearing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Michael Dillon proposed that virus-infected skin cells could be a source of infectious foot and mouth disease virus aerosols. His…
Preventing close encounters of the orbiting kind
Each day, hundreds of active satellites as well as tens of thousands of pieces of "space junk" -- defunct satellites, bits of booster rockets and lost astronaut tools -- orbit Earth.This space junk became front page news two years ago, when a defunct Russian satellite and a privately owned American communications satellite collided near the North Pole. The incident…
Hydrocarbons in the deep earth
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- A new computational study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how hydrocarbons may be formed from methane in deep Earth at extreme pressures and temperatures. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of hydrocarbons at high pressures and temperatures are important for understanding carbon reservoirs and fluxes in…
Livermore researchers develop battery-less chemical detector
Unlike many conventional chemical detectors that require an external power source, Lawrence Livermore researchers have developed a nanosensor that relies on semiconductor nanowires, rather than traditional batteries. The device overcomes the power requirement of traditional sensors and is simple, highly sensitive and can detect various molecules quickly. Its development…
LLNL microbial biologist inducted into Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame
One of the developers of a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory device that could assist in detecting bioterrorism attacks, diagnosing diseases and checking product safety will be honored Saturday. For her achievements, LLNL molecular biologist Crystal Jaing will be inducted into the Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame (WHOF) during the 18th annual awards ceremony, set…
LLNL gamma ray spectrometer aboard spacecraft due to start orbiting around Mercury
When a NASA spacecraft goes into orbit around Mercury Thursday evening, a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers will be paying close attention. During 2002 and 2003, the LLNL scientists developed a germanium-based gamma ray spectrometer that has been winging its way aboard the Mercury MESSENGER (short for MErcury Surface, Space Environment,…
