National Laboratory

Café Scientifique Looks at Ethical Hacking Oct.18

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CAFE SCIENTIQUE News:
 
Local teens are invited to attend Café Scientifique NM set for 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at UNM-LA in the Building 4 Computer Lab.
 
Neale Pickett of Los Alamos National Laboratory will present the talk, “Ethical Hacking and Codebreaking: A Hands-on Tutorial and Contest.”
In early 2009, Iran’s uranium enrichment program—widely believed to be aimed at developing a nuclear weapon—was set back at least two years and billions of dollars by a computer virus from the United States.  

The New Zealand-based Megaupload site has millions Read More

U.S., Russia Partner to Complete Krasnoyarsk Regional Training Center, Reaffirm Commitment

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NNSA is responsible for the management and security of the nation’s nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation, and naval reactor programs. It also responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad. Courtesy/NNSA

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense (RF MOD) announced Friday the commissioning of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Training Center (KRTC) near Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

The KRTC will provide training for personnel who maintain or operate security systems Read More

Sunday Talk at Bradbury Describes Manhattan Project Contributions of Jewish Scientists at LANL

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Hans Bethe
 
BRADBURY News:
Talk Sunday at Bradbury Science Museum
 
Jewish scientists played a key role in Los Alamos’ Manhattan Project effort to develop the first atomic bombs.
 
The role of these research luminaries in LANL’s Theoretical Division, such as Hans Bethe, Victor Weisskopf, Richard Feynman and John von Neumann among others are explored in a talk Sunday at the Bradbury Science Museum.
 
When: 3 p.m., Oct. 14
Where: Bradbury Science Museum, 15th Street and Central Avenue.
 
The talk, “Jews in Theory: A Snapshot of Theoretical Division
Read More

Pueblo Joins Regional Coalition of LANL Communities

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RCLC News:

…Ohkay Owingeh first Pueblo to officially join Regional Coalition

The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities announced today that the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh has become an official voting member of the Regional Coalition.

In joining the Coalition, the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh will participate as a full voting member of the Board while maintaining their inherent powers of self-government and sovereign immunity.
“We are extremely pleased to be the first Pueblo to join the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities,” We look forward to participating and supporting this
Read More

LANL: Neutron Crystallography Aids Drug Design

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The Protein Crystallography Station at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, where groundbreaking work in new drug-design methods is underway using neutron diffraction techniques. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Precisely tailored pharmaceuticals could reduce medical side effects

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have used neutron crystallography for the first time to determine the structure of a clinical drug in complex with its human target enzyme.

Seeing the detailed structure of the bonded components provides insights into developing more effective drugs with fewer Read More

SFI Seminar: Energy Tradeoffs Between Metabolism, Growth, and Longevity

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SFI News:

The Santa Fe Institute presents “Energy Tradeoffs between Metabolism, Growth, and Longevity” at 12:15 p.m. Thursday Oct. 11 in the Medium Conference Room.

Chen Ho of the Department of Biological Sciences, Missouri University of Science and Technology is conducting the seminar.

Abstract: Diet restriction (DR) and genetic interference (GI) with growth hormone function lead to smaller adult body mass and extended lifespan in mammals, suggesting tradeoffs between growth and longevity.

Despite a rich body of empirical data, still largely missing is a theoretical Read More

SFI Seminar: Fault-Tolerant Memory and Computation in the Presence of Adversarial Noise

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SFI News:

Aram Harrow of the University of Washington will present Fault-Tolerant Memory and Computation in the Presence of Adversarial Noise at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10 in the Medium Conference Room at the Santa Fe Institute.

Abstract: Theoretical and practical work on fault-tolerant computation has shown that it is possible to compute reliably in the presence of a sufficiently small constant rate of random noise.

In this work, we consider for the first time the case of adversarial noise; i.e. an adversary who can choose a small constant fraction of bits to flip after each step of the computation. Read More

NNMC Foundation Honors LANL’s Richard Marquez

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LANL News:

Los Alamos National Laboratory Executive Director Richard Marquez is the namesake for a new leadership and service award at Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) in Española.

“I am honored and humbled by this recognition from Northern New Mexico College,” Marquez said. “I have been fortunate with regard to my education and career with opportunities and mentors. I believe in paying it forward and am optimistic that this award will shed light on all of the other people who donate time and resources to making Northern New Mexico a better place.”

The creation of the Richard Marquez Leadership Read More

SFI Colloquium: Computability, Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem and an Inherent Limit on the Predictability of Evolution

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SFI Colloquium

Troy Day, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Mathematical Biology, Queens University will present “Computability, Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem, and an Inherent Limit on the Predictability of Evolution” at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct 9 in the Noyce Conference Room at the Santa Fe Institute.

Abstract: I will briefly review a main way in which mathematical modeling has been used to understand and predict evolutionary change.

I will then highlight an important shortcoming of such approaches and consider an alternative that attempts to overcome the problem. Read More

Evolutionary Theory, Web-Search Technology Combine for DNA Analysis

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From left, Los Alamos scientists Joel Berendzen, Ben McMahon, Mira Dimitrijevic, Nick Hengartner and Judith Cohn. Courtesy LANL

LANL News:

  • Bioinformatics breakthrough has clinical & environmental applications

New software from Los Alamos National Laboratory called Sequedex uses evolutionary theory to swiftly identify short “reads” of DNA, calling out the specific organisms from which the DNA came and their likely activity.

“Sequedex makes it possible for a researcher to analyze data hot off a DNA sequencer using a laptop,” said Joel Berendzen, a scientist on the project. “The Read More