Science on Saturday (Audio)

400 years ago, our world-view changed when Galileo proved that the Earth was not the center of the universe but orbits around the Sun. 15 years ago the world shifted again when the first planets were discovered orbiting other stars. Last year, using adaptive optics and the 10 meter W.M. Keck telescope in Hawaii, a Lawrence Livermore National Lab team produced the first ever picture of another solar system. One day, these techniques may even lead to an image with a pale blue dot circling a nearby star - another Earth. Join LLNL astronomer Bruce Macintosh and Lisa Poyneer as they describe the new technologies that made these pictures possible. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 20235]

Hydrocarbon fuels come almost exclusively from underground. We burn the coal or oil to obtain energy - and for hundreds of years, we have then allowed the resulting carbon dioxide to simply enter the atmosphere. Ken Wedel, Tracy High School Earth Science teacher,explores the role that underground storage of carbon dioxide can play in helping avoid damaging climate change, and the scientific challenges that face us in trying to keep the atmospheric load of carbon dioxide from continuing to grow due to burning fossil fuels. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 20234]

Our future health, happiness and economic well-being depends on producing plentiful, inexpensive, carbon-free energy that is available 24 hours/day, worldwide. Coal, oil and gas supply over 80% of the world's energy but cause pollution and add to global warming. Renewable energy, such as wind and solar, may not be able to supply enough energy. Ed Moses and the National Ignition Facility have an idea that could change everything-fusion energy-unlocking the force inside the nucleus of hydrogen that powers the sun and the stars. Learn what it will take for fusion power to become a reality in the next few decades. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 20233]

It is very likely that rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere resulting from human activity are increasing global temperatures and changing Earth's climate. Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Karis MacFarlane explains about the carbon cycle, ways that forests and soils store carbon, and how carbon storage and loss from forests and soils might change with changes in climate and human activity. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 20232]

Those windmills spinning away in the hills and mountain passes provide clean and renewable energy to our power grids. Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Julie Lundquist explains how wind turbines convert the forces of the atmosphere into electricity for our homes, businesses, and even cars. Explore how much power could be collected from the wind, how that amount compares to our demands, and how weather forecasts help wind turbines provide even more clean, renewable, and reliable energy. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17646]

Aerogels are a class of materials with fascinating properties but they are hardly materials at all as they can be composed of up to 99.8% empty space. Aerogels are among the most versatile materials available for technical applications due to their wide variety of exceptional properties. This material has chemists, physicists, astronomers, and materials scientists utilizing its properties in a myriad of applications. In this lecture Dr. Gash and Mr. Dean Reese will describe and demonstrate the structure, properties, and advanced applications of aerogels, and even synthesize one. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17645]

The solar system formed from a cloud of interstellar gas and dust cloud about 4.6 billion years ago. Life began on earth about 3.5 billion years ago following a period of intense bombardment by asteroid fragments and comets, intense volcanism and finally development of a stable crust and a hospitable atmosphere. Thanks to more powerful telescopes and other state-of-the-art observational methods, we can now see "stellar nurseries" and young stars at various stages of formation. In this talk we’ll learn what triggers star formation in clouds, circumstellar disks and planet formation within the disks, and we’ll discuss early life on earth. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17644]

Every couple of years, the earth is hit by a body with energy near that of the Hiroshima bomb. Deposited high in the atmosphere these events causes little or no damage. On longer timescales, impacts occur with the potential to destroy regions, or whole civilizations. Learn about the impact threat, followed by a systematic development of the requirements to divert such an object. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17643]

Ed Moses, Director of the National Ignition Facility describes the path to a limitless supply of clean, safe energy. He explains how the world’s biggest, most energetic laser works and it’s goals. Nearing completion, the NIF will focus its giant laser beams on a tiny target filled with hydrogen. The goal is to replicate the conditions inside our sun and create, at a small size, its life-giving energy. Creating this sun process in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is fundamental to the vision of developing limitless, clean, carbon-free, safe and environmentally friendly energy to meet the world's increased energy. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17642]

For the first time in history, man has a detailed accounting of what makes up the universe. Yet, 95 percent of the universe defies detection. Lawrence Livermore National Lab scientist Steve Asztalos explains how scientists have come to this understanding of the universe and what they think makes up about 25 percent of its mass. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 15211]