News

Lab researchers land geothermal energy award

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory engineers Tom Edmunds and Pedro Sotorrio have been honored by the Geothermal Energy Association for their significant contributions during the past year to advancing technology, spurring economic development and protecting the environment.Edmunds and Sotorrio, of the computational engineering division at LLNL, received a special recognition award...

Simulations improve understanding of crystalline HMX explosives

Computer simulations exploring the effects of shock waves on crystalline HMX, performed by Ryan Austin, a staff scientist in Engineering’s Computational Engineering Division, and a team of LLNL researchers, are featured on the cover of the May 14 issue of the Journal of Applied Physics.The work, funded by the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program, is part of a broader research...

Grass fire extinguished at Site 300

CAL FIRE and Alameda County firefighters have extinguished a grass fire at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Site 300. The approximately 168-acre fire began at 8:19 p.m. Friday and was contained by 9:51 p.m. Fire crews were released at 1:47 a.m. Saturday.An aluminized mylar party balloon that landed between two wires of an overhead 12 kilovolt line caused a short circuit and sparked...

Lawrence Livermore researchers named senior members by the Optical Society of America

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers Tiziana Bond and Jean Michel Di Nicola were recently named senior members of the Optical Society (OSA), an international society for optics and photonics scientists, engineers, educators and business leaders. Senior membership status recognizes members with more than 10 years of significant experience and professional accomplishments or...

Fusion could be 'ZaPped' into reality

With funding from the Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of Washington (UW) will work to advance the sheared-flow stabilized Z-pinch concept and assess its potential for scaling to fusion conditions.Fusion is the same energy that powers the sun and the stars, and scientists have worked for years to create the same power on Earth. The...

Community Gift Program accepting applications

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) is accepting applications for its annual Community Gift Program for 2015.LLNS manages the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration.Established in 2008, the Community Gift Program provides a total of $100,000 in awards to support nonprofit organizations addressing science...

Unraveling the origins of lunar swirls

As the closest object in the night sky, Earth’s moon and its craters have long been studied. These craters, visible with the naked eye, have been formed over billions of years by impacts from both asteroids and comets.A new study recently published in the journal Icarus, led by Megan Bruck Syal of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, examines how cometary impacts may transform the surface...

Supplying the 'life-blood' of science

Located one-and-a-half floors underground in LLNL's Bldg. 151, the Nuclear Counting Facility (NCF) leverages its well-shielded, low-background environment to accurately measure nuclear materials for the National ignition Facility (NIF) and a variety of other Laboratory programs.The NCF has been providing high-sensitivity radiation measurements since the inception of radiochemical diagnostics...

Lawrence Livermore breaks ground on unclassified supercomputing facility

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory broke ground today on a modular and sustainable supercomputing facility that will provide a flexible infrastructure able to accommodate the Laboratory’s growing demand for high performance computing (HPC).The $9.875 million building, located on the Laboratory’s east side, will ensure computer room space to support the Advanced Simulation and Computing...

Space available in Teacher Research Academies

Space is still available for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) 2015 Teacher Research Academies (TRA), which kicks off in June. The TRA offers middle and high school science teachers and community college faculty professional development curriculum during the summer months at the Edward Teller Education Center (ETEC) at LLNL. Teachers are given the opportunity to learn about...

Lawrence Livermore researchers help biomed company land FDA approval for Ebola detection

Researchers from LLNL and three other institutions have assisted a Bay Area biomedical company in advancing its Ebola virus detection test for use.Sunnyvale-based Cepheid has received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to utilize its polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay for diagnostic purposes."We received a Cepheid GeneXpert system, as well...

Lawrence Livermore scientists move one step closer to mimicking gamma-ray bursts

Using ever more energetic lasers, Lawrence Livermore researchers have produced a record high number of electron-positron pairs, opening exciting opportunities to study extreme astrophysical processes, such as black holes and gamma-ray bursts.By performing experiments using three laser systems — Titan at Lawrence Livermore, Omega-EP at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (link is external) and...

11 Lawrence Livermore scientists named Distinguished Members of Technical Staff

LIVERMORE, California – Eleven Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers 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.Gilbert (Rip) Collins of Physical and Life Sciences (PLS), Dale Darling of Global...

Students have a 'mind blowing' day at the Lab

It was no ordinary day for 20 high school students from Galt High School’s Biomedical, Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) Academy, who were given a break from the classroom to embark on a memorable field trip to the Laboratory earlier this week.The Galt High School BEST Academy, sanctioned by the National Academy Foundation and accredited through Project Lead the Way, provides an...

The art of hand-polishing precision optics

Growing up in a household of artists and engineers, Peter Thelin was destined for a career in which artistry mattered. Only for him, art has come in the form of manipulating the shapes, sizes and qualities of optics. And now, as one of the few remaining practitioners of hand-polishing optics, Thelin is passing his artistry along to the next generation of optics specialists."Art is anything...

Lawrence Livermore researchers use seismic signals to track above-ground explosions

Lawrence Livermore researchers have determined that a tunnel bomb explosion by Syrian rebels was less than 60 tons as claimed by sources.Using seismic stations in Turkey, Livermore scientists Michael Pasyanos and Sean Ford created a method to determine source characteristics of near-earth surface explosions. They found the above-ground tunnel bomb blast under the Wadi al-Deif Army Base near...

American energy use up slightly, carbon emissions almost unchanged

Americans' energy use continued to grow slowly in 2014, fueled by increases in the use of natural gas, wind and solar, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.Each year, the Laboratory releases charts that illustrate the nation's consumption and use of energy. Overall, Americans used 0.9 quadrillion (quads) British thermal units (BTUs...

Lawrence Livermore technology could help detect diseases in commercial swine industry

Agricultural officials who seek to detect diseases affecting the commercial swine industry may gain a new ally — a biological detection system developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers.A study by LLNL and Kansas State University scientists found that the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA) could help identify diseases in the commercial swine...

Climbing the mountain of fusion ignition: an interview with Omar Hurricane

LLNL Distinguished Scientist Omar Hurricane, chief scientist for the Laboratory’s Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program, is at the forefront of the drive to achieve nuclear fusion with energy gain for the first time in a laboratory. In a wide-ranging interview with NIF & Photon Science News, Hurricane outlines the NIF strategy for moving toward ignition and describes the challenges...

Lawrence Livermore climate scientist earns Early Career Research award

Lawrence Livermore’s Yunyan Zhang, a climate scientist in the cloud process group within the Atmospheric, Earth and Energy Division, has earned $2.5 million for research to improve the understanding of how soil moisture and surface diversity affect cloud formation and precipitation. As the recipient of the Department of Energy Early Career Research Program (ECRP), Zhang will receive $500,000...