Science

PEEC Offers Geology Tour Of Mount Taylor

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Mount Taylor has a fascinating geologic story, one that can be told by Fraser and Cathy Goff. Photo by Fraser Goff

PEEC News:

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) is offering a special overnight tour June 17-18 of the Mount Taylor region. The tour will focus on the geology of the area, and is suitable for geologists and non-geologists alike. Space is limited for this trip.

Geologists Fraser and Cathy Goff will lead the tour, which will include the earth science and volcanology of Mount Taylor and surrounding areas. There will be various stops along the drive to Mount Taylor on the Read More

Udall, Heinrich Urge Against NASA Funding Cuts

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U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to support NASA’s Office of Education in the coming fiscal year despite a proposal by President Trump to eliminate the office, which works to inspire and educate students across the country to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
 
NASA’s Office of Education programs include the Space Grant College and Fellowship Program — a competitive, state-federal partnership that functions through consortia in all 50 states, Puerto
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Ice Particles In Earth’s Atmosphere Create Glints

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One million miles from Earth, a NASA camera is capturing unexpected flashes of light reflecting off Earth. Courtesy/NASA
 
AGU News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One million miles from Earth, a NASA camera is capturing unexpected flashes of light reflecting off Earth.
 
The homeward-facing instrument on NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, launched in 2015, caught hundreds of these flashes over the span of a year. NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) instrument aboard DSCOVR is taking almost-hourly images of the sunlit planet from its spot between Earth
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Four LAHS Students Compete At Intel ISEF

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LAHS juniors Priyanka Velappan, Alex Ionkov and Sophia Li and freshman Lillian Peterson are competing this week at the Intel ISEF in Los Angeles, Calif. Courtesy photo

LAHS News:

Four Los Alamos High School students are competing May 14-19 at Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in Los Angeles, Calif.

LAHS juniors Priyanka Velappan, Alex Ionkov and Sophia Li, along with freshman Lillian Peterson won all expense paid trips to Intel ISEF by winning Grand Awards at the Northeastern New Mexico Science and Engineering Fair and the New Mexico State Science and Read More

Science On Tap: Discovering Boron On Mars May 18

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LACD News:
 
Although the NASA Curiosity rover has investigated Mars since August 2012, it has only recently detected boron on the planet.
 
The presence of this element has implications for questions about abundant water, prebiotic chemistry, and the habitability of Mars. The ChemCam instrument, which has been vital to this research, was a joint effort between Los Alamos and the French Space Agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales.
 
Come and hear Patrick Gasda, of the Lab’s Space and Remote Sensing group, talk about what has been learned through this special and
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Los Alamos Faith And Science Forum Launches 2017 Summer Series

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COMMUNITY News:

Again this summer the Los Alamos Faith and Science Forum will present a series of talks by local speakers during May, June and July. The theme of the talks is “Hope: Science, Religion and the Future”. There will be seven Wednesday evening meetings including May 31; June 7, 14, 28 and July 12, 19, 26.

The meetings will follow the usual format: light supper at 6 p.m., talk at 6:30 p.m., followed by questions for the speaker and then table discussions. In a change from the past two years, these talks will be in the Fellowship Hall of the Unitarian Church at 1738 N Sage Loop in Los Alamos.

Wednesday, Read More

Letter To The Editor: Response To Dr. Neeper

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By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos
 
This is a brief reply to Dr. Neeper’s recent letter (link). First of all, I did not suggest that people should go to work for private industry. I suggested that they form their own companies and go to work for themselves. That way you set your own corporate values, and those values can help restore credibility to science. That’s a little different than working for R J Reynolds.
 
I also think that volunteering is great, but volunteering isn’t going to create research jobs. We need to grow research, and taking the entrepreneurial route is one way to do that. It
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LANL: Data Analysis Could Trigger New Shale Gas Revolution

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Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Manipulating ‘tail production’ could yield huge long-term gains while minimizing environmental impacts

Extensive data mining and analysis of 20,000 shale gas wells has revealed how “refracturing” existing wells with new technology could transform them from diminished producers into high-performers long after their initial peak production period has ended.

“Our analysis could potentially aid in reducing the number of new wells to be drilled,” said Richard Middleton, lead author of the study by a team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists. “In addition, Read More

Mysteries In Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium

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Courtesy/PEEC

PEEC News:

To prepare for the upcoming Bear Festival, this Friday there will not be an evening planetarium show. However, there will be fun for the whole family at the Los Alamos Nature Center Saturday, May 13, including New Mexico’s first Bear Festival, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and a full-dome planetarium show at 2 p.m. of Mysteries of the Unseen World. This full-dome film, which allows viewers to discover what is normally too fast, too slow, too small, or outside the visible spectrum, also will play at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Los Alamos Nature Center is open regular hours this month: Read More

Letter To The Editor: Response To Nebel

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By DONALD A. NEEPER
Portola Valley, Calif. 
(Los Alamos resident 1968-2014)

I was a signatory to the letter published in the May 4 edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post (link), in which 18 retired LANL scientists expressed concern regarding federal plans to suppress scientific research and monitoring related to environmental protection and public health.

In the May 6 edition of the Daily Post, Richard Nebel responded thoughtfully, pointing to the productivity of private industry, the bureaucratic ineptness of government, and the feelings of laborers (link). However, he missed the

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