News

Research reveals where carbon storage in soils has the most potential

Soil is the largest terrestrial reservoir of organic carbon and is central for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Mineral-organic associations play a critical role in soil carbon preservation, but the global capacity for storage in this form has never been quantified. New research from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and an international team of collaborators...

LLNL intern fabricates carbon aerogel structures for energy-storage applications

A visit to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) last summer by a university professor led to a unique internship opportunity for an undergraduate student this summer: helping LLNL scientists fabricate higher-performing carbon aerogel structures for electrodes and other energy-storage applications. In 2021, Professor Anthony Santamaria from Western New England (WNE) University in...

DOE announces new funding for High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the latest funding round for the High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) initiative, awarding $3 million for 10 projects applying DOE supercomputing to advance clean energy technologies and improve manufacturing efficiency. HPC4EI is the umbrella initiative for the HPC4Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) and HPC4Materials (HPC4Mtls)...

LLNL physicist Debbie Callahan receives fusion leadership award

The Fusion Power Associates (FPA) Board of Directors has selected Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Debbie Callahan as a recipient of its 2022 Leadership Award. Callahan will receive the award at the Fusion Power Associates 43rd Annual Meeting and Symposium, Dec. 7–8, in Washington, D.C. Kathryn McCarthy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory also was selected to...

Lawrence Livermore National Security now accepting applications for the 2022 Community Gift Program

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), the contract manager for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), is now accepting applications for its 2022 Community Gift Program. Established in 2008, the LLNS Community Gift Program provides annual awards to support nonprofit organizations addressing STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education...

Oxygen effects on uranium tested

A team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of Michigan has found that the rate of cooling in reactions dramatically affects the type of uranium molecules that form. The team’s experimental work, conducted over about a year-and-a-half starting in October 2020, attempts to help understand what uranium compounds might form in the environment...

LLNL cancer research goes exascale

A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) team will be among the first researchers to perform work on the world’s first exascale supercomputer — Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier — when they use the system to model cancer-causing protein mutations. Led by Harsh Bhatia, a computer scientist in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) at LLNL, the team was awarded...

American Society of Safety Professionals honors Tom Kohut with safety award

The American Society of Safety Professionals, San Francisco Chapter, has awarded Tom Kohut, an operations manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), with the “Managers Who Get Safety” award. The award is presented to operational managers who have demonstrated significant leadership in safety at all levels of their organization through active...

LLNL helping create a cryo target capability for French laser facility

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are collaborating with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, known as CEA, to help develop a cryogenic target system for the CEA’s Laser Mégajoule (LMJ). The LMJ is a laser fusion counterpart to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), now conducting experiments near Bordeaux, France. Like NIF, the LMJ intends...

Andean glaciers reacted in unison with polar ice in changing climate

For the first time, scientists have shown that glaciers in the tropical Andes mountains have been in sync with polar ice extent in Antarctica and the Arctic for nearly a million years. New research by an international team, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Christine Y. Chen, records glacier movement in the Southern Hemisphere that dates back hundreds of...

NIF welcomes 100,000th visitor

When the 100,000th visitor to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) walked through the door last month, there were no bells or whistles. But it was a monumental moment. “Ever since groundbreaking, NIF has attracted visitors because of its sheer size, mission and reputation as the world’s largest and most energetic laser facility,” says NIF Operations Manager Bruno Von Wonterghem. “One...

LUX-ZEPLIN Dark Matter Detector at Sanford Underground Research Facility delivers its first result

Deep below the Black Hills of South Dakota in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), an innovative and uniquely sensitive dark matter detector — the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) — has passed a check-out phase of startup operations and delivered its first results. In a paper posted online today on the experiment’s website...

UC Merced students work with LLNL mentors on potential new drugs to combat COVID-19

Students from the University of California, Merced worked with mentors at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to identify drug compounds that could be used to treat COVID-19 during a two-week Data Science Challenge (DSC) that concluded on June 6. For the first time in the DSC series since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Lab mentors visited the college campus to provide in...

It’s only natural: separation and purification of rare-earth elements by microorganisms

Using naturally occurring and engineered proteins and bacteria, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators will separate and purify rare-earth elements so they can be used in the defense sector. Under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program, the team was awarded an initial $4...

3D printing allows for faster charging and higher-energy-density lithium-ion batteries

The next generations of lithium-ion batteries require higher energy and power densities at a lower cost. Current battery manufacturing, based on slurry casting and coating, is struggling to further improve these key metrics. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is partnering with Ampcera Inc. to develop solvent-free Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) additive manufacturing...

Breaking the strongest chemical bonds with laser shock compression

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists recently obtained high-precision thermodynamic data on warm dense nitrogen at extreme conditions that could lead to a better understanding of the interiors of celestial objects like white dwarfs and exoplanets. The team, which includes researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Rochester, used an...

LLNL researchers chart progress in architected materials that respond to external stimuli

Recent advances in pre-programmed architected materials could enable new functions that can evolve in response to their environments or external stimuli, according to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers. In a paper published by Nature Reviews Materials, LLNL researchers provide an overview of the progress made in responsive architected materials that can morph into a...

Two LLNL scientists earn E.O. Lawrence Award

Two Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are recipients of the prestigious 2021 E.O. Lawrence Award that recognizes mid-career U.S. scientists and engineers for exceptional scientific, technical and engineering achievements related to the broad missions of the Department of Energy (DOE) and its programs. Jennifer Pett-Ridge was recognized for her research in...

NNSA Administrator Hruby dedicates LLNL’s new Emergency Operations Center and computing facility upgrade

On June 15, Department of Energy Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Jill Hruby dedicated two critical infrastructure projects at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), part of a three-day visit to the Lab. Hruby attended ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the Exascale Computing Facility Modernization (ECFM)...

Nuclear forensics international group to hold 25th anniversary meeting at Livermore

After a little more than 25 years, the Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group (ITWG) is returning to its roots in Livermore, California. Founded in 1995 during an organizational meeting held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the ITWG met in Europe for 24 straight years from 1996 through 2019. But this year and this week, the international organization...