Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

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'The Lab of Last Resort' Helped Take Down a Serial Killer

A nuclear weapons lab's work was key to getting justice for Efren Saldivar's victims

(Newser) - Police had a suspect, dead bodies, a confession—but what they didn't have was evidence. In a piece for Undark , Sarah Scoles dives into the case of Efren Saldivar, a California respiratory therapist whose treatment of terminally ill patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center had raised some concerns, enough...

Lab Says It Replicated Fusion Breakthrough at Least 3 Times
'Holy Grail' of
Clean Energy
Was No Fluke
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'Holy Grail' of Clean Energy Was No Fluke

Lab says it's replicated fusion milestone at least 3 times

(Newser) - A year ago, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California said they had achieved a net energy gain in a fusion reaction—a breakthrough seen as the "holy grail" of clean energy. The lab has now demonstrated that the achievement, known as ignition, was no fluke, Nature...

Big Step Toward Fusion: Lab's Laser Creates Mini-Star

In first, scientists get more energy out than put in

(Newser) - After years of frustration, scientists have finally made a breakthrough in the quest to harness the same fusion energy that powers the sun. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say that by pointing the world's most powerful laser at a peppercorn-sized target, they unleashed a huge amount of...

US Retakes Fastest Supercomputer Crown

IBM's Sequoia outperforms Japanese record holder

(Newser) - America can once again boast that it is home to the world's fastest supercomputer. IBM's Sequoia system knocked Japan's K Computer into second place after clocking in at a staggering 16.32 "petaflops"—that's 16 quadrillion calculations per second, reports the Wall Street Journal...

Now on the Periodic Table: Livermorium

...Flerovium, too

(Newser) - Nearly a year after they joined the periodic table, two man-made elements have been officially named. What used to be element 114 is now flerovium, honoring the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, where it was created. Element 116 is now livermorium, for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory...

Scientists Creating Star to Solve Energy Woes

Giant laser will zap mini-sun into existence

(Newser) - Scientists are planning to use the world's largest laser to zap a tiny star into existence on Earth. The project at California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory aims to create nuclear fusion by firing the giant laser at hydrogen isotopes. This would, theoretically, cause a miniature sun capable of filling all...

PlayStation Chip Lifts Military Computer to Record Speeds

Los Alamos, IBM team pass petaflop level

(Newser) - IBM and Los Alamos Laboratory scientists used an amalgam of computer chips, including some designed for use in the PlayStation 3, to blow through one of the computing world’s most pursued milestones—processing more than one thousand trillion calculations per second, reports the New York Times. The petaflop benchmark...

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