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Physical and Life Sciences
Predatory bacteria bite their own
Predatory bacteria – bacteria that eat other bacteria – grow faster and consume more resources than non-predators in the same soil, according to a new study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Northern Arizona University. These active predators, which use wolf pack-like behavior, enzymes and cytoskeletal "fangs" to hunt and feed on other bacteria, wield…
Direct drug delivery with carbon nanotube porins
Modern medicine relies on an extensive arsenal of drugs to combat deadly diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS and malaria. Chemotherapy agents have prolonged lives for millions of cancer patients, and in some cases, cured the disease or turned it into a chronic condition. But getting those drugs into disease-ridden cells has remained a major challenge for…
1D model helps clarify implosion performance at NIF
In inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a spherical shell of deuterium-tritium fuel is imploded in an attempt to reach the conditions needed for fusion, self-heating and eventual ignition. Since theory and simulations indicate that ignition efficacy in one-dimension (1D) improves with increasing imploded fuel convergence…
Sterile neutrinos may be portal to the dark side
“Sterile neutrinos” are theoretically predicted new particles that offer an intriguing possibility in the quest for understanding the dark matter in our universe. Unlike the known “active” neutrinos in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, these sterile neutrinos do not interact with normal matter as they move through space, making them very difficult to detect. A…
Lab postdocs selected to participate in Nobel meeting
Three Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) postdoctoral appointees have been selected to attend the 70th annual Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in Germany this June thanks to the University of California President’s 2021 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows Program. The three selected to attend the meeting are Oluwatomi (Tomi) Akindele, Matthew Edwards and Wei Jia…
Lab offers forum on machine learning for industry
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is looking for participants and attendees from industry, research institutions and academia for the first-ever Machine Learning for Industry Forum (ML4I), a three-day virtual event starting Aug. 10. Pre-registrations are open for the forum, which aims to foster and illustrate the adoption of machine learning methods for…
Scientists reject restrictive heat flux models using directly driven gold spheres
A team of scientists have conducted an analysis of directly driven gold sphere experiments to test heat transport models used in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and high energy density (HED) modeling. It was found that overly restricting the heat flux caused disagreement with measurement. However, simulations with a reduced nonlocal heat transport model quantitatively…
Researchers construct an EOS delivery paradigm for beryllium
Beryllium is a lightweight, low-density material used in a wide range of applications that require stability at high temperatures and pressures. Because of beryllium’s favorable traits, it has been considered as a potential capsule material for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications. Hydrodynamic simulations of ICF are frequently used to model the capsule behavior…
Lab team’s new interferometric instrument improves refractive index measurements at high pressure
In a paper recently published by Scientific Reports, a team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) describes a high-precision interferometer system, newly developed to measure the pressure dependence of the refractive index and its dispersion in diamond anvil cells (DACs). “Accurately measuring the index of a compressed sample in DACs is a…
Different neutron energies enhance asteroid deflection
A research collaboration between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) investigates how the neutron energy output from a nuclear device detonation can affect the deflection of an asteroid. Scientists compared the resulting asteroid deflection from two different neutron energy sources, representative of fission and…
LLNL researchers and business development executives capture best-ever three technology transfer awards
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and their colleagues who help them commercialize technologies have won three national technology transfer awards this year. The trio of awards, from the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC), represent the most national awards that LLNL has ever won in one year’s competition over the past 36 years. Two of the…
Pandemic drives down U.S. energy use in 2020
Americans used approximately 7 percent less energy in 2020, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Each year, LLNL releases flow charts that illustrate the nation's consumption and use of energy. Americans used 92.9 quads (quadrillion BTU) of energy, which is 7.2 quads less or 7…
Researchers discover unusual property in hydrogen fuel device that could be ultimate guide to self-improvement
Three years ago, scientists at the University of Michigan discovered an artificial photosynthesis device made of silicon and gallium nitride (Si/GaN) that harnesses sunlight into carbon-free hydrogen for fuel cells with twice the efficiency and stability of some previous technologies. Now, scientists at Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories – in…
COVID-19 HPC Consortium reflects on past year
COVID-19 HPC Consortium scientists and stakeholders met virtually on March 23 to mark the consortium’s one-year anniversary, discussing the progress of research projects and the need to pursue a broader organization to mobilize supercomputing access for future crises. The White House announced the launch of the public-private consortium, which provides COVID-19 researchers…
Improved models of cloud drizzle-turbulence interactions could enhance future climate predictions
Large decks of closely spaced stratocumulus clouds hover over the ocean and cover vast areas — literally thousands of miles of the subtropical oceans — and linger for weeks to months. These marine clouds reflect more solar radiation than the surface of the ocean, providing a cooling effect on the Earth’s surface. Stratocumulus clouds are an important component of the Earth…
Researchers isolate geometric effects and resonant scattering in the X-ray spectra of HED plasmas
For the first time, researchers have isolated in a controlled laboratory setting the effects of the plasma geometry in its X-ray emission spectrum – the energy distribution of the radiation the plasmas emit. The work also is the first experimental testbed of the theories describing a phenomenon known in astrophysics as resonant scattering. This phenomenon is found in a…
Scientists put additive manufactured foams to the test
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists recently published the results of a three-week experimental campaign at the Lab’s Jupiter Laser Facility to test the performance of laser-heated additive manufactured foams. The project helps support two major Laboratory focus areas, including helping to advance additive manufacturing and by enabling improvements in…
HPCAT goes remote
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, HPCAT, a Chicago-based research consortium to advance high-pressure science in multidisciplinary fields using synchrotron radiation, hosted as many as 750 experimentalists each year—including numerous Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) teams. The consortium operates Sector 16 at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National…
Scientists put additive manufactured foams to the test
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists recently published the results of a three-week experimental campaign at the Lab’s Jupiter Laser Facility to test the performance of laser-heated additive manufactured foams. The project helps support two major Laboratory focus areas, including helping to advance additive manufacturing and by enabling improvements in…
Lab researchers find elevated CO2 emissions increase plant carbon uptake but decrease soil carbon storage
Elevated carbon dioxide emissions from human activities increase the uptake of carbon by plants but may decrease storage in soil. An international team led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists synthesized 108 elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) experiments in various ecosystems to find out how much carbon is absorbed by plants and soil. The research…
