News

Lab analysis reveals forensic signatures of nuclear material during international smuggling exercise

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists received mock evidence, consisting of two uranium oxide (UO2) fuel pellets, as part of an international nuclear forensic exercise in support of a simulated nuclear smuggling investigation. The exercise was part of the CMX-5 Collaborative Materials Exercise organized by the Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working...

LLNL physicist wins Young Former Student award

Texas A&M University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering on Dec. 10 announced it has honored Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Kelli Humbird with its 2020-21 Young Former Student award for her work at LLNL in combining machine learning with inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research. A design physicist at LLNL, Humbird graduated from Texas A&M with a Ph.D. in nuclear...

Inhibiting protein in pancreatic tumors slows down cancer growth and increases survival rates

Georgetown University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators have identified a protein that when removed from the body may help pancreatic cancer patients live longer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal forms of the disease and has the lowest survival rate. Because the tumors are solid, many modern chemotherapies to destroy the tumor do...

Former intern, a 'Voice for Tomorrow,' wins Rieser award

A former intern from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL's) Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) has been named the recipient of the 2020 Leonard Rieser Award from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Jake Tibbetts, who worked as a research associate at CGSR from May 2019 to May 2020, won the honor for a “Voices of Tomorrow” essay he wrote for the Bulletin. The...

Lab campaign raises record $3.9 million for charities

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employees, along with Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC, donated more than $3.9 million to charitable organizations via the annual employee giving program, the Helping Others More Effectively (HOME) Campaign. This is the highest dollar amount raised in the 45-year history of the HOME Campaign. Laboratory employees pledged more...

Climate models overestimate natural variability

By looking at satellite measurements of temperature changes in the lower layer of Earth’s atmosphere, scientists found that climate models may have overestimated the decade-to-decade natural variability of temperature. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) statistician Giuliana Pallotta and climate scientist Benjamin Santer created a statistical framework to comprehensively...

Lawrence Livermore National Security announces recipients of annual Community Gift Program

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), the contract manager for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has announced the recipients for the 2020 LLNS Community Gift Program. These gifts, totaling $150,000, reflect LLNS' commitment to local communities. LLNS received applications totaling more than $260,000 in requests. Thirty applications were selected for awards...

LLNL’s de Supinski earns prestigious IEEE Fellowship

IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization, announced it has elevated Bronis de Supinski to the rank of fellow, recognizing Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Livermore Computing’s chief technology officer (CTO) for his leadership in the design and use of large-scale computing systems. The prestigious IEEE fellow distinction, which takes effect Jan. 1, is...

Dig this – Livermorium Park breaks ground

Moving a few shovelfuls closer to reality, Livermore Mayor John Marchand and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Bill Goldstein broke ground on Livermorium Park Thursday afternoon. When completed, the park will pay perpetual tribute to the Lab’s work on element 116, Livermorium. Coincidentally, the park is located at 116 S. Livermore Ave., in the heart of the Livermore Plaza. ...

Microjets are faster than a speeding bullet

When a shock wave travels through material and reaches a free surface, chunks of material can break away and fly off at high speeds. If there are any defects on the surface, the shock forms microjets that travel faster than a speeding bullet. Understanding how these microjets form and how they interact with material help to improve spacecraft shielding and understanding a planetary...

NeurIPS papers aim to improve understanding and robustness of machine learning algorithms

The 34th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) is featuring two papers advancing the reliability of deep learning for mission-critical applications at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The most prestigious machine learning conference in the world, NeurIPS began virtually on Dec. 6. The first paper describes a framework for understanding the effect of...

Lab study of droplet dynamics advances 3D printing

A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists has simulated the droplet ejection process in an emerging metal 3D printing technique called “Liquid Metal Jetting” (LMJ), a critical aspect to the continued advancement of liquid metal printing technologies. In the paper, the team describes the simulating of metal droplets during LMJ, a novel process in which molten...

Researchers measure electron emission to improve understanding of laser-based metal 3D printing

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have taken a promising step in improving the reliability of laser-based metal 3D printing techniques by measuring the emission of electrons from the surface of stainless steel during laser processing. Researchers collected thermionic emission signals from 316L stainless steel under laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) conditions using a...

NIF scholar turns internship into unique experience

Alexus “Lexi” Warchock was initially disappointed when she learned the NIF & Photon Science Summer Scholar Program would be continuing — but as a virtual internship. “I was upset knowing I would miss out on seeing firsthand the amazing (Lab) facility and interacting with other Lab employees,” the University of Michigan-Dearborn senior said. “My dream of moving out from Michigan and living...

Former LLNL intern makes history when she is named first Black woman to lead brigade at Naval Academy

Sydney Barber, former intern at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), is making history at the United States Naval Academy. It was recently announced that 1st class midshipman Barber will become brigade commander next semester, the highest leadership position in the brigade, making her the first Black woman to be named in the role. The first female brigade commander was appointed...

Lab scientists among most cited researchers worldwide

Fifty-seven researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) were among the top 2 percent of the most cited researchers worldwide throughout their careers, according to research on metascience by Stanford University. Metascience is the "study of studies" using scientific methods. Stanford University professor John Loannidis worked alongside U.S.-based Kevin Boyack and the...

Examining climate effects of regional nuclear exchange

A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers has found that the global climatic consequences of a regional nuclear weapons exchange could range from a minimal impact to more significant cooling lasting years. The five LLNL scientists examined the potential for global climate changes from large urban fires ignited in a hypothetical regional nuclear exchange of 100 15...

Girls Who Code – ‘Big’ program goes virtual

Livermore High School freshman Amber Belk is focused on studying chemical engineering in college, but through the Girls Who Code – "Big" program, she gained a new appreciation for how high performance computers that can model the types of molecules she will be studying. “Writing software codes and using the Linux operating system was really fun,” Belk said. "I really enjoyed the...

Cynthia Rivera selected to lead Operations & Business

Cynthia Rivera has been named Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL's) principal associate director for Operations & Business (PAD/O&B), Lab Director Bill Goldstein announced today. She will assume her responsibilities Jan 4. Rivera was chosen for this key Laboratory senior leadership position following an extensive national search. As the PAD/O&B, she will lead the...

3D printed electrodes free the gas

Alkaline water electrolysis has been touted as a path to establish a hydrogen economy by converting intermittent renewable energies into clean hydrogen-based chemical energy. However, current technology has achieved only low current densities and voltage efficiencies. To make electrolysis more resourceful, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) team partnered with the U...