World

LANL: DNA Markers Distinguish Between Harmless And Deadly Bacteria

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Scanning electron micrograph of a murine macrophage infected with Francisella tularensis strain LVS. Macrophages were dry-fractured by touching the cell surface with cellophane tape after critical point drying to reveal intracellular bacteria. Bacteria (colorized in blue) are located either in the cytosol or within a membrane-bound vacuole. Courtesy/NIAID
 
LANL News:
 
The virulent pathogen that causes the disease tularemia, or “rabbit fever,” was weaponized during past world wars and is considered a potential bioweapon.
 
Through a new study of the coccobacillus Francisella,
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U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell Leads Call To Protect National Laboratory Employees From Blacklisting

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U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell

CONGRESSIONAL News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA15) today led 26 members of Congress, including Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), in sending President-elect Donald Trump their vow to defend the scientific freedom of employees at the Department of Energy’s 17 National Laboratories, following reports that Trump’s transition team sought personal information regarding department employees’ work on climate change.

Swalwell’s district includes Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories. The Trump transition Read More

RSF: 74 Journalists Killed Worldwide This Year

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RSF News:

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that at least 74 professional and non-professional journalists have been killed in connection with their work in 2016.

Some were killed while out reporting. Most were clearly deliberately targeted victims of deadly violence.

This is fewer than in 2015, when 101 journalists were killed. But the fall is not encouraging because it is due largely to the fact many journalists have fled countries that became too dangerous, especially Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and Burundi. These exoduses have created news and information black holes Read More

Roger This: Time To Give Deterrence A Rethink

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By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post

There is a big difference between a nuclear deterrent and nuclear deterrence theory. The nuclear deterrent refers to the weapons, programs and systems capable of exacting an unacceptable toll on the country or party committing an initial strike.

Deterrence theory describes how one country or party prevents another from using weapons of mass destruction by threatening to use the deterrent if attacked. We say “party” these days because factions of a country or organizations without a country might get their hands on nuclear weapons sooner or later. Read More

Udall Among Senators Calling For National Intelligence Estimate Of Russian Tampering In US Election

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u.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Tom Udall joined Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in calling for a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to determine the extent of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, accompanied by an unclassified summary of its key judgments by Jan. 20, 2017.
 
An NIE is the formal, authoritative assessment of the Director
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LANL: First Detection Of Boron On Surface Of Mars

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ChemCam target Catabola is a raised resistant calcium sulfate vein with the highest abundance of boron observed so far. The red outline shows the location of the ChemCam target remote micro images (inset). The remote micro images show the location of each individual ChemCam laser point (red crosshairs) and the B chemistry associated with each point (colored bars). The scale bar is 9.2 mm or about 0.36 inches. Courtesy/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/LANL/CNES-IRAP/William Rapin

LANL News:

  • New finding provides more clues about water habitability

Boron has been identified for the first time on the surface Read More

Reporters Without Borders: 2016 Round-Up … Number Of Journalists Detained Continues To Rise

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RSF News:

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is today releasing its annual worldwide round-up of journalists who are detained, held hostage or missing. The numbers are rising dramatically.

A total of 348 journalists are currently detained worldwide – 6 percent more than were detained at this time last year. The number of detained professional journalists in Turkey has risen 22 percent after quadrupling in the wake of the failed coup d’état in July.

More than 100 journalists and media contributors are now in Turkish jails. RSF has been able to establish a direct link between the arrest Read More

NORAD Tracks Santa’s Annual Christmas Journey

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NORAD News:
 
Many parents throughout North America have fond memories of tracking Santa Claus’ sleigh on Christmas Eve, thanks to the NORAD Tracks Santa® program.
 
For decades, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) has been the primary media source of information about Santa’s progress on his annual holiday sleigh ride. 
 
News about Santa will become even more robust and cutting edge this year with the help of a growing tech company, NEWSLINE360™, based in Chicago and Vancouver, BC. NEWSLINE360™ has been named an official NORAD Tracks
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American Federation Of Teachers New Mexico React To Release Of 2015 PISA Report

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AFT News:
 
ALBUQUERQUE ― American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President Stephanie Ly released the following statement: 

“The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) annual Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report was released today and describes the performance of 15-year-old students across a variety of countries.

 
“This year’s report, while focused heavily on science proficiency, revealed among the 35 participating countries, the United States performed average in science and reading, but performed
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Udall On 75th Anniversary Of Bataan Invasion

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall 
 
U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thursday U.S. Sen. Tom Udall commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Bataan invasion, which began Dec. 8, 1941 – just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor – when soldiers from the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment became the “first to fire” to defend the Philippines from Japanese bombers. 
 
The 200th Coast Artillery Regiment was made up of members of the New Mexico National Guard and were deployed to the Philippines before the onset of hostilities against the Japanese in September 1941.
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