National Laboratory

LANL: Rising Global Temperatures Accelerate Drought-induced Forest Mortality

July 10, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Dead Piñon: Piñon trees show increased susceptibility to drought when also subjected to rising temperatures. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Rising Global Temperatures Accelerate Drought-induced Forest Mortality

Research has dire global implications for forests

Many southwestern forests in the United States will disappear or be heavily altered by 2050, according to a series of joint Los Alamos National Laboratory-University of New Mexico studies.

In a new video produced by Los Alamos, Nathan McDowell, a Los Alamos plant physiologist, and William Pockman, a UNM biology professor, explain Read More

LANL: Wildfires May Contribute More To Global Warming Than Previously Predicted

July 9, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Mixing and classification of soot particles. Field-emission scanning electron microscope images of four different categories of soot particles: (a) embedded, (b) partly coated, (c) bare and (d) with inclusions. Approximately 50 percent of the ambient soot particles are embedded, 34 percent are partly coated and 12 percent have inclusions. Only 4 percent of the particles are bare soot (not coated or very thinly coated). Scale bars, 500 nm. Right, spherical tar balls dominate in the emissions. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Particle analysis shows “tar ball” effect is significant

Wildfires Read More

Los Alamos Exceeds Waste Shipping Goal

July 9, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

A shipment carrying Los Alamos transuranic waste heads down N.M. 502, bound for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Los Alamos Exceeds Waste Shipping Goal

Lab breaks another record with three months remaining in fiscal year

Los Alamos National Laboratory, which broke its waste shipping records in 2012, has exceeded last year’s record with three months left to go in fiscal year 2013.

During the past nine months, Los Alamos shipped 1,074 cubic meters of transuranic (TRU) and mixed low-level waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and other approved Read More

LANL Connections: Pilot Summer Program Supports Science Teachers

July 9, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

New Mexico Public Education Department’s Math and Science Director Lesley Galyas, left, visits with teachers at a recent workshop. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Pilot Summer Program Supports Science Teachers

The July edition of LANL Connections is out and features a story about Northern New Mexico kindergarten-through-eighth-grade science teachers spending a week exploring the concept of “matter,” a vital underpinning for many scientific disciplines including physics and chemistry.

The 26 attendees, teacher leaders and instructional coaches, were selected for the pilot program from Read More

LANL Wins Three R&D 100 Awards

July 8, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Cosmic Ray Muons for Contraband Detection. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

X-Ray Imaging, Spacecraft Nuclear Fission and Cosmic Ray Contraband Detection Score R&D 100 Awards

Los Alamos and partner technologies honored for innovation and utility

R&D Magazine today announced the winners of its annual “R&D 100” competition, commonly known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” and three technologies from Los Alamos National Laboratory and its partners are among the honorees.

“The innovation and creativity shown in this year’s awards is truly inspiring. It gives me great confidence in Read More

Bradbury Ranks No. 5 on Mensa Top Ten Museums List

July 5, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Mensa Top Ten: Bradbury Science Museum Ranks 5

The top 10 list of America’s best science museums selected by Mensa members:

1. National Air and Space Museum (Washington, D.C.)

2. Academy of Natural Science Museum of Drexel University (Philadelphia)

3.Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)

4. California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco)

5. Bradbury Science Museum (Los Alamos, N.M.)

6. Arkansas Museum of Discovery (Little Rock, Ark.)

7. California Science Center (Los Angeles)

8. Exploratorium (San Francisco)

9. Museum of Science (Boston)

10. Center of Science and Industry (Columbus,

Truman’s Decision to Drop Bomb Discussed at 70th Anniversary Lecture July 10

July 4, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Noel Pugach. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

President Harry S. Truman’s decision to use atomic bombs on Japan during World War II will be discussed in the next installment of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 70th Anniversary Public Lecture Series at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 10 at the Bradbury Science Museum.

Noel Pugach, professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico, will discuss Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; he also will explain the nature of Truman’s decision and how and why he made it.

“Harry S. Truman considered the use Read More

Spy Drone Test Conducted on Secret Mesa Top Near Los Alamos

July 3, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Drone helicopter. Photo by Dave Yeamans

Drone’s test pilot, left, and runner. Photo by Dave Yeamans

Staff Report:

July 2, 2013 at about 7:50 p.m., two spy drone test pilots were observed on a local mesa top flying a 4-propeller semi-autonomous aircraft.

The flights were super-secret. Notice how the androids in the photo are wearing gray, rectangular, identity-guarding masks. Inadvertent observer Dave Yeamans reports that aside from a mild and temporary disturbance to some birds, the test flight was beneficial to all concerned.

Residents were treated

US, International Partners Remove Last HEU from Vietnam, Set Nuclear Security Milestone

July 3, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) removel in Viet Nam. Courtesy/NNSA News

A Vietnamese commander gives instructions prior to departing in a convoy carrying highly enriched uranium. Courtesy/NNSA News

NNSA News:

VIENNA, Austria – The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), in a joint operation with the Russian Federation, announced today the successful removal of 11 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute in Dalat,

Regional Coalition of LANL Communities Meets July 19

July 3, 2013 by Submitted by Carol A. Clark

The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities will hold its regular business meeting 9-11 a.m., July 19 at the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh Conference Center, Highway 68, two miles north of Española.

For more information: https:////regionalcoalition.org. Read More