Science

Amateur Naturalist: What Is A Lichen?

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Crustose lichen grows like a crust that is tightly attached to the underlying rock substrate. Photo by Robert Dryja

By ROBERT DRYJA
Los Alamos

It is easy to see the world as composed of discrete plants and animals while walking across the countryside. Short juniper trees grow at lower elevations while tall ponderosa trees grow at higher elevations. Squirrels can be seen scampering across the ground and then up tree trunks. Hummingbirds arrive in the spring and then leave in the fall. Unusual looking things also can be seen.

For example, a curious sort of organism can be seen living on the ground. Read More

NMED Issues Fact Sheet For The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Draft Operating Permit

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Environment Secretary James Kenney

NMED News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) issued a fact sheet Thursday, summarizing the department’s proposed changes to the hazardous waste operating permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

The fact sheet is an initial step in providing the permittees, the Department of Energy and Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, as well as interested stakeholders and members of the public an understanding of the proposed changes associated with the renewal of the WIPP hazardous waste operating permit. Read More

AFRL And CNM Ingenuity Shift Innovation To Next Level At Hyperdrive Space Summit

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Dr. Stacey Franklin Jones, center, O Analytics founder, senior scientist and head of research, speaks with other attendees at the AFRL and CNMI 2022 Hyperdrive Space Summit Nov. 15 in Albuquerque. Courtesy/CNMI

AFRL News:

ALBUQUERQUE — The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) partnered with CNM Ingenuity (CNMI) the economic development arm of Central New Mexico Community College, to hold the 2022 Hyperdrive Space Summit Nov. 15-17 in Albuquerque.

The Hyperdrive Space Summit is an evolution of the Hyperspace Challenge that AFRL’s Technology Outreach Office began in 2018, in collaboration Read More

Library Hosts Three Programs By Peter Pesic Dec. 8-9

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Mesa Library and LAAC present three programs Dec. 8-9 by scientist, author and musician Peter Pesic. Courtesy/LAC

COUNTY News:

The staff at Mesa Public Library, in partnership with the Los Alamos Arts Council (LAAC), will present three programs Dec. 8 and 9 by scientist, author and musician Peter Pesic. 

The community is invited to join LAAC and Mesa Public Library for two lunchtime concerts at Fuller Lodge in which Pesic will perform Gabriel Fauré’s Complete Nocturnes for Piano:

  • Nocturnes 1-6, noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8; and
  • Nocturnes 7-13 Friday, Dec. 9.

Fauré is one of the most beloved Read More

Library Hosts Documentary ‘Bill Nye: Science Guy!’ Dec. 15

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Mesa Public Library and POV will host a free online documentary film screening of ‘Bill Nye: Science Guy!’ Dec. 15 on Zoom. Courtesy/LAC

COUNTY News:

Join Mesa Public Library and POV (PBS’ award-winning nonfiction film series) for a free online documentary film screening of Bill Nye: Science Guy! 

The former star of the popular 90s kid’s TV show has turned his focus to adults, and he’s on a mission to stop the spread of anti-scientific thinking. This event is free to the public and will be livestreamed via Zoom 6:30-8:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15. Runtime 1h 41m. 

The film, by David Alvarado and Jason Read More

Marie Curie’s Notebooks Are Still Radioactive

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Marie Curie

SCIENCE News:

Nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie’s papers are still radioactive — and will be for another 1,500 years.

The pioneering scientist initially had no way of knowing just how dangerous her research on radioactivity (a word she and her husband coined) truly was. She walked around her lab with radioactive elements in her pockets and stored them out in the open, in part because she enjoyed how they “looked like faint, fairy lights”.

For safety reasons, France’s National Library stores Curie’s notebooks in lead-lined boxes. Anyone wishing to view her manuscripts Read More

Air Force Research Laboratory Joins New Mexico National Labs In Postdoc Speech Competition

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Twelve postdoctoral researchers representing the AFRL, SNL, LANL (Kristina Meier, Mary O’Brien, Aaron Patel) and the New Mexico Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research compete in the inaugural Rio Grande Research SLAM, a postdoctoral speech competition Nov. 5 in Albuquerque. The event spotlighted the research performed in New Mexico and provided professional development opportunities to the next generation of scientists. Courtesy/SNL

Maj. Joshua Reding of AFRL Directed Energy Directorate presents Tessily Hogancamp, a chemist from SNL, a trophy as the first-place Read More

AFRL Encourages Public Sector Collaboration, Insight At 2022 New Mexico Cyber & Space Symposium

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AFRL senior engineer Joseph ‘Dan’ Trujillo, the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate’s Space Cyber Resiliency lead and organizer of the New Mexico Cyber and Space Symposium in Albuquerque, holds a CubeSat miniature of a satellite. The CubeSat contains all the components of a satellite and allows AFRL to study vulnerabilities in a space vehicle to develop solutions for protection against cyberattack. Courtesy/Tyrell Etsitty, USAF

AFRL News:

ALBUQUERQUE — The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), in partnership with Deloitte and Central New Mexico Community College held the New Mexico Cyber Read More

BSMA Gift Shop ‘Gadgets’ Inside Bradbury Science Museum Offers Specials For Small Business Saturday & Museum Store Sunday

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Light, Gravity, and Magnetism, 3 toys in one package! Discover Science all over again at Gadgets Gift Shop, inside the Bradbury Science Museum at 1350 Central Ave. in downtown Los Alamos. The Bradbury Science Museum Association (BSMA) operates Gadgets and is offering 10 percent off Newton’s Discovery and everything else in the shop – only on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 26 and Museum Store Sunday, Nov. 27. BSMA members receive 20 percent off. The BSMA supports STEM education in Northern New Mexico, learn more at www.bradburyassociation.org. Courtesy/BSMA Gadgets Gift Shop Read More

AFRL Breaks Ground On New FORTRESS Space Lab

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The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate held a ground-breaking ceremony, Nov. 16, 2022, beginning construction on the Facility for Radiation Tolerance Research on Electronics for Space and Strategic Systems, or FORTRESS, a 6,200- square-foot, $4.5 million facility at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The facility will enable researchers to develop solutions for trusted, high-performance electronic components with necessary space and strategic-hardening to ensure the survivability of key U.S. Space Force and Air Force systems. Courtesy/US Air Force

AFRL Read More