LAB REPORT

Science and Technology Making Headlines

June 17, 2016


Mid-20th century scientists envisioned a new Panama Canal blasted down to sea level with thermonuclear explosives.

From atoms to canals

When French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps first envisioned the Panama Canal in the 19th century, it would be a sea-level canal with no need for locks to move ships up and down the steep topography of the isthmus. The French and the Americans, who completed the job, however, abandoned that notion when faced with the enormous earthmoving and engineering it would require.

But after the advent of the atom bomb in 1945, scientists were trolling for “peaceful” uses for atomic energy and it struck them that A-bombs might make awesome earthmovers.

“We can move with such explosions great amounts of earth, very cheaply,” Edward Teller boasted in an early promotional film for what came to be known as Project Plowshare. It was managed out of the Lawrence Radiation Lab  (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory).

Though a key figure in the Manhattan Project, Teller turned his attention in the 1950s to finding a role for his creation in civil engineering. And what better megaproject than a whole new canal that would take the biggest ships imaginable?


LLNL scientists are using a powerful microbial detection array to identify microbes on the International Space Station.

Bugs in space

Lurking inside the International Space Station, tiny bugs prowl where astronauts sleep, exercise, eat and even where they go to the restroom.

A Lawrence Livermore team is concerned about these bugs that could harm astronauts and is using a powerful microbial detection array that can quickly identify more than 12,000 types of bacteria, viruses and other microbes.

Tracking them is critical in space. That's because months at low gravity can cause changes, even in living organisms - raising the potential that a hitchhiking microbe could evolve into something more dangerous.

The long-term goal is to develop a system that could be placed on the space station, or taken along on a mission to Mars.


Sequoia is a 20 petaFLOP/s third-generation IBM BlueGene system.

Managing megawatts

When considering the challenges of exascale computing, power is right at the top of the list.

Managing power demands is a priority at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the Department of Energy center entrusted with ensuring nuclear security for the nation. With a peak speed of 20 petaflops, the center’s top supercomputer, Sequoia, draws more than 9 MW of power, equivalent to the energy draw of more than 1,000 average homes.

When tens of megawatts of power are on the line, advanced power management is needed to balance the highly fluctuant power demands and power availability. This requires orchestration of resources and real-time insight into the entire operational facility and energy grid. Even small interruptions during high performance compute cycles can derail the job and disrupt power grid management.


Knowing dispersal patters in New York City subways gives a head start to reaction preplanners. Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

Going underground

Lawrence Livermore National Lab researchers took to the New York City subway system this spring to study how a surrogate for a biological agent, such as anthrax, might disperse throughout the nation’s largest rapid transit system as a result of a terrorist attack or an accidental release.

As part of a multi-agency test sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), a field team led by LLNL scientist Elizabeth Wheeler supervised the release of a harmless DNA-infused aerosol in Grand Central Terminal and two other major subway hubs, and helped collect environmental samples of the particles.

The data recorded during the study will give scientists a better understanding of the spread of airborne contaminants in the subway system and provide first responders with better pre-planning strategies and risk assessment in the event of an emergency, said LLNL’s Ellen Raber, who headed the overall effort.


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory chemist Sarah Baker holds a gas chromatography vial used to measure the amount of methanol produced by the enzyme-embedded polymer. Photos by George Kitrinos/LLNL

Turning gas into fuel

Lawrence Livermore scientists have combined biology and 3-D printing to create the first reactor that can continuously produce methanol from methane at room temperature and pressure.

The team removed enzymes from methanotrophs, bacteria that eat methane, and mixed them with polymers that they printed or molded into innovative reactors.

The research could lead to more efficient conversion of methane to energy production.

Advances in oil and gas extraction techniques have made vast new stores of natural gas, composed primarily of methane, available. However, a large volume of methane is leaked, vented or flared during these operations, partly because the gas is difficult to store and transport compared to more-valuable liquid fuels. Methane emissions also contribute about one-third of current net global warming potential, primarily from these and other distributed sources such as agriculture and landfills.


A public comment period has opened for the proposed names of new elements 115, 117 and 118.

New kids on the block

It's time to update the periodic table. Four new elements discovered in recent years  have now been named, pending final approval by the international group of scientists in charge of the table. Lawrence Livermore scientists were part of the team thqt discovered three of those elements.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced these proposed names:

  • Nihonium and symbol Nh, for element 113
  • Moscovium and symbol Mc, for element 115
  • Tennessine and symbol Ts, for element 117
  • Oganesson and symbol Og, for element 118

The new names are up for public comment for five months. Formal approval by the IUPAC Council will be announced in early November.

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The Lab Report is a weekly compendium of media reports on science and technology achievements at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Though the Laboratory reviews items for overall accuracy, the reporting organizations are responsible for the content in the links below.