World

AGU: Searching For Oldest Ice In Antarctica

by

Robert Mulvaney (dressed in black) and the Beyond EPICA surveying team. Courtesy/British Antarctic Survey
 
AGU News:
 
Drilling engineer and ice core scientist Robert Mulvaney has driven thousands of kilometers over Antarctica in the past few years in a snow tractor, creeping slowly over one of the highest points of the ice sheet, near a location known as Dome C.
 
He’s looking for the perfect place to drill one and a half million years into the past. Gas trapped in the ice as it formed holds clues to Earth’s past climate and, Mulvaney believes, the atmospheric conditions that
Read More

Spy Museum Responds To Senator Appeal To Modify Exhibit Misrepresenting CIA Torture Program

by

From the Office of U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. has responded to a request made by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), all members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, that the museum make changes to its exhibit on the CIA torture program.

In December 2019, the senators sent a letter to Tamara Christian, president and chief operating officer of the International Spy Museum, expressing disappointment over the exhibit’s misrepresentation of the CIA’s torture Read More

LANL Scientists And International Partners Create 3-D Image Of Heart RNA Structure For First Time

by

The first 3-D images have been created of an RNA molecule known as ‘Braveheart’ for its role in transforming stem cells into heart cells. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Work could lead to new strategies in regenerative medicine for heart conditions

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and international partners have created the first 3-D images of a special type of RNA molecule that is critical for stem cell programming and known as the “dark matter” of the genome. 

“As far as we know,” said corresponding author Karissa Sanbonmatsu, “this is the first full 3-D structural study of any Read More

Former LANL Director Siegfried Hecker To Speak At Alice And Lawry Mann Lecture Saturday, Jan. 11

by

Dr. Siegfried Hecker during the official CTBTO photostream. Courtesy photo
 
LAHS News:
 
Dr. Siegfried Hecker will give his annual talk on the state of nuclear arms control and world politics, 7 p.m., Jan. 11 at the Alice and Lawry Mann Lecture.
 
Hecker served as the fifth director of Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 to 1997, and is now a senior fellow emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

He has spoken to a full house each year he has returned to Los Alamos for this event. Come early for the best seating! Read More

Study: Deforestation Changing Animal Communication

by

Howler monkey. Courtesy/UofW

University of Waterloo News:

Deforestation is changing the way monkeys communicate in their natural habitat, according to a new study.

This study, led by an anthropologist at the University of Waterloo, offers the first evidence in animal communication scholarship of differences in vocal behaviors in response to different types of forest edge areas.

Working in a tropical lowland rainforest in Costa Rica, the researchers examined how human-caused forest habitat changes have affected vegetation and, in turn, the rate and length of howling by the group-living Read More

CIR: War With Iran? Risks And Implications Jan. 16

by

CIR News:
 
The community is invited to join Santa Fe Council on International Relations at 4:30 p.m., Jan. 16 at the Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo De Peralta to hear a panel discussion on the risks and implications of war with Iran.
 
The panel includes Middle East experts from UNM’s Global & National Security Policy Institute, Dr. Emile Nakhleh and Dr. Todd Greentree and Ambassador Vicki Huddleston.
 
This discussion on today’s most urgent challenge to the global order and U.S. foreign policy:
  • Will there be war with Iran?
  • What are the implications and risks of assassinating
Read More

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall Joins War Powers Resolution To Prevent Unauthorized War With Iran

by

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall

From the Office of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall:

Also calls for a vote on his bipartisan Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act, co-sponsored by 27 senators.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) officially signed on as a cosponsor to a war powers resolution (S. Res. 63) today to prevent further escalation of hostilities with Iran, introduced Friday by U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

Udall is the author of the bipartisan Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act, first introduced in 2018 and then again in 2019, a bill to prohibit the United States from expending Read More

Scientists In The Spotlight: Nathan Debardeleben And Linda Anderman At Bradbury Science Museum Jan. 11

by

Nathan Debardeleben and Linda Anderman. Courtesy/LANL
 
LANL News:
 
Scientists in the Spotlight: Nathan Debardeleben and Linda Anderman will meet community members 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Bradbury Science Museum.
 
Supercomputing Reliability
 
Nathan Debardeleben, with the Lab’s High Performance Computing Design Group, started designing, programming and tinkering at an early age. At the Lab, Debardeleben uses his knowledge to help build the latest supercomputers and keep them running in tip-top shape—no matter what the environment throws
Read More

The Manhattan Project Electronic Field Trip Feb. 4

by

Film crew at the replica guard gate in Los Alamos. Courtesy/BSM
 
BSM News:
 
The National WWll Museum in New Orleans is presenting the Manhattan Project Electronic Field Trip Feb. 4. This interactive streaming exploration will feature live polling and Q&A, so students can participate without ever leaving their classroom.
 
Answering student questions on-location at the WWll Museum will be Sharon Squassoni, research professor at George Washington University and member of the Science and Security Board at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The experience is geared
Read More

Trinity, Hiroshima & Nagasaki Commemoration Events

by

CCNS News:
 
Planning is ongoing to commemorate the 75 years since the U.S. atomic bombings at the Trinity Site in July 1945, and over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
 
The opening event is the 11th Annual “Witness for the People” at noon Friday, Jan. 31 in the rotunda of the State Capitol in Santa Fe.
 
Confirmed speakers include:
  • Archbishop John C. Wester;
  • Lt. Gov. Howie Morales;
  • Rep. Angelica Rubio;
  • Marian Naranjo, of Honor Our Pueblo Existence;
  • Tina Cordova, of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, also known as the Trinity Downwinders; and
  • Ken Mayers of Veterans
Read More