Scientists hit key milestone in fusion energy quest
December 13, 2022
The major breakthrough of achieving ignition is cause for celebration at Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics as well.
How do magnetic fields affect star formation and high-energy-density lab experiments?
September 19, 2022
The famous Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebulae—a star nursery—are believed to result from the hydrodynamic instabilities that form when plasmas are exposed to high intensity light from neighboring stars.
Rochester researchers go ‘outside the box’ to delineate major ocean currents
September 15, 2022
For the first time University of Rochester researchers have quantified the energy of ocean currents larger than 1,000 kilometers. In the process, they and their collaborators have discovered that the most energetic is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, some 9,000 kilometers in diameter.
What does it take to become a scientist, part 2?
September 12, 2022
This is the second of a series of conversations on WXXI’s Connections with Evan Dawson about what it means to be a scientist. Our guests describe what it’s like to be new CMAP graduate students.
“This giant laser can simulate a planet’s core”
August 26, 2022
How do you study the innards of alien worlds? You just need the world’s largest laser. Produced with Vox Media and science reporter Adam Cole, this piece examines how CMAP researchers design laser experiments at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and National Ignition Facility to recreate the interiors of planets and stars and create revolutionary states of matter.
Machine learning pinpoints when matter changes under extreme conditions
July 28, 2022
The phase changes that materials undergo during experiments at extreme conditions can shed light on the formation and composition of exoplanets and other celestial bodies, including the inner core of Earth. University of Rochester researchers are helping develop automated deep-learning computer vision techniques to expedite the analysis of the trillions of bytes of data generated by these experiments.
First CMAP Annual Meeting
May 6, 2022
The first CMAP Annual Meeting, hosted at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, was a gathering of the CMAP team from MIT, Princeton, the Universities of California at Berkeley and Davis, the University at Buffalo, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We welcomed guest presenters from Howard University and Washington State University as well.
What does it take to become a scientist, part 1?
May 3, 2022
This is the first of a series of conversations on WXXI’s Connections with Evan Dawson about what it means to be a scientist. Our guests, UR Professor Adam Frank and three CMAP graduate students, describe their own paths into the field.
What’s Happening In The Depths Of Distant Worlds?
March 1, 2022
New work led by Carnegie’s Earth and Planets Laboratory, including the research team of Thomas Duffy of Princeton University, uses lab-based mimicry to reveal a new crystal structure that has major implications for our understanding of the interiors of large, rocky exoplanets.
Can a planet have a mind of its own?
February 16, 2022
Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank discusses why cognitive activity operating on a planetary scale is necessary to tackle global issues such as climate change.