Science on Saturday (Audio)

How does groundwater interact with surface water and surface ecosystems? How can the many types and forms of groundwater pollution be visualized? This presentation by Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Andy Tompson shows some of the real or potential impacts of drought and climate change and how groundwater may be better managed in the future. "It may look like an Ant Farm, but there are really no ants in this demonstration!" Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 29611]

The new abundance of natural gas provides energy options for America, including clean electric power. Oil production has increased, reducing the dependence of the US on imported petroleum. Both benefits come with the challenge of managing the environmental impact of new oil and gas development in the US. This talk discusses the way shale gas and oil are created and produced, and the latest choices now available for generating energy in the United States. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 29609]

What are fossil fuels? What is the greenhouse effect? How are the two related? Can we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and lower the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? Wind and solar power can help lead the way. Learn how state-of-the-art science and engineering can be used to utilize more clean, green energy from both the wind and the sun, right out of thin air. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 29610]

Computer modeling is a powerful tool for scientific inquiry when experiments are too costly, too dangerous, or simply impossible. Computational physicist David Richard describes how to build a computer model of a human heart, starting from an individual cell and then using data from an actual person to create a realistic representation of a beating heart. Learn some of the tricks and techniques used to combine the power of Sequoia's 1.6 million CPUs providing examples of how doctors and researchers may soon be able to use such simulations to investigate the effects of new drugs on cardiac rhythms or improve the success rate of complex surgical procedures. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 28466]

Microbes are living organisms too small to be seen. While most are friendly to humans, some microbes, called pathogens, can cause disease. Although the medical field has created miraculous antimicrobial drugs to ward them off, menacing microbes often change their protein make-up in devious ways to evade being destroyed, resulting in antibiotic resistance and eventually "super-bugs." lead biologist on the LLNL Pathogen Bioinformatics team Beth Vitalis explains that proteins are diverse and dynamic biomolecules that determine how organisms thrive in changing environments. Protein modeling is a computational tool that researchers use to see microbial proteins. Using LLNL's high performance computational capabilities, 3D models are created of microbial proteins, providing visual tools to expose microbial secrets. This information can be used to help detect, understand, and identify new ways to treat the menacing microbes. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 28465]

Fusion energy is a possible long-term energy solution to provide the energy needed to drive economic growth and social development. Harnessing the energy of the Sun and stars here on Earth requires a detailed understanding of the behavior of matter at extreme temperature and density conditions. Massive simulations, using up to one million computer processors (equivalent to hundreds of thousands of laptops working simultaneously) play a critical role in this research. They allow us to test different theories and explore different fusion approaches, such as fast ignition of the fusion fuel. Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Lab Frederico Fiuza discusses the challenges associated with fusion modeling, and how the outstanding computational resources and advanced computer graphics at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory help us to create a miniature Sun on Earth. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 28464]

Computers are becoming an increasingly cheaper, more powerful tool that cannot be ignored by professionals. Computer simulation reproduces the behavior of natural and man-made systems to help us understand, predict, and communicate. Vic Castillo, a research engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, shows how computer simulation is used by LLNL scientists on the world’s fastest computers. See how you can get started doing your own computer simulations with free, open-source tools for class projects or just for fun. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 28463]

We live in a time where miraculous medical discoveries are occurring all the time. Regrettably many of the miracle tools, because of their size and complexity, are confined to state of the art medical centers in large cities. Learn about efforts to build new medical tools in the hope of saving lives in remote and hard to reach places in the world. Hear about new efforts to build medical tools to determine life threatening traumatic injuries to the head and torso by using the Micropower Ultrawideband Impulse Radar (MUIR). Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 26007]

The most ancient forms of life - bacteria - are exceptionally tiny organisms, yet they have contributed in big ways to our planet. Although long recognized for causing disease, microbes have had a tremendous impact on our survival, and now can help us solve some of our urgent energy problems. Unlike fossil fuels, the microbial production of biofuels represents a new source of energy that can be constantly renewed. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 26008]

NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft, launched in June of 2012, uses technology developed in part by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to take pictures of the sky in the most energetic X-rays ever to be focused. Bill Craig and Michael Pivovaroff talk about the innovative technology at the heart of NuSTAR and discuss some of the exciting science results from the first few months of NuSTAR's mission. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 25748]