https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory To ensure a robust domestic supply chain in the U.S., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous in magnets, batteries, and electronics. These proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements to power their metabolism. But to scale up and advance biomining technology, researchers need a faster way to find and design better proteins. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-faster-protein-screening-tool-rare.html Biotechnology Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:10:01 EDT news696094502 Picture two materials sandwiched together. The boundary between them may appear flat, but, in reality, it is full of tiny bumps and dents. Suddenly, the materials are hit with a shockwave. If that wave hits a bump in the material interface, it slows down. If it hits a dent, it accelerates forward. This imbalance creates fast, narrow jets of material—called the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tiny-voids-fusion-stable-powerful.html General Physics Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news695572592 The moment nuclear material is produced, processed or purified, it sets off a hidden countdown, marked by the half-life of its radioactive atoms as they begin to decay. For scientists tracking the origins of these substances, decoding this natural clock is crucial for verifying material histories in support of global security efforts. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cryogenic-microcalorimetry-tool-nuclear-dating.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:50:02 EDT news694354959 Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there's a well-known saying in materials science: "Crystals are like people. It is the defects that tend to make them interesting." https://phys.org/news/2026-03-atoms-door-materials.html Nanophysics Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:50:01 EDT news692547601 A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-led team of scientists and computational engineers using one of the largest electronic health record datasets ever assembled for ALS has identified several existing medications that may be associated with longer survival in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The research is published in The Lancet Digital Health journal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-als-drug-ai-veteran.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:20:01 EDT news692460481 Polymers are fundamental to our daily lives, serving as the core components for a wide array of goods, including clothing, packaging, transportation infrastructure, construction materials, and electronics. Advances in polymer science open pathways for recycling and upcycling waste materials into more valuable chemical feedstocks. They can also have an outsized environmental impact: many widely used polymers are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), widely recognized as "forever chemicals." https://phys.org/news/2026-03-polymer-chemistry-dataset-ai.html Polymers Thu, 05 Mar 2026 15:50:04 EST news691947662 The COVID-19 pandemic brought the term "Polymerase Chain Reaction testing" into the mainstream. The PCR method is a type of nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) that detects a pathogen by finding and amplifying components of its genetic material, and it is widely used to detect SARS-CoV-2. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-pathogen-agnostic-reveals-hidden-respiratory.html Medical research Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:40:01 EST news691776352 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on Earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC), NIF's laser-within-a-laser. How this is possible and how it's measured is detailed in a paper in Physics of Plasmas titled "Development and scaling of MeV X-ray radiography at NIF-ARC." https://phys.org/news/2026-03-laser-mev-ray-radiography-picoseconds.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 02 Mar 2026 12:40:04 EST news691672387 Actinides are a group of heavy, radioactive elements that include uranium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium and californium. Understanding how these elements bond with other atoms (known as coordination chemistry), how they behave in water and how they can be separated from one another is crucial for safer nuclear waste management, new reactor technologies and advanced materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-americium-curium-californium-crystallizing-rarest.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:31:16 EST news690805861 By applying voltage to electrically control a new "transistor" membrane, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) achieved real-time tuning of ion separations—a capability previously thought impossible. The recent work, which could make precision separation processes like water treatment, drug delivery and rare earth element extraction more efficient, was published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-transistor-mxene-membranes-ion.html Nanomaterials Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:16:49 EST news690732961 The performance of rechargeable batteries is governed by processes deep within their components. A fundamental understanding of electrochemistry, structure–property–performance relationships and the effects of processing and operating conditions is essential for accelerating the development of next-generation battery technologies capable of powering electric vehicles, portable electronic devices and grid-scale energy storage. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-simulations-crystal-battery-materials-boost.html Materials Science Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:40:04 EST news690649978 Plutonium (Pu) exhibits one of the most diverse and complex chemistries of any element in the periodic table. Since its discovery in 1940, scientists have synthesized and studied many different types of plutonium-containing compounds using tools that reveal both their atomic structures and how they interact with light. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-cage-plutonium.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:38:22 EST news690035881 New forms of fentanyl are created every day. For law enforcement, that poses a challenge: How do you identify a chemical you've never seen before? Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) aim to answer that question with a machine learning model that can distinguish opioids from other chemicals with an accuracy over 95% in a laboratory setting. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-fentanyl-phony-machine-algorithm-opioid.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 09 Feb 2026 15:30:02 EST news689872862 Measuring conditions in volatile clouds of superheated gases known as plasmas is central to pursuing greater scientific understanding of how stars, nuclear detonations and fusion energy work. For decades, scientists have relied on a technique called Thomson scattering, which uses a single laser beam to scatter from plasma waves as a way to measure critical information such as plasma temperature, density and flow. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-lasers-brighter-plasma.html Plasma Physics Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:00:01 EST news689528206 Satellites and spacecraft in the vast region between Earth and the moon and just beyond—called cislunar space—are crucial for space exploration, scientific advancement and national security. But figuring out where exactly to put them into a stable orbit can be a huge, computationally expensive challenge. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-simulations-supercomputing-million-cislunar-orbits.html Space Exploration Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:50:01 EST news689431258 When water and ions move together through channels only a nanometer wide, they behave in unusual ways. In these tight spaces, water molecules line up in single file. This forces ions to shed some of the water molecules that normally surround them, leading to the unique physics of ion transport. Biological channels are especially adept at this behavior, often choreographing channel openings and closings to achieve complex behaviors such as signals in the nervous system. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-nanotubes-lids-mimic-real-biology.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:50:01 EST news689258860 When materials are compressed, their atoms are forced into unusual arrangements that do not normally exist under everyday conditions. These configurations are often fleeting: when the pressure is released, the atoms typically relax back to a stable low-pressure state. Only a few very specific materials, like diamond, retain their high-pressure structure after returning to room temperature and atmospheric pressure. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-fleeting-stable-scientists-uncover-recipe.html Polymers Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:11:25 EST news688662661 In inertial confinement fusion, a capsule of fuel begins at temperatures near zero and pressures close to vacuum. When lasers compress that fuel to trigger fusion, the material heats up to millions of degrees and reaches pressures similar to the core of the sun. That process happens within a miniscule amount of space and time. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-code-microscopic-insights-macroscopic-world.html General Physics Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:38:26 EST news688322282 Next-generation technology requires next-generation materials that can be tailored to exact mission requirements. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has already revolutionized industries like aerospace engineering by enabling previously unthinkable component designs. However, this technique has been largely limited to pre-existing metallic alloys. This is due to the inherent complexity of the process that leads to far-from-equilibrium microstructures and results in mechanical properties that are hard to predict. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-laser-3d-tunes-atomic-high.html Engineering Wed, 21 Jan 2026 05:10:09 EST news688193871 Multi-ignition wildfires are not overly common. But when individual fires do converge, the consequences can be catastrophic. The largest fire on record in California, the 2020 August Complex fire, grew from the coalescence of 10 separate ignitions. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-lightning-multi-ignition-wildfires-catastrophic.html Earth Sciences Thu, 15 Jan 2026 15:07:30 EST news687712021 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers and scientists, in collaboration with Stanford University, have demonstrated a breakthrough 3D nanofabrication approach that transforms two-photon lithography (TPL) from a slow, lab-scale technique into a wafer-scale manufacturing tool without sacrificing submicron precision. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-team-shatters-3d-nanofabrication-limits.html Nanophysics Thu, 18 Dec 2025 09:01:33 EST news685270861 Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have optimized and 3D-printed helix structures as optical materials for terahertz (THz) frequencies, a potential way to address a technology gap for next-generation telecommunications, non-destructive evaluation, chemical/biological sensing and more. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-3d-helixes-thz-optical-materials.html Condensed Matter Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:10:33 EST news685030196 Neodymium is a rare-earth element essential for producing the strongest permanent magnets, which are widespread in defense technologies, hard drives, medical imaging devices, electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and more. Despite its designation in the U.S. as a critical material, neodymium is primarily mined and refined overseas. China controls much of the supply chain, and the country recently threatened to expand restrictions on the exports of rare earth elements. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-energy-efficient-rare-earth-element.html Engineering Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:20:08 EST news683993533 When a meteor streaks across the sky, it's not just beautiful. It's nature's way of delivering a time capsule to Earth. Contained within are hints about the very beginning of the solar system and how planets, including our own, formed. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-meteorite-samples-capsules-early-solar.html Astrobiology Thu, 27 Nov 2025 11:20:02 EST news683212821 Memory T cells are a special type of white blood cell that "remember" past infections and vaccines, helping our bodies to quickly respond if we encounter the same germs again. These cells are found throughout the body: some circulate in the blood, while others settle down as "residents" in tissues like the lungs, intestines and lymphoid organs (such as the spleen and lymph nodes). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-immune-cells-equal-memory-tissues.html Immunology Sat, 22 Nov 2025 10:10:01 EST news682956095 The inside of giant planets can reach pressures more than one million times the Earth's atmosphere. As a result of that intense pressure, materials can adopt unexpected structures and properties. Understanding matter in this regime requires experiments that push the limits of physics in the laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-gold-atomic-million-earth-atmospheric.html General Physics Thu, 20 Nov 2025 14:40:04 EST news682871831 Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is normally a one-way street. In a digital light processing (DLP) printer, a structured pattern is projected onto a layer of liquid resin, which cures and solidifies. This builds an object up, layer-by-layer. But if the print isn't exactly right, there's no easy way to fix it after the fact: it usually ends up in the trash. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-unique-resin-3d-method.html Engineering Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:01:04 EST news682347662 Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are experts in nuclear forensics: the art and science of extracting information about the provenance and history of nuclear materials. Now, they have a new technique to add to their toolkit. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-ray-technique-tool-nuclear-forensics.html Materials Science Mon, 29 Sep 2025 13:16:03 EDT news678370562 When Apollo 17 astronauts collected a small rock from the moon more than 50 years ago, they had no way of knowing it would still be challenging scientists' understanding of lunar history today. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-analysis-apollo-sample-rewrites-chapter.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 25 Sep 2025 13:12:51 EDT news678024768 With the ability to print metal structures with complex shapes and unique mechanical properties, metal additive manufacturing (AM) could be revolutionary. However, without a better understanding of how metal AM structures behave as they are 3D printed, the technology remains too unreliable for widespread adoption in manufacturing and part quality remains a challenge. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-advanced-sensors-peer-black-metal.html Engineering Tue, 23 Sep 2025 14:22:05 EDT news677856122