(AGENPARL) - Roma, 26 Ottobre 2024(AGENPARL) – ven 25 ottobre 2024 A weekly compendium of media reports on science and technology achievements
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Though the Laboratory reviews
items for overall accuracy, the reporting organizations are responsible for
the content in the links below.
….. LLNL Report, Oct. 25, 2024
LLNL biologists David Baliu-Rodriguez (left) and Mike Malfatti examine the
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry results. (Photo: Blaise Douros/LLNL)
… Progress on fentanyl empidemic https://archive..is/7iNjw
Drug overdose deaths from synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl — are
starting to decline in the United States, offering hope that countermeasures
are working. But it is too soon to pinpoint why. The response, then, is to
keep doing everything.
Synthetic opioids are painkillers made in a laboratory that act on the same
targets in the brain as natural opioids such as morphine and codeine. One of
them, fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, has spurred the
deadliest drug epidemic in American history, driving the sharp rise in
overdose deaths in recent years. Fentanyl-involved opioid deaths increased
more than 23-fold over the past decade, and more than doubled during the
pandemic, increasing from 36,359 in 2019 to 73,838 in 2021. Deaths began to
climb in 2013, when traffickers began mixing illicit fentanyl with other
drugs, including heroin, counterfeit pain pills and cocaine. In some
instances, drug users have no idea that fentanyl has been added. It takes
only about 2 milligrams of fentanyl to overdose.
New discoveries might help even more. In the American Chemical Society
journal ACS Central Science, researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory identified a new compound to counteract fentanyl and related
opioids, finding that subetadex, developed over 20 years ago but not
previously tested against fentanyl, might be more effective than naloxone.
Naloxone does not remain active in the body for long and needs to be
frequently readministered, with a half-life of 30 minutes to 80 minutes. But
subetadex has a half-life of about 7.5 hours.
Read More https://archive.is/7iNjw
Members of the ICECap team pose in front of Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory’s exascale-class El Capitan supercomputer. (Photo: Garry
McLeod/LLNL)
… ICE breakers
Breaking the ICE at Livermore: ICECap to Use Exascale Fusion Simulations for Digital Design
A groundbreaking multidisciplinary team of Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory researchers is combining the power of exascale computing with AI,
advanced workflows and GPU-acceleration with the intent to advance scientific
innovation and revolutionize digital design.
The project, called ICECap (Inertial Confinement on El Capitan), is a
transformative approach to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) design
optimization targeted primarily for El Capitan, the National Nuclear Security
Administration’s (NNSA) first exascale computer. Sited at LLNL and
scheduled to deploy later this year, El Capitan is projected to exceed 2
ExaFLOPs (two quintillion calculations per second) of peak computing
performance in service of the NNSA Tri-Labs (LLNL, Los Alamos National
Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories).
At the core of ICECap is discovering the next generation of robust,
high-yield ICF designs, expanding the possibilities of computational science
and shaping the future of plasma science through emerging technologies. ICF
has implications for NNSA’s stockpile stewardship mission, as well as
future viable fusion power plants.
Read More
Breaking the ICE at Livermore: ICECap to Use Exascale Fusion Simulations for Digital Design
Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Marius Millot discusses the experiment
that confirms the existence of superionic ice on icy planets throughout the
universe. (Image: PBS Nova)
… Icey worlds https://www.pbs.org/video/solar-system-icy-worlds-kvnhnc/
Out in the solar system, ice can get bizarre. Visit strange, frozen worlds
– from Uranus’s ultra-hot superionic ice, to glaciers of nitrogen ice on
Pluto, to carbon dioxide snow on Mars – and discover why the ice here on
Earth is so unique.
Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Marius Millot explains, “We did the
experiment, and then we look at all the evidence, and we have to say,
‘Well, it’s true.’ It’s crazy, it’s weird, it’s strange, but it’s there.
At super-high temperatures and pressures, ice forms a very different
structure. What you’re looking at here are oxygen atoms, shown in red, now
connected with one another, and the hydrogen atoms, in white, have broken
free.”
Read More https://www.pbs.org/video/solar-system-icy-worlds-kvnhnc/
Ignition was achieved for the first time in a laboratory setting in 2022 at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (Image: LLNL)
… World-changing experiments
Physics experiments have changed the world irrevocably, altering our reality
and enabling us to take gigantic leaps in technology. From ancient times to
now, here’s a look at some of the greatest physics experiments of all time.
In 2022, scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in California used the world’s most powerful
laser to achieve something physicists have been dreaming about for nearly a
century: the ignition of a pellet of fuel by nuclear fusion.
The demonstration marked the first time that the energy going out of the
plasma in the nuclear reactor’s fiery core exceeded the energy beamed in by
the laser, and has been a rallying call for fusion scientists that the
distant goal of near-limitless and clean power is, in fact, achievable.
Read More
… Engineers lauded
Eight Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers were recently
honored by the Lab’s Engineering Principal Associate Directorate for their
efforts in raising the Lab’s visibility and reputation through Strategic
Partnership Projects (SPPs). The event was hosted by Rob Sharpe,
Engineering’s deputy principal associate director for research and
development, who encouraged recipients to act as ambassadors for the program
around the Lab.
SPPs are projects that LLNL does for customers outside the Department of
Energy, who pay to access and leverage the Lab’s world-class expertise and
facilities. These partnerships are critical for transferring technology to
the marketplace and building new capabilities and expertise at LLNL to
support its national security mission.
“The magic of this program is where you do something incredibly important
that addresses the need of the sponsor and enhances our capabilities,” said
Sharpe. “It takes a different kind of self-motivation, but it’s valuable to
our people, our Lab and our capabilities to engage with these external
communities to vet ideas and build relationships.”
Read More
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Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory https://www.llnl.gov
provides solutions to our nation’s most important national security
challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National
Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration.
Read previous Lab Report articles online https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-report
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