The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory publishes the Energy and Technology Review Monthly. This periodical reviews progress mode is selected programs at the laboratory. This issue includes articles on in-situ coal gasification, on chromosomal aberrations in human sperm, on high speed cell sorting and on supercomputers.

An overview is given of research programs at a two-stage light-gas gun facility. Representative gas-gun experiments are described, and the impact of this research on other LLNL programs and on high-pressure physics work in general are discussed. Particular applications reported include: measurement of equations of state for various materials, synthesis and study of novel materials, and studies of high explosives. Specialized diagnostic techniques for gas-gun experiments are reviewed. (LEW)