(AGENPARL) – ven 14 febbraio 2025 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, Feb. 14, 2025
Hazardous radioactive materials, light-sensitive photographic chemicals,
pressurized gases and oily liquids are often kept in metal containers.
… Tag it, track it
https://cen.acs.org/safety/lab-safety/better-way-track-hazardous-chemical/103/web/2025/02
For chemists who track inventory of laboratory chemicals, radio-frequency
identification (RFID) tags can reveal which chemicals are in a storage space
much quicker than keeping track of inventory with traditional labels or using
bar codes. And because RFID readers don’t require a line of sight to their
target, the tags allow scientists to track dangerous chemicals from a
distance without direct interaction.
You can simply point a reader in the direction of several RFID-tagged
chemical containers and quickly know what’s present, says Raul Baez Lara
Jr., a performance measurement specialist at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL).
But RFID tagging often isn’t compatible with metal chemical containers,
which have limited RFID adoption because metal can interfere with a tag’s
radio signal. In a new study, Lara’s team explores how best to place RFID
tags onto metal casings.
Read More
https://cen.acs.org/safety/lab-safety/better-way-track-hazardous-chemical/103/web/2025/02
“Polycatenated” describes how these new architected materials are
built—multiple interconnected loops or cages form a flexible and resilient
framework, akin to chainmail armor.
… Oobleck — but better
Recent advances in materials science have led to new solutions in
architecture and design. In a recent example, a team of researchers in
California has developed polycatenated architectural materials (PAMs), which
are capable of interweaving to form unique 3D structures. These materials can
be used as wireframe elements to create 3D structures with interesting
properties in a number of different sectors, including engineering and
design.
To be precise, this new type of material was developed by a team of engineers
from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in collaboration with
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Princeton University. Neither
granular nor crystalline, it can be either fluid or solid depending on the
stress that is applied to it. Made with 3D printing, these structures offer a
new way of rethinking traditional designs and creating objects with
surprising physical properties.
Read More
NIF construction began in 1997.
… Stick with it
https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/02/12/ensuring-innovation-in-a-rapidly-changing-world-stay-with-problems-longer/
World-changing innovation doesn’t happen overnight, even with the benefit
of AI. Solving our biggest problems takes skill, vision, patience and
commitment. Most of all, it takes time.
Patience is everything. Some of the most profound innovations — the
internet, AI and solar power — took 50 to 75 years or longer to realize
their full impact. Others, like fusion and quantum, are still in the bud. The
hot pursuit of nuclear fusion as an energy source, for example, has been
going on for several decades, since the construction of the National Ignition
Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory began in 1997. In
late 2022, the NIF team achieved a significant milestone, producing more
energy from a fusion reaction than the energy the lasers consumed to initiate
it. This pivotal moment in fusion research came about by staying with
problems longer.
Read More
https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/02/12/ensuring-innovation-in-a-rapidly-changing-world-stay-with-problems-longer/
When quantum mechanical particles scatter, it shifts the position of their
wave. The new algorithm accurately measures these shifts, opening the way to
quantum simulations of scattering processes.
… Quantum goes scatterbrained
https://www.azoquantum.com/News.aspx?newsID=10725
Researchers from the University of Trento, the InQubator for Quantum
Simulations, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently
published an algorithm for a quantum computer that faithfully mimics
scattering in Physical Review C.
Scattering occurs on both big and small sizes throughout the universe. The
nuclei of atoms clash to power the stars and form heavy elements, and sound
waves alter their course when they strike airborne particles.
Gaining insight into this scattering can help us understand the forces
governing the cosmos.
Read More https://www.azoquantum.com/News.aspx?newsID=10725
Hewlett Packard Enterprise President and CEO Antonio Neri (left) and AMD
Chair and CEO Lisa Su toured El Capitan. (Photo: Garry McLeod/LLNL)
… El Capitan keeps it supercool
Officials with the U.S. government were in the East Bay recently to dedicate
“El Capitan,” the fastest supercomputer in the world.
The supercomputer housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was
assembled by Hewlett Packard Enterprise using AMD chips and takes up 7,500
square feet. The massive supercomputer generates so much heat, it requires
28,000 tons of cooling via liquid. For comparison, the typical home requires
only 4 to 5 tons of air conditioning.
El Capitan can perform 1.7 quintillion math problems per second — that’s
the number 17 with 17 zeroes after it.
Since the United States no longer conducts live nuclear bomb tests, the
primary mission of El Capitan is to ensure the safety and security of our
country’s aging nuclear stockpile by running three-dimensional
high-resolution simulations instead.
Read More
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