Science

New Mexico Tech And Los Alamos National Laboratory Make Joint Appointment To Work On Robotics Projects

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From left, Joint appointee David Grow, Laboratory Director Thom Mason and New Mexico Tech President Stephen Wells at the ceremony to mark the joint appointment. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Engineer becomes first researcher hired under cooperative agreement

New Mexico Tech (NMT) and Los Alamos National Laboratory marked the first scientific staff appointment under their cooperative agreement at a July 11 ceremony held at the Laboratory and attended by NMT President Stephen Wells and Laboratory Director Thom Mason.

Appointee David Grow will work as an R&D Engineer with the Laboratory’s Read More

Randy Carlson Of Los Alamos Remembers Apollo 11

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Randy Carlson of Los Alamos depicted here, blue shirt at right, in the Apollo 11 movie DVD released in mid-May using a 16 mm tri-turret camera to film the event. Courtesy/Randy Carlson
 
By RANDY CARLSON
Los Alamos

Today, July 16 is the 50th anniversary of man going to the moon. It so happens that I was there that morning and witnessed the Saturn V launch.

More recently those memories returned having seen myself in the recent “Apollo 11” movie. The movie uses a lot of footage not seen before and, to my amazement, there I was at the 18-minute mark into the movie. 

Although I was in the US Read More

NIST Quantum Logic Clock At Top Performance

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NIST physicist David Leibrandt adjusting one of the lasers used to operate the quantum logic clock, an experimental next-generation atomic clock based on the “ticking” of a single aluminum ion (electrically charged atom). Courtesy/Burrus/NIST
 
Illustration of the ion trap that forms the heart of NIST’s quantum logic clock. The trap is the gold structure with the cross-shaped cutout. The inset shows the aluminum ion (blue), the source of the clock’s “ticks,” and the partner magnesium ion (yellow). Courtesy/S. Burrows/JILA
 
NIST News:
 
The quantum logic
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Explore Space At Summer Family Evening Wednesday

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Head to the Los Alamos Nature Center Wednesday, July 17 for a space-themed Summer Family Evening starting at 6:30 p.m. Enjoy crafts and activities from Mesa Public Library and join PEEC’s astronomers to look at the sky with telescopes and solar filters and for a planetarium open house. This program is sponsored by Del Norte Credit Union. Photo by Minesh Bacrania
 
PEEC News:
 
Join Mesa Public Library’s Melissa Mackey and the Pajarito Environmental Education Center’s astronomers this Wednesday, July 17 at the Los Alamos Nature Center for a space-themed Summer Family Evening.
 
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AGU: Study Bolsters Case That Climate Change Is Driving Many California Wildfires

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Area burned by California wildfires in thousands of square kilometers, 1972-2018. Specific regions studied are at upper left. Courtesy/Williams et al., 2019
 
A satellite image, Aug. 6, 2018, shows smoke from multiple large California wildfires. The fires themselves, detected by thermal imagery, are in red. Courtesy/NASA
 
AGU News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Against a backdrop of long-term rises in temperature in recent decades, California has seen ever higher spikes in seasonal wildfires, and, in the last two years, a string of disastrous, record-setting blazes.
 
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Los Alamos Scientists Abigail Hunter And Shea Mosby Win 2019 Presidential Early Career Awards

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Abigail Hunter and Shea Mosby are recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Abigail Hunter, of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Computational Physics Division, and Shea Mosby, of the Laboratory’s Physics Division, have received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

“Abigail has become a technical thought leader within the Laboratory’s weapons program and our materials modeling community, as well as an internationally recognized expert in materials science and the physics of solid-state Read More

Researchers Find Probiotic Bacteria Reduces Impact Of White-Nose Syndrome In Bats

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A little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) covered in the fungus, P. destructans, which causes white-nose syndrome. Photo by Joseph Hoyt
 
VT News:
 
It is widely accepted that probiotic bacteria are beneficial to human health, but what if they also could be used to reduce wildlife disease and conserve biodiversity?
 
Researchers from Virginia Tech and UC Santa Cruz did just that in a field trial on the effect of probiotic bacteria on white-nose syndrome in bat populations.
 
They found that it reduces the impact of the disease about five-fold. These findings were published
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Scenes Of 2019 Los Alamos ScienceFest Discovery Day

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Middle school and high school students demonstrate robotics Saturday during the 2019 Los Alamos ScienceFest Discover Day. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

Scene from the 2019 Los Alamos ScienceFest. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

BSA Troop 22 helped a young rocketeer assemble a rocket model. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

Drone pilot Mario Rodriguez flies his drone as he looks through the viewer at the images the drone is sending back from its camera. The booth included small drones for trial flights, with supervision. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

The Manhattan Read More

AFRL & Catalyst Space Accelerator Announce Applications Open For New Space-Based ISR Cohort

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Courtesy/CSA
 
Courtesy/CSA
 
CSA News:
 
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ― Catalyst Space Accelerator is excited to announce the opening of applications for the next cohort, the Space-Based ISR Cohort #CAISR, set for Sept. 9 through Nov. 22.
 
The deadline for applications for entry is Aug. 7. Applications may be found here.
 
The problem set for this cohort, by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate, was born during the August 1960 Discoverer 14 delivery of the first space-based reconnaissance imagery on photographic film. 
 
Since that
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Science On Tap: Garrett Kenyon Discusses Artificial Intelligence At ProjectY Cowork 5:30 P.M. Monday

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Garrett Kenyon

SCIENCE News:

The community is invited to join the Bradbury Science Museum and Los Alamos Creative District for Science On Tap 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 15 at projectY cowork in Central Park Square.

This On Tap will feature a conversation with Garrett Kenyon about artificial intelligence (AI) and how computers learn to imagine the future.

Do you use Siri, Apple’s virtual personal assistant? If so, then you’ve used AI. If that makes you nervous, you’re not alone. After all, popular culture has cultivated societal fears of self-replicating and autonomous androids for over a century. Read More