World

World Futures: PEOPLE … Sustainable Long Term Encapsulation – Including Mental

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By ANDY ANDREWS
Los Alamos World Futures Institute

• World Futures:  What Do We Need?

In the domain of science fiction (e.g., Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Star Trek…) we see space vehicles zooming around the universe with human beings on board seemingly doing well pursuing a mission, discovering new worlds, finding new life forms, and engaging in combat.

Many aspects of the voyage, however, are taken for granted since it is a fictional universe. Perhaps most important in the “for-granted” category are energy, mass, time, and the sanity of the humans.

The space vehicle is a capsule Read More

Los Alamos High School Graduate Kevin Johnson Becomes CEO Of Starbucks April 3

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LAHS 1978 graduate Kevin Johnson, left, takes the helm of Starbucks April 3 from retiring CEO Howard Schultz. Courtesy photo
 
By MAIRE O’NEILL
Los Alamos Daily Post

Los Alamos High School 1978 graduate Kevin Johnson will become chief executive office and assume full responsibility for Starbucks global business and operations April 3. 

Johnson, his sister Kerry Hinsch and brother Dr. Tim Johnson all grew up in Los Alamos and graduated from LAHS. Dr. Tim Johnson, an optometrist at Eye Associates of New Mexico, still resides in Los Alamos. Johnson’s father, Jim Read More

Los Alamos County Council Considers Resolution On Treatment Of Immigrants And Refugees April 4

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Los Alamos County Councilor Pete Sheehey
 
By MAIRE O’NEILL
Los Alamos Daily Post

Los Alamos County Council members will consider adopting a resolution regarding the just treatment of immigrants and refugees in the United States when it meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 at the Municipal Building.

Councilor Pete Sheehy was instrumental in having the resolution prepared. He read a letter to his fellow councilors at a February work session asking them to consider discussing the issue with County residents and consider passing a resolution on the issue.

 The letter stated that Read More

Los Alamos Church Members On Mexico Mission

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More than 50 members of United Church of Los Alamos and Unitarian Universalist Church prepare to depart for Mexico Monday to build homes for the poor over their spring break vacation. Photo by Laura Erickson
 
COMMUNITY News:

On the first official day of spring break Monday, more than 50 members of the United Church of Los Alamos and the Unitarian Universalist Church saddled up for a long drive and an even longer work week.

The Mexico Mission campers, comprised of half teens and half adults headed for Puerto Penasco Mexico to build homes for the poor. The team has reached the halfway point today,
Read More

EM, UKAEA Expand Collaboration On Robotics

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Acting EM Assistant Secretary Sue Cange and Rob Buckingham, director of the Center for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments, shake hands after signing the Statement of Intent. Courtesy/DOE-EM

DOE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Energy Office of Evironmental Management (EM) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) have agreed to further collaborate to develop and apply robotics to nuclear decommissioning tasks.

Representatives from EM and the UKAEA earlier this month signed a new Statement of Intent (SOI), providing the framework for exchange Read More

PEOPLE: Human-Machine Interface – Who or What Controls What or Whom?

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By ANDY ANDREWS
Los Alamos World Futures Institute

• World Futures:  What Do We Need?

The human-machine interface controls communication between the human and the machine.  Historically, it was intended to allow the human to have full control over the machine within the physical aspects of the machine’s capabilities.  As a simple example, consider the control switch on an electric range or cook-top.  

There is a knob labeled High-Medium High-Medium-Medium Low-Low-Warm-Off, or maybe the numbers 10 through 0.  

The human selects a setting that turns on (or off) Read More

LANL: Ultrafast Measurements Explain Quantum Dot Voltage Drop

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A femtosecond laser pulse launches a photocurrent transient in a quantum dot solid, which is time-resolved using ultrafast sampling electronics. This technique provides unprecedented insights into early time photoconductance in quantum dot assemblies for solar cells and photodetectors. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Insights pave way for solar cells and photodetectors based on tunable nanoparticles

Solar cells and photodetectors could soon be made from new types of materials based on semiconductor quantum dots, thanks to new insights based on ultrafast measurements capturing real-time Read More

Breaking The Supermassive Black Hole Speed Limit

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Quasar growing under intense accretion streams. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

A new computer simulation helps explain the existence of puzzling supermassive black holes observed in the early universe. The simulation is based on a computer code used to understand the coupling of radiation and certain materials.

“Supermassive black holes have a speed limit that governs how fast and how large they can grow,” said Joseph Smidt of the Theoretical Design Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, “The relatively recent discovery of supermassive black holes in the early development of the universe Read More

LANL: Less Radiation In Inner Van Allen Belt Than Previously Believed

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This artist’s rendering of the Van Allen Probes mission shows the path of its two spacecraft through the radiation belts that surround Earth, which are made visible in false color. Courtesy/NASA  

LANL News:

  • New study shows scientists the ‘snowflake in a rainstorm’

The inner Van Allen belt has less radiation than previously believed, according to a recent study in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Observations from NASA’s Van Allen probes show the fastest, most energetic electrons in the inner radiation belt are actually much rarer and harder to find than scientists expected. This Read More

Meet David Williams Of White Rock

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David Williams of White Rock takes a break at the Pig & Fig. Photo by Maire O’Neill/ladailypost.com
 
By MAIRE O’NEILL
Los Alamos Daily Post

During a recent stop at the Pig & Fig in White Rock, the Post bumped into local resident David Williams while he was enjoying his usual cup of cappuccino. Of Welsh heritage, he was born in Watford, just north of London, England, in 1936. His father worked on the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, which served during and after World War II. Constructed almost entirely of wood, it was nicknamed “The Wooden Wonder”, and affectionately known Read More