National Laboratory

WIPP Emergency Response Team Member Earn Advanced Training Certifications

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WIPP News:
 
Recovery activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant continue to move in a positive direction.
 
As part of increased emergency response capabilities, the WIPP Fire Department and Emergency Response Team are participating in advanced training, improving overall capabilities and receiving advanced certifications.
 
Training and validation testing has included written examinations, as well as intense physical and practical testing. All WIPP firefighters are certified at Firefighter Level I/II. In addition, 90 percent are
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Celebrate Women In Science … Vote For Favorite

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Cast a ballot at Mesa Public Library for your favorite woman in science. Photo by Katy Korkos

LIBRARY News:

Who’s your favorite woman scientist? Is it Grace Hopper, or Ada Lovelace, or maybe you call her Mom? At the Los Alamos County Libraries, we’re celebrating Ada Lovelace Day with a week of programs for kids and adults, Oct. 12 through 16, and we’re going to name a public computer after your favorite woman scientist.

“A library patron brought to our attention that not one of our computers was named after a female scientist,” Reference Librarian Liza Rivera said.

The library nicknames the computers Read More

Many Millions To Settle Livermore Lay-off Suit

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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory span one square mile. Courtesy/LLNL

LLNL News:

The claims of 129 of the plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit brought by 130 former workers against Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have been resolved.

In the settlement, the Laboratory has agreed to pay the former employees a total of $37.25 million in contract damages. 

The lawsuit arose out of a 2008 workforce restructuring at the Laboratory, which impacted more than 1,000 employees. In 2013, the claims of five “test plaintiffs,” out of the 130, were litigated in two separate jury trials.

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History Of Jews In LANL’s Theoretical Division Discussed At Public Presentation Oct. 4

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LANL News:

Acting Los Alamos National Laboratory Theoretical Division Leader Jack Shlachter discusses the history of Jews in T Division during the Manhattan Project in a special presentation at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 at the Bradbury Science Museum in downtown Los Alamos. The talk is free and open to the public.

Shlachter notes that in 1945 a “disproportionate fraction” of T Division management was of Jewish origin. He will talk about several of these individuals and explore what role, if any, their religious background played in their lives.

A snapshot of the Theoretical Division Read More

Study Reveals Urban Smoke Absorbs Sunlight, Exacerbating Climate Warming

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A new study by a science team led by LANL stresses the importance of understanding mixed black and brown carbon in smoke emissions for climate models. The particulates found in urban smoke are especially prone to absorbing sunlight and having a heating effect on the planet. A measurement station, shown here (Detling, UK), is one of several deployed in the UK throughout the study. Photo courtesy Manvendra Dubey/LANL

LANL News:

  • First Field Demonstration Of Warming Caused By Soot And Brown Carbon

Cloaking urban areas and wildfire zones, tiny smoke particles suspended in the atmosphere have a Read More

Maj. Gen. Scott Jansson Assumes Command Of Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center At Kirtland AFB

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Maj. Gen. Scott Jansson

AFNWC News:

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE – Maj. Gen. Scott Jansson will assume command of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) in a ceremony this morning at Hardin Field.

Before coming to the AFNWC, Jansson was the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Weapons and director of the Armament Directorate at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Jansson replaces Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan, who is going to the Pentagon to be the deputy chief information officer for Command, Control, Communications, and Computers. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, Read More

Udall Welcomes OK Of Short-Term Budget Agreement, Urges Responsible Long-Term Budget For NM

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall

U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a member of the Appropriations Committee, joined the full Senate in voting today for a short-term agreement to keep the federal government running until Dec. 11.

The measure, which passed the Senate 78-20 and passed the U.S. House of Representatives 277-151, is now headed to the president to be signed into law. While Udall welcomed the short-term agreement called a “continuing resolution,” he urged Congress to agree to a long-term budget that also ends the devastating across-the-board budget cuts known Read More

SFI: ‘Social Consumer-Resource Dynamics’ Oct. 6

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John Fryxell, University of Guelph
 
SFI News:
 
The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) hosts Colloquium “Social Consumer-Resource Dynamics” at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday Oct. 6, at Noyce Conference Room.
 
Abstract: Classic ecological theory is based on mass action principles derived from the ideal gas law.
 
While the simplicity of this approach has been very useful, it is clear that the biology of living organisms violates several of the key central assumptions.
 
At the same time, there is also growing recognition that active non-living particles can have
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Tree Death Impact Studied In Forests Worldwide

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Large trees suffer more than small trees during and after droughts, and while theories had suggested this should be a globally consistent pattern, a new study confirms the concept with a worldwide survey of 38 forests. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

In forests worldwide, drought consistently has had a more detrimental impact on the growth and survival of larger trees, new research shows.

In addition, while the death of small trees may affect the dominance of trees in a landscape, the death of large trees has a far worse impact on the ecosystem and climate’s health, especially due to the important role

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NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows On Present Day Mars

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Courtesy/NASA
 
NASA News:
 
New findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present day Mars.

Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees

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