Big Ideas Lab

Your weekly exploration inside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Hear untold stories, meet boundary-pushing pioneers and get unparalleled access to groundbreaking science and technology. From national security challenges to computing revolutions, discover the innovations that are shaping tomorrow, today.

52 episodes transcribed
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Science

JASPER

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

In a remote corner of the Nevada desert, scientists at JASPER study one of the most consequential materials on Earth: plutonium. This is the story of...

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HPC4EI

Episode Date: April 7, 2026

From corrosion-resistant coatings to next-generation batteries and stronger wind turbines, some of today’s toughest industrial challenges share a surp...

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Energetic Materials

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Behind every safeguard of national security lies a world few ever see. Inside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientists and engineers are red...

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Target Fabrication

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

At the center of every experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility is a target - a tiny, precisely engineered ob...

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24 Hour Operations

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

The world’s most demanding science never sleeps. From facilities that operate around the clock to the people monitoring safety, power, and infrastruct...

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Discovery Science at NIF

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility, scientists recreate the most extreme conditions in the universe. Through the D...

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Drones

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

Drones, or autonomous sensing systems, step in where humans can’t. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientists are developing machines that...

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Dark Matter

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

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 e...

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Neutrinos

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Neutrinos are particles that defy expectations. They slip through matter effortlessly, changing identities and traveling vast cosmic distances. In thi...

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Offsite Assignments

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Every decision in national security hinges on knowledge, insight, and expertise - some of that expertise starts in a lab in Livermore. The Offsite Fel...

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Energy Flow Charts

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

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 f...

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CAMS

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Ancient footprints, unidentified remains, brain cells - they're all part of the story told through atoms, and at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spect...

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Advanced Lasers

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientists are developing high-repetition-rate lasers that fire thousands of times per second. In this epis...

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Element Discovery

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Scientists are still adding to the periodic table and expanding what we know about matter. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researchers are...

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World’s Largest Camera

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

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 ni...

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Laser Guide Star

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

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

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Interns

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

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...

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Polymer Enclave

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, engineers and scientists are reimagining the way critical components for the U.S. nuclear stockpile are des...