Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE)
NuSTAR helps solve riddle of black hole spin
February 27, 2013 3:06 pm | News | Comments
An international team including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists has definitively measured the spin rate of a supermassive black hole for the first time. The findings, made by the two X-ray space observatories, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, solve a long-standing debate about similar measurements in other black holes and will lead to a better understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve.
Sequoia supercomputer sets simulation record
March 19, 2013 4:09 pm | News | Comments
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have recently performed a record...
First-ever determination of protein structure with X-ray laser
March 13, 2013 8:25 am | News | Comments
An international team of researchers, have, for the first time, used an ultra-intense X-ray...
New military apparel repels chemical, biological agents
October 17, 2012 8:17 am | News | Comments
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and collaborators are developing a new...
Topography of Eastern Seaboard muddles ancient sea level changes
May 17, 2013 12:31 pm | by Ann Stark, LLNL | News | CommentsAccording to research taking place at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the distortion of the ancient shoreline and flooding surface of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain are the direct result of fluctuations in topography in the region and could have implications on understanding long-term climate change, according to a new study.
Livermore Lab, Cool Earth Solar partner on renewable energy demonstration project
May 14, 2013 2:53 pm | News | CommentsThe California Energy Commission has awarded $1.7 million to a partnership between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Cool Earth Solar Inc. to conduct a community-scale renewable energy integration demonstration project at the Livermore Valley Open Campus.
Sequoia supercomputer transitions to classified work
April 18, 2013 8:05 am | News | CommentsThe National Nuclear Security Administration announced that its Sequoia supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has completed its transition to classified computing in support of the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which helps the United States ensure the safety, security, and effectiveness of its aging nuclear weapons stockpile without the use of underground testing.
Scientists discover new materials to capture methane
April 16, 2013 12:52 pm | News | CommentsScientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley have discovered new materials to capture methane, the second highest concentration greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere. The research team performed systematic computer simulation studies on the effectiveness of methane capture using two different materials—liquid solvents and nanoporous zeolites.
Water signature in distant planet shows clues to its formation
March 14, 2013 12:10 pm | News | CommentsA team of international scientists, including a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory astrophysicist, has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-size like planet beyond our solar system. The finding provides astrophysicists with additional insight into how planets are formed.
Researchers find link to arsenic-contaminated groundwater
March 5, 2013 10:01 am | News | CommentsMillions of people in Bangladesh and neighboring countries are chronically exposed to arsenic-contaminated groundwater, which causes skin lesions and increases the risk of certain cancers. According to an international team of scientists, human activities are not the primary cause of arsenic found in groundwater in Bangladesh. They found instead that the arsenic is part of a natural process that predates any recent human activity, such as intensive pumping.
DOE plays major role in FDA-approved retinal prosthesis
February 20, 2013 8:02 am | News | CommentsThe U.S. Department of Energy announced that its support for a decade of revolutionary research has contributed to the creation of the first-ever retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, to be approved in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for blind individuals with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa. The artificial retina, dubbed the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, a previous R&D 100 winner, can partially restore the sight of blind individuals after surgical implantation.
New initiative to improve lithium-ion batteries
February 12, 2013 10:23 am | News | CommentsA Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team is working to improve lithium-ion battery performance, lifetime, and safety. Working with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the scientists are developing a new methodology for performing first-principles quantum molecular dynamics simulations at an unprecedented scale to understand key aspects of the chemistry and dynamics in lithium-ion batteries, particularly at interfaces.
Researchers develop first kinetic model of plasma focus device
January 30, 2013 10:05 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed a new simulation capability to model a classic plasma configuration. The researchers demonstrated, for the first time, a fully kinetic model of the dense plasma focus (DPF) Z-pinch device, including the electrodes, in a realistic geometry.
New look at cell membrane reveals surprising organization
January 28, 2013 3:22 pm | News | CommentsSight would dramatically alter a blind man's understanding of an elephant, according to the old story. Now, a look directly at a cell surface is changing our understanding of cell membrane organization. Using a completely new approach to imaging cell membranes, a study by researchers from the University of Illinois, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the National Institutes of Health revealed some surprising relationships among molecules within cell membranes.
Researchers break million-core supercomputer barrier
January 28, 2013 10:18 am | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsStanford Engineering's Center for Turbulence Research has set a new record in computational science by successfully using a supercomputer with more than one million computing cores to solve a complex fluid dynamics problem—the prediction of noise generated by a supersonic jet engine.
Meteorite made up of rare early solar system material
January 16, 2013 9:22 am | News | CommentsIt looked like a fireball in the sky. It created a sonic boom. It vaporized upon entering the atmosphere. It's all of the above: The Sutter's Mill Meteorite had the force of 4 kilotons of TNT upon descent and spilled samples of itself over the towns of Columa and Lotus in northern California when it hit Earth last spring. And now a consortium of scientists has determined that the Sutter's Mill Meteorite is the most pristine sample yet collected of the rare Carbonaceous-Mighei chondrite class of meteorites.
DOE launches rare earth metals research hub
January 11, 2013 10:37 am | News | CommentsThe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a research hub that focuses on solutions to the domestic shortages of rare earth metals and other materials critical for U.S. energy security.
Oxygen to the core
January 10, 2013 2:15 pm | News | CommentsAn international collaboration has discovered that the Earth's core formed under more oxidizing condition's than previously proposed. Through a series of laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments at high pressure (350,000 to 700,000 atmospheres of pressure) and temperatures (5,120 to 7,460 F), the team demonstrated that the depletion of siderophile elements can be produced by core formation under more oxidizing conditions than earlier predictions.
CAMS used to determine biological fate of silica nanoparticles
January 4, 2013 9:48 am | News | CommentsIn a study published in Nano Letters, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)'s Mike Malfatti, Heather Palko, Ed Kuhn, and Ken Turteltaub report on accelerator mass spectrometry measurements used to investigate the relationship between administered dose, pharmacokinetics (PK), and long-term biodistribution of carbon 14-labeled silica nanopartocles in vivo.
Lab research team solves condensed matter physics puzzle
December 28, 2012 7:32 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has answered a longstanding, much debated question in condensed matter physics. The question had to do with the rare earth element cerium (Ce), which undergoes a surprising, large isostructural volume collapse at high pressure.
LLNL receives grant for underground coal gasification work
December 4, 2012 8:35 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Underground Coal Gasification Program has received a two-year research grant to study water-quality hazard mitigation strategies from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.
A human-caused climate change signal emerges from the noise
November 30, 2012 7:40 am | News | CommentsBy comparing simulations from 20 different computer models to satellite observations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory climate scientists and colleagues from 16 other organizations have found that tropospheric and stratospheric temperature changes are clearly related to human activities.
Bug repellent for supercomputers proves effective
November 14, 2012 9:07 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have used the Stack Trace Analysis Tool (STAT), a highly scalable, lightweight tool to debug a program running more than one million MPI processes on the IBM Blue Gene/Q-based Sequoia supercomputer. The debugging tool is a significant milestone in LLNL's multi-year collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of New Mexico to ensure supercomputers run more efficiently.
Preparing Sequoia for national security missions
November 12, 2012 8:25 am | News | CommentsSequoia, a world-class IBM BlueGene/Q computer sited at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is exploring a broad range of science to shakeout the machine and fully develop the capabilities the system will require to fulfill its national security missions, starting early next year.
Americans use more efficient and renewable energy technologies
October 24, 2012 9:27 am | News | CommentsAmericans used less energy in 2011 than in the previous year due mainly to a shift to higher-efficiency energy technologies in the transportation and residential sectors. Meanwhile, less coal was used but more natural gas was consumed according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Milky Way's black hole getting ready for snack
October 22, 2012 10:50 am | News | CommentsGet ready for a fascinating eating experience in the center of our galaxy. The event involves a black hole that may devour much of an approaching cloud of dust and gas known as G2. A supercomputer simulation prepared by two Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicists suggests that some of G2 will survive, although its surviving mass will be torn apart, leaving it with a different shape and questionable fate.
Paper explores new regimes in fast ignition
October 5, 2012 2:36 pm | News | CommentsNearly 20 year ago, a group of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory proposed a hole boring process that would serve as the original scheme for fast ignition. Today, researchers are pushing this research ahead into new regimes.
100th shot for LLNL's 'gun in the desert'
September 27, 2012 3:50 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory's JASPER gas gun has fired its 100th shot. JASPER (the Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research) is a key scientific tool for the National Nuclear Security Administrations Stockpile Stewardship Program and its experiments have enabled scientists to understand important properties and behaviors of plutonium and other special nuclear materials without conducting underground nuclear tests.
The boy who played with fusion
September 13, 2012 7:40 am | by Delaynie A Koenig | News | CommentsAfter four years of work in his parent’s garage, 14-year-old Taylor Wilson built his first successful fusion reactor. Now 18 and old enough to be actually be a student at the university where he shares a laboratory, Wilson is chasing research projects of many kinds and is still fascinated by the science of the atom.
