October 2020, ScientificAmerican.com 19Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory train
dozens of lasers on material the size of a pencil
eraser, evaporating it to trigger an impressive
blast. The trade-off comes in the amount of
detail, Ranjan says: the bigger experiments
generate few images, with only fleeting glimps-
es of the structures produced. But the super-
nova pizza manages 200 shots in a few sec-
onds as the gases mix. “What our experiment
provides is a dynamic view of the whole pro-
cess,” Ranjan says. By combining insights from
both kinds of experiments, “we should be able
to say something jointly about what’s going on
in a real-life supernova.”
Piro is not surprised that the team’s experi-
ment is the first of its kind. “You have to be
an expert in all different types of experimental
techniques to put this all together,” he says.
“The creativity of this group in trying to address
these problems in a laboratory setting is really
inspiring to see.”
Combining this study with others that
probe different aspects of supernovae, along
with evolving models, will help researchers
eventually tease out details they cannot ob -
serve when a real star explodes. “If a universal
model that describes what is occurring on
different scales is the overall goal,” Kuranz says,
“using these experiments—especially at differ-
ent scales and under different conditions—
can help push toward that.” — Nola Taylor Reddsphere is around 170 kilometers thick. Theoriz-
ing about why, they note that metal’s building
blocks are commonly found near the earth’s
surface, where they accumulate in basins. If
these basins sit above a part of the lithosphere
with the right thickness, the amount of heat
that rises from the deeper mantle could set
the perfect temperature for the constituents
to concentrate into metal deposits.
Finding these metals has traditionally
involved “boots on the ground,” Hoggard
says, with people widely sampling mineral
content in soil or measuring the earth’s mag-
netic field to find anomalies. The team’s dis-
covery provides an opportunity to find prom-
ising sites remotely; in fact, mining companies
have already begun using this information to
inform their searches, Hoggard says.
“What these authors have done that’s really
novel is ... connecting these deeper structures
in the upper mantle to something that we can
see [near] the surface, which is the distribution
of these metal deposits,” Long says. “It’s a real-
ly exciting piece of work.” — Karen KwonOctober 2020, ScientificAmerican.com 19DEVESH RANJAN, STAM LAB AND GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory train
dozens of lasers on material the size of a pencil
eraser, evaporating it to trigger an impressive
blast. The trade-off comes in the amount of
detail, Ranjan says: the bigger experiments
generate few images, with only fleeting glimps-
es of the structures produced. But the super-
nova pizza manages 200 shots in a few sec-
onds as the gases mix. “What our experiment
provides is a dynamic view of the whole pro-
cess,” Ranjan says. By combining insights from
both kinds of experiments, “we should be able
to say something jointly about what’s going on
in a real-life supernova.”
Piro is not surprised that the team’s experi-
ment is the first of its kind. “You have to be
an expert in all different types of experimental
techniques to put this all together,” he says.
“The creativity of this group in trying to address
these problems in a laboratory setting is really
inspiring to see.”
Combining this study with others that
probe different aspects of supernovae, along
with evolving models, will help researchers
eventually tease out details they cannot ob -
serve when a real star explodes. “If a universal
model that describes what is occurring on
different scales is the overall goal,” Kuranz says,
“using these experiments—especially at differ-
ent scales and under different conditions—
can help push toward that.” — Nola Taylor Reddsphere is around 170 kilometers thick. Theoriz-
ing about why, they note that metal’s building
blocks are commonly found near the earth’s
surface, where they accumulate in basins. If
these basins sit above a part of the lithosphere
with the right thickness, the amount of heat
that rises from the deeper mantle could set
the perfect temperature for the constituents
to concentrate into metal deposits.
Finding these metals has traditionally
involved “boots on the ground,” Hoggard
says, with people widely sampling mineral
content in soil or measuring the earth’s mag-
netic field to find anomalies. The team’s dis-
covery provides an opportunity to find prom-
ising sites remotely; in fact, mining companies
have already begun using this information to
inform their searches, Hoggard says.
“What these authors have done that’s really
novel is ... connecting these deeper structures
in the upper mantle to something that we can
see [near] the surface, which is the distribution
of these metal deposits,” Long says. “It’s a real-
ly exciting piece of work.” — Karen KwonDEVESH RANJAN, STAM LAB AND GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYLawrence Livermore National Laboratory train
dozens of lasers on material the size of a pencil
eraser, evaporating it to trigger an impressive
blast. The trade-off comes in the amount of
detail, Ranjan says: the bigger experiments
generate few images, with only fleeting glimps-
es of the structures produced. But the super-
nova pizza manages 200 shots in a few sec-
onds as the gases mix. “What our experiment
provides is a dynamic view of the whole pro-
cess,” Ranjan says. By combining insights from
both kinds of experiments, “we should be able
to say something jointly about what’s going on
in a real-life supernova.”
Piro is not surprised that the team’s experi-
ment is the first of its kind. “You have to be
an expert in all different types of experimental
techniques to put this all together,” he says.
“The creativity of this group in trying to address
these problems in a laboratory setting is really
inspiring to see.”
Combining this study with others that
probe different aspects of supernovae, along
with evolving models, will help researchers
eventually tease out details they cannot ob -
serve when a real star explodes. “If a universal
model that describes what is occurring on
different scales is the overall goal,” Kuranz says,
“using these experiments—especially at differ-
ent scales and under different conditions—
can help push toward that.” — Nola Taylor Reddsphere is around 170 kilometers thick. Theoriz-
ing about why, they note that metal’s building
blocks are commonly found near the earth’s
surface, where they accumulate in basins. If
these basins sit above a part of the lithosphere
with the right thickness, the amount of heat
that rises from the deeper mantle could set
the perfect temperature for the constituents
to concentrate into metal deposits.
Finding these metals has traditionally
involved “boots on the ground,” Hoggard
says, with people widely sampling mineral
content in soil or measuring the earth’s mag-
netic field to find anomalies. The team’s dis-
covery provides an opportunity to find prom-
ising sites remotely; in fact, mining companies
have already begun using this information to
inform their searches, Hoggard says.
“What these authors have done that’s really
novel is ... connecting these deeper structures
in the upper mantle to something that we can
see [near] the surface, which is the distribution
of these metal deposits,” Long says. “It’s a real-
ly exciting piece of work.” — Karen Kwonsad1020Adva3p.indd 19 8/20/20 5:27 PMOver 50 New Features & Apps in this New Version!
Over 500,000 registered users worldwide in:
■ 6,000+ Companies including 20+ Fortune Global 500
■ 6,500+ Colleges & Universities
■ 3,000+ Government Agencies & Research Labs25+ years serving the scientific and engineering community.
®For a 60-day FREE TRIAL, go to OriginLab.Com/demo and enter code: 9246
sad1020Adva3p.indd 19Untitled-1 1 Untitled-453 1 20/09/2019 15:158/21/20 10:07 AM8/20/20 5:49 PM© 2020 Scientific American