Science and Technology Highlights

Adding an optimized void structure (top right) counteracts a shockwave-induced instability, reducing jetting (bottom right) that can interfere with inertial confinement fusion. Without this void, significant jetting occurs (bottom left).
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Researchers from LLNL, Imperial College London and their collaborators used AI to optimize and 3D printing to create a target that effectively negates the RM instability.
illustration of genetically engineered metabolic pathways in yeast to consume sugar and produce oxalic acid
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Researchers from LLNL, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Kentucky established a novel microbial platform that produces oxalic acid and purifies rare-earth elements.
group shot of ALS team
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A LLNL-led team of scientists and computational engineers has identified several existing medications that may be associated with longer survival in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), using one of the largest electronic health record datasets ever assembled for ALS.
LLNL and Meta partner to hasten materials discovery with artificial intelligence.
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In a recent paper, an LLNL team and collaborators detail Open Polymers 2026 (OPoly26) — a dataset with an unprecedented number and diversity of polymer structures with corresponding simulations performed at quantum accuracy. 

LLNL biologist James Thissen loads DNA samples for sequencing in a pathogen-agnostic method to identify respiratory viruses.
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In a recent study, LLNL researchers and the California Department of Public Health identified other potentially harmful respiratory viruses in samples that tested negative in a standard, NAAT-based panel. 

Shaun Kerr and Dean Rusby have refined the MeV X-ray generation of NIF’s Advanced Radiographic Capability, leading to unprecedented imaging of dense materials.
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LLNL's National Ignition Facility is the hottest place on earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment, as explained in a new paper in Physics of Plasmas

Schematic showing the setup for ion transport through a MXene membrane. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) discovered that applying an electric field to the gate can change the efficiency of the molecular transport through the membrane.
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By applying voltage to electrically control a new “transistor” membrane, LLNL researchers achieved real-time tuning of ion separations.

Overview of the key processes that are fundamental for understanding single-crystal battery materials.
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LLNL researchers outline how state-of-the-art computational modeling can help to unravel the fundamental relationships among battery processing, structure, properties. 

LLNL researchers have successfully synthesized a californium compound using polyoxometalates — large, cage-like clusters made primarily of metal and oxygen atoms. Their research was featured on a journal cover for Chemical Communications.
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LLNL chemists are using a novel nanoscale synthesis and crystallization approach to create, isolate and structurally characterize a pure californium-containing compound.

LLNL scientist Gianpaolo Carosi (right) discusses the inner workings of the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment. Expertise in this cavity technology (shown here plated in copper) is enhancing current efforts in quantum computing.
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In November, the Department of Energy Office of Science renewed the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center.