Dark matter is one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. It’s the invisible force that glues galaxies together and sculpts cosmic structure. In this episode, we trace the journey of discovery from massive objects in the Milky Way to particle-scale experiments designed to reveal what dark matter really is. From gravitational microlensing to cutting-edge detectors at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientists are pushing the limits of technology and imagination to uncover the unseen and understand the mass that makes up most of our universe.

Guests featured (in order of appearance):

• Greg Sallaberry, Staff Scientist at LLNL 
• Gianpaolo Carosi, Staff Scientist at LLNL 

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Script by Caroline Kidd.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Matthew Powell. 

Story Editing by Levi Hanusch. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Neutrinos are particles that defy expectations. They slip through matter effortlessly, changing identities and traveling vast cosmic distances. In this episode, we explore the surprising ways they connect the tiniest scales of physics to the grandest structures in the universe. From deep underground detectors to experiments designed to observe the unobservable, scientists at Lawrence Livermore are working to uncover secrets that could reshape our understanding of matter, energy, and the origins of everything around us.

Guests featured (in order of appearance):

• Mike Heffner, Staff Scientist, LLNL
• Nathaniel Bowden, Physicist, LLNL

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Script by Caroline Kidd.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Matthew Powell. 

Story Editing by Levi Hanusch. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every decision in national security hinges on knowledge, insight, and expertise - some of that expertise starts in a lab in Livermore. The Offsite Fellows Program places Lawrence Livermore scientists inside government agencies, where their work helps shape policy, strategy and the future of national defense.

In this episode, we dive deep into the Offsite Fellows Program (OFP) and how it positions Lab researchers shoulder to shoulder with government leaders who bring critical scientific insight directly into decisions that protect our nation. 

Hear from Offsite Fellows themselves, as we follow their journeys - where they move through the halls of government, informing and strengthening national security.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LLNL’s Energy Flow Charts have become one of the clearest ways to understand the nation’s energy system. Learn how these diagrams capture everything from pandemic shutdowns and shifting fuels to wasted energy we never see. From classrooms to Capitol Hill, these charts help the country plan for what comes next.

Guests featured (in order of appearance):

• Hannah Goldstein, System and Policy Analysis Group Leader, LLNL
• Kimberly Mayfield, Research Scientist, LLNL

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Script by Lacey Peace.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Matthew Powell. 

Story Editing by Levi Hanusch. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ancient footprints, unidentified remains, brain cells - they're all part of the story told through atoms, and at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, those atoms speak volumes.

In this episode, we explore how Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is helping scientists solve mysteries across time: from rewriting the timeline of human arrival in North America to closing decades-old cold cases, and even advancing biomedical breakthroughs.

With insights from CAMS researchers, we follow the journey of rare isotopes as they become time-stamps, and vital clues, challenging our understanding of the past and shaping what’s possible in the future.

Guests featured (in order of appearance):

• Bruce Buchholz, Staff Scientist, Cold Case Discoveries Lead, LLNL
• Susan Zimmerman, Staff Scientist, White Sands National Park Footprints Study Lead, LLNL

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Script by Caroline Kidd

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Matthew Powell. 

Story Editing by Levi Hanusch. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientists are developing high-repetition-rate lasers that fire thousands of times per second. In this episode, we’ll explore what these advanced lasers are and how they’re being used. From thermal challenges to breakthrough designs like the BAT laser, we’ll dive into what makes this new generation of lasers so powerful.

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Daniel Brunelle. 

Story Editing by Daniel Brunelle. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Guests featured in this episode (in order of appearance): 

• Jackson Williams, Physicist at LLNL
• Tom Spinka, Laser Physicist at LLNL

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Scientists are still adding to the periodic table and expanding what we know about matter. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researchers are creating entirely new elements that can’t be found in nature and exist for only moments. In this episode, we step into the world of superheavy element discovery to understand how these rare atoms are made, why they matter, and what they can teach us about the building blocks of the universe.

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Daniel Brunelle. 

Story Editing by Daniel Brunelle. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Guests featured in this episode (in order of appearance): 

• Roger Henderson, Senior Radiochemist, LLNL
•  Dawn Shaughnessy, Division Leader for Nuclear and Chemical Sciences, LLNL

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Supernovas, asteroids, dark matter, and dark energy… the universe is constantly changing. Today we’ll dive into how we track what’s shifting in the night sky and how it shapes our understanding of The Universe. Through decades of experience in astrophysics, planetary science, and instrumentation, we explore Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s role in a groundbreaking project that will shape the future of astronomy: the Vera Rubin Observatory.

While LLNL astronomers eagerly prepare for the upcoming data, we delve into the observatory’s camera and learn about LLNL’s role in making this system a reality.

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Daniel Brunelle. 

Story Editing by Daniel Brunelle. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Guests featured in this episode (in order of appearance): 

• Megan Eckart - Director, Space Science Institute, LLNL
• Vincent Riot - Former LSST Camera Project Manager and Vera Rubin Observatory Deputy Project Manager, LLNL

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For decades, Earth’s atmosphere has blurred images of both stars and galaxies, greatly restricting our ability to see the universe clearly from the ground.

But that all changed with the invention of the laser guide star.

Think of it as building an artificial star in the sky—one that helps telescopes correct atmospheric distortion in real time. It’s a technology that revolutionized ground-based astronomy, enabling discoveries from distant black holes to the discovery of planets around nearby stars.

But how do you go from a concept that once filled a building with laser equipment to something compact, reliable, and safe enough for observatories around the world?

And what role did scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory play in making that technological leap possible?

Tune in to hear the story behind one of astronomy’s most transformative innovations and the team that helped bring it to light.

--

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Daniel Brunelle. 

Story Editing by Daniel Brunelle. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Written by Caroline Kidd.

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch.

Guests featured in this episode (in order of appearance): 

• Claire Max,  Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at UC Santa Cruz and Director of the University of California Observatories
• Deanna Pennington, Senior Scientist with the Global Security Directory, LLNL

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What’s it really like to intern at one of the nation’s premier science and national security labs? In this episode of The Big Ideas Lab, we follow the journey from first-day nerves to high-impact research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Featuring stories from fusion diagnostics to bioengineering breakthroughs, we hear from interns and mentors about the challenges, the discoveries - and the culture that makes it all possible.
-- 

Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series. 

Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.

Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Daniel Brunelle. 

Story Editing by Daniel Brunelle. 

Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell. 

Narrated by Matthew Powell. 

Video Production by Levi Hanusch. 

Guests featured in this episode (in order of appearance): 

• Jarrod Farmer, Scholar Program Manager, LLNL
• Jaya Sicard, Graduate Appointee, LLNL, and former Livermore Lab Foundation Fellow
• Monica Moya, Group Leader of Bioengineering and Advanced Fabrication, LLNL

Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.