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Physical and Life Sciences
Carbon nanotubes mimic biology
Proteins in lipid membranes are one of the fundamental building blocks of biological functionality. Lawrence Livermore researchers have figured out how to mimic their role using carbon nanotube porins. Using high-speed, atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM), the team showed that a new type of biomimetic channel — carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs) — also is laterally mobile in…
Detonation Science Blasts into a New Frontier
At Lawrence Livermore, a key aspect of stockpile stewardship includes fine-tuning and experimentally observing HE detonation processes and developing computer models to predict the behavior of different HEs. Over the last several decades, HE detonation science has progressed toward higher resolution experimental and modeling capabilities that explore initiation processes,…
Charcoal could limit uptake of radioactive elements into Marshall Islands food chain
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have conducted a series of laboratory and field experiments that explore the effects of adding biochar, a porous charcoal that looks like black landscaping bark, to the soil to limit the cesium (Cs) uptake into foods grown in the Marshall Islands. From 1946 to 1958, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons at…
Peering at the crystal structure of lithium
Elemental metals usually form simple, close-packed crystalline structures. Though lithium (Li) is considered a typical simple metal, its crystal structure at ambient pressure and low temperature remains unknown. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers recently came up with a technique to obtain structural information for Li at conditions where traditional…
Graduate students earn awards to work at LLNL
Three graduate students have earned Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program awards to perform their doctoral dissertation research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The prestigious award helps cover living expenses and travel for 53 students from universities across the nation. Their proposed research projects…
Félicie Albert receives APS award
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist Félicie Albert received the 2017 Katherine E. Weimer Award by the American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics (DPP). The award will be presented during the DPP annual meeting the week of Oct. 23-27 in Wisconsin. Albert was awarded "For pioneering development and characterization of X-ray sources from laser…
Probing the possibility of life on 'super-Earths'
Along with its aesthetic function of helping create the glorious Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, the powerful magnetic field surrounding our planet has a fairly important practical value as well: It makes life possible. By deflecting harmful charged particles from the sun and the cosmic rays that constantly bombard the planet, and preventing the solar wind from…
Lab scientist finds Jupiter is one old-timer
An international group of scientists has found that Jupiter is the oldest planet in our solar system. By looking at tungsten and molybdenum isotopes on iron meteorites, the team, made up of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Institut für Planetologie at the University of Münster in Germany, found that meteorites are made up from two genetically…
Lab works toward turning carbon into dollars
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and collaborators are looking for a way to take carbon out of the air and make money doing it. The Center for Carbon Removal, in partnership with Lawrence Livermore and several academic and research institutions, launched a new industrial innovation initiative this week with the goal of developing solutions that transform waste…
From the Laboratory to the World
Yongqin Jiao is the principal investigator of MicroMiners, a project focused on rare-earth bioadsorption, or using genetically engineered bacteria to recover rare-earth elements from sources where levels are so low that recovery by ordinary means would be prohibitively expensive.
Scholarship awards highlight Livermorium Day
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) handed out the 2017 Edward Teller science scholarship awards to two Livermore high school students last week as the city celebrated the fifth anniversary of Livermorium Day, recognizing the Lab’s contribution to the discovery of superheavy element 116. Local dignitaries, Lab employees and community members gathered for the…
NIF technology could revolutionize 3D printing
A technology originally developed to smooth out and pattern high-powered laser beams for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) can be used to 3D print metal objects faster than ever before, according to a new study by Lawrence Livermore researchers. A team of Lab scientists report the findings in the latest issue of Optics Express, published online on May 15. This new…
Laser tracks therapeutics, nutrients, toxins
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have developed a laser-based tabletop device to measure carbon-14 (radiocarbon). In biological systems, carbon-14 (14C ) can be used as a biochemical tracer to track micro-doses of nutrients, toxins and therapeutics in humans and animals. For example, the 14C can be tacked on to a vitamin. When a human ingests the…
Lawrence Livermore unveils 'heart-on-a-chip'
Prescription drugs have enabled millions of Americans with chronic medical conditions to live longer and more fulfilling lives, but many promising new drugs never make it to the human trials stage due to the potential for cardiac toxicity. Through "heart-on-a-chip" technology — modeling a human heart on an engineered chip and measuring the effects of compound exposure on…
Lab developed aerodynamic devices improve tractor trailer fuel efficiency
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, as part of a Navistar SuperTruck I team, helped design a new type of tractor-trailer truck that significantly improves fuel economy. The new SuperTruck vehicle achieved 13 mpg on public roads and a 104 percent freight efficiency improvement. Forty-eight percent of this improvement comes from aerodynamic…
CASTing new limits on the dark matter search
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, along with international collaborators, are on a mission to find particles contributing to dark matter, which is expected to make up most of the matter in the universe. In a paper published May 2 in Nature Physics, the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) at CERN presented new results on the properties of axions --…
Lab breakthrough in 3D printing of glass
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and academic collaborators have demonstrated the synthesis of transparent glass through 3D printing, a development that could ultimately lead to altering the design and structure of lasers and other devices that incorporate optics. A team of LLNL researchers, along with scientists from the University of Minnesota and…
A new way to examine space, bugs and bones
A novel way to harness lasers and plasmas may give researchers new ways to explore outer space and to examine bugs, tumors and bones back on planet Earth. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Félicie Albert led an international team pursuing this new regime in laser research, which was described in a Physical Review Letters (PRL) paper published online…
Research comes through with flying colors
Like a chameleon changing colors to blend into the environment, Lawrence Livermore researchers have created a technique to change the color of assembled nanoparticles with an electrical stimulant. The team used core/shell nanoparticles to improve color contrast and expand color schemes by using a combination of pigmentary color (from inherent properties) and structural…
Tweaking a molecule's structure can send it down a different path to crystallization
Silky chocolate, a more effective medical drug or solar panels all require the same thing: just the right crystals to make the material. Now scientists trying to understand the paths crystals take as they form have been able to influence that path by modifying the starting ingredient. The insights could lead to better control of drug development, energy technologies and…
