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Physical and Life Sciences
LLNL Collaborates with the University of California and LANL to Study Frontiers in HED Science
The University of California (UC) Office of the President provided more than $4 million to fund a three-year collaborative effort between UC researchers and scientists at two national laboratories—LLNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The three-year effort includes establishing the Center for Frontiers in High Energy Density Science (CfHEDS) to study the fundamentals of…
Seminar Series Connects HED Science Experts
LLNL’s High Energy Density (HED) Science Center hosted 31 speakers during 2018 as part of the Center’s Seminar Series. The ongoing program invites HED science researchers from around the world to discuss their work, helping LLNL scientists expand their awareness of HED science research at other institutions, and connecting experts from other institutions with LLNL…
LLNL’s HED Science Center Collaborates with APS Bridge Program
On December 11, 2018, LLNL hosted a visit from Ted Hodapp, senior advisor to the U.S. Department of Education for the American Physical Society (APS) and leader of the APS Bridge Program, which aims to increase the number of individuals from underrepresented groups who hold physics degrees. As HED science is one of LLNL’s core missions and an essential research area for…
Probing silver nanocrystal superlattices
Typically, superlattices—faceted crystals composed of nanocrystal building blocks—have been made using slow evaporative techniques that often take days to weeks to form highly crystalline solids. This process is difficult to control, which has made it hard to systematically tune film properties and has hindered quantitative study of the assembly process. To overcome these…
Next-generation graphene supercapacitors
Understanding and controlling the electrical response at a complex electrode–electrolyte interface is key to the development of next-generation supercapacitors and other electrochemical devices. While it is largely acknowledged that the capacitive performance of these devices is governed by both the quantum capacitance of the electrode and the electric double layer…
LLNL's neurotech innovation featured at DARPA's 60th Anniversary Symposium
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) held its 60th Anniversary Symposium in Maryland recently, at which an exhibit for the Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program featured the flexible neural multielectrode arrays developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The symposium, held to celebrate DARPA’s innovative…
More than a facelift: Lawrence Livermore's radiochemistry labs receive extensive upgrades
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) continuously upgrades facilities and equipment on the main campus. Infrastructure investments help ensure that scientists, engineers and support staff carry out LLNL’s mission safely and effectively. Building 151 is the latest site of extensive renovations. Construction recently finished in four laboratory spaces, combining two…
Clark wins Davidson Award for Plasma Physics
Daniel Clark, leader of NIF’s Capsule Modeling Working Group within LLNL’s Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Program, has been named the winner of the 2018 Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics. The annual award is presented by AIP (American Institute of Physics) Publishing, in collaboration with the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics, to…
The future of carbon storage in forests
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers and collaborators are looking to the future when it comes to carbon uptake in the forest ecosystem. Soil plays a major role in a healthy climate system. As the largest repository of carbon on land, soil can directly affect the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When more nitrogen is concentrated in…
LLNL-Norway collaboration seeks improved predictive models for cancer outcomes
A group of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently visited the Cancer Registry of Norway (CRN) in Oslo to discuss the progress of ongoing collaborations between the two institutions aimed at applying big data analytics to predicting cancer risk and mortality. The U.S.-Norwegian partnership began with a project headed by LLNL researcher Ghaleb…
Models show natural swings in the Earth's climate contribute to Arctic sea ice loss
Arctic sea ice loss in the last 37 year is not due to humans alone. New research by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators show that Arctic sea ice loss is enhanced by natural climate fluctuations such as El Niños and La Niñas. With manmade greenhouse gases on top of the natural climate variability, the decrease in sea ice is even more…
Research team achieves record performance for 3D-printed graphene aerogel supercapacitors
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) have created 3D-printed supercapacitor electrodes capable of achieving record-breaking performance and overcoming conventional tradeoffs for supercapacitors in the process. In a paper published Oct. 18 by the online journal Joule, the joint research team…
Center Delivers New HED Science Courses
As part of efforts to expand educational opportunities in High Energy Density (HED) science, LLNL’s HED Science Center delivered an 11-week course regarding Extreme Physics for students from the University of California (UC) San Diego. Jeff Colvin, a physicist at LLNL and co-author of the textbook Extreme Physics, taught the class, which took place during Fall 2018…
Don't rule out severe global climate change yet
A key metric of global warming is the Earth’s "equilibrium climate sensitivity" (ECS), which represents the global surface warming that will accompany a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide. For nearly four decades, ECS was thought to be somewhere between 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and 8.1 degrees F, but a more precise estimate has eluded climate scientists. That was…
Oh what a mysterious web they weave
Spider silk is one of the strongest and most complex fibers in the world, but also remains one of nature’s mysteries. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researcher John Roehling and collaborators discovered that silk proteins inside spider glands are assembled in nanostructures and lend clues to how the silk is actually produced. The findings could be used to…
DOE looks to Jupiter for high-intensity research
The Department of Energy deemed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as one of nine facilities operating high-intensity, ultrafast lasers. DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) within the Office of Science awarded the new research network, called LaserNetUS, $6.8 million over the next two years. LaserNetUS includes the most powerful lasers in the United…
'Zombie' stars return from the dead
Black holes are among the most elusive objects in the universe, but research out of Lawrence Livermore National Labroatory (LLNL) suggests the remnant cores of burned-out stars could be the key to making the first observation of the most elusive class of black holes. The research explored whether a dormant white dwarf star — sometimes referred to as a "zombie" star — could…
Nanocrystals arrange to improve electronics
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are working to make better electronic devices by delving into the way nanocrystals are arranged inside of them. Nanocrystals are promising building blocks for new and improved electronic devices, due to their size-tunable properties and ability to integrate into devices at low-cost. While the structure of…
LLNL researchers identify how many cancer cells it takes to initiate metastatic tumors
For the first time, researchers have developed a way to determine how many cancer cells it takes to initiate a tumor in another part of the body. The findings, made by a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists, are published in the journal, Scientific Reports. "We think this is an exciting area of research," said LLNL biologist Nicholas Hum, the…
Big results come from small instrument
A new kid is coming to town in the form of an ultra-sensitive, laser-based, carbon-14 spectrometer that will be able to measure samples as small as one microgram of carbon. LLNL engineer Daniel McCartt has built laser-based detection methods for rare isotopes to supplement the Lab’s accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS) detection capabilities. The new laser-based, rare…
