Science

Farewell To Cassini Mission That Explored Saturn

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This illustration shows NASA’s Cassini spacecraft about to make one of its dives between Saturn and its innermost rings as part of the mission’s grand finale. Cassini will make 22 orbits that swoop between the rings and the planet before ending its mission today, Sept. 15, 2017, with a final plunge into Saturn. Courtesy/NASA/JPL-Caltech

 LANL News:

  • Los Alamos National Laboratory played part in two major discoveries and powered the spacecraft during its 20-year flight

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists led the development of two scientific sensors on NASA’s spacecraft Cassini Read More

Scenes From Season Kick Off Of Cafe Scientifique

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Cafe Scientifique participants working on a building project during the season kick-off Tuesday night at UNM-LA. Photo by Michelle Hall

Presenter Mike Hoog leads Cafe Scientifique participants in yoga Tuesday evening at UNM-LA. Photo by Michelle Hall

Staff Report

Café Scientifique kick off its season Tuesday evening on the campus of UNM-Los Alamos. The popular program brings teens from all walks of life together to explore, discuss and debate the latest ideas in science and technology. Stimulating conversations with experts working on the cutting-edge of scientific research take place Read More

UNM-LA Astrophysics Discussion Sept. 19 – Nov. 21

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Explore Your Universe: Modern Astrophysics for Everyone is open to all ages. This non-credit class focuses on inquiry and discussion. Photo by Nancy Coombs/UNM-LA
 
UNM-LA News:
 
UNM-Los Alamos Community Education is once again offering a unique opportunity for all community members – from high school students to retirees – who have an interest in learning more about our universe.

Dr. Nicole Lloyd-Ronning will facilitate the non-credit astrophysics course, which begins Sept. 19 at UNM-LA. Courtesy photo

Beginning Sept. 19 and running through Nov. 21,
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LANL: Carlsten, Nguyen And Sheffield Win Free-Electron Laser Prize

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Los Alamos scientists Bruce Carlsten, Richard Sheffield and Dinh Nguyen receive the 2017 Free Electron Laser Prize at an international conference hosted in Santa Fe.

LANL News:

  • International panel notes pioneering contributions in the field

At an international science conference hosted recently in Santa Fe, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Bruce Carlsten, Dinh Nguyen and Richard Sheffield were awarded the 2017 Free-Electron Laser (FEL) Prize.

“The very brightest sources of x-rays are the latest generation of x-ray ‘light sources’ called free Read More

Mission To The Asteroid Belt

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Dawn Space Probe Exhibition at New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. Courtesy photo
 
NMMNH&S News:
 
ALBUQUERQUE ― The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has opened a new, one-of-a-kind exhibition about NASA’s Dawn space probe and the amazing discoveries it has made during its 10-year journey through the solar system.
 
This temporary addition to the space science area will be available through mid-2018.
 
Dawn traveled to and explored Ceres and Vesta, the largest objects in the main asteroid belt, located between the orbits
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LANL: Superconductivity Research Reveals Potential New State Of Matter

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Filip Ronning at work in his lab. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

A potential new state of matter is being reported in the journal Nature, with research showing that among superconducting materials in high magnetic fields, the phenomenon of electronic symmetry breaking is common. The ability to find similarities and differences among classes of materials with phenomena such as this helps researchers establish the essential ingredients that cause novel functionalities such as superconductivity.

The high-magnetic-field state of the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn5 revealed a so-called

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FSU Researcher Studying Ways To Treat Spinal Cord Injuries At Cellular Levels

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FSU News:
 
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Supported by a new $800,000 National Science Foundation grant, Florida State University College of Medicine Professor Yi Ren is studying the immune response to spinal cord injuries and how cellular functions contribute to paralysis and organ dysfunction.
 
While instant paralysis is an obvious point of fear in spinal cord injuries, a great deal of the damage actually takes place after the initial trauma.
 
“Most of the research being done by scientists who focus on spinal cord injuries is about trying to prevent the secondary injury from happening,”
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Groups Call On Japan Not To Dump Radioactive Water Into Pacific Ocean

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BN News:
 
TAKOMA PARK, Md. — Beyond Nuclear has signed onto a new letter from marine wildlife, environmental and conservation groups calling on authorities in Japan to avoid at all cost the dumping of hundreds and thousands of tons of radioactively contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.
 
Currently, Japanese utility, TEPCO, is planning to release 777,000 tons of waste containing radioactive tritium into the Pacific Ocean from its stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear site. The contaminated water, used to cool the destroyed reactors to avoid further
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NNSA Removes All HEU From Ghana

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NNSA News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA), in cooperation with Ghana, China, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), repatriated approximately one kilogram of Chinese-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Ghana’s GHARR-1 Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission’s National Nuclear Research Institute in Accra, Ghana Aug. 28.
 
This shipment removes the last known HEU from Ghana, making it the 32nd country plus Taiwan to become
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