This group of galaxies has been nicknamed the ‘Cheshire Cat’ because of its resemblance to a smiling feline. Some of the cat-like features are actually distant galaxies whose light has been stretched and bent by the large amounts of mass contained in foreground galaxies. This is an effect called ‘gravitational lensing,’ predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity that is celebrating its 100th anniversary. X-rays from Chandra show that the two ‘eye’ galaxies and the smaller galaxies associated with them are slamming into one another
World
Andrew J. Wong Of Los Alamos Wins Grand Prize In 2015 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Photo Contest
Out of more than 1,700 entries from around the world, Andrew J. Wong of Los Alamos just won the Grand Prize in the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta photo contest. The annual fiesta is the world’s most photographed event. Wong’s winning photo is this striking silhouette of a crew and their hot air balloon. Wong works at Los Alamos National Laboratory and his wife Charissa Wong owns Photo Essence by Charissa, a local photography business. For his award winning photograph, Wong is receiving a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens. Photo by Andrew J. Wong Read More
Los Alamos Technology Gains National Backing
Descartes Labs artificial intelligence can race through mountains of data and read a landscape in seconds. An early emphasis for this technology is in evaluating and predicting agricultural output, like these irrigated fields near Roswell. Courtesy/2015 NASA/LANDSAT
By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post
Los Alamos pixels and Los Alamos dots were both riding high this week.
Descartes Labs, Inc., a one-year-old company specializing in satellite imagery recognition and analysis, announced Tuesday that it had raised $5 million in a venture capital round, thanks to a group of investors Read More
New Climate Model Predicts Likelihood Of Greenland Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise, And Dangerous Temperatures
Greenland ice loss. Photo by Matthew Hoffman/LANL
LANL News:
A new computer model of accumulated carbon emissions predicts the likelihood of crossing several dangerous climate change thresholds.
These include global temperature rise sufficient to lose the Greenland Ice Sheet and generate seven meters of long-term sea level rise, or tropical region warming to a level that is deadly to humans and other mammals.
“The model is based on idealized representations of societal, technological and policy factors,” said lead researcher Jeremy Fyke, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Read More
N Square Launches Game Design Competition To Address Nuke Risks
Courtesy/N Square
GAMING COMMUNITY News:
Nuclear proliferation remains one of the most vexing and complex issues of our time. Though the Cold War ended long ago, today’s nuclear security situation is more volatile than ever. But with such a huge challenge comes an even bigger opportunity for innovation, and who better to tackle this issue than the gaming community, known for their creativity and collaborative problem solving.
A new design competition is calling on innovators to save the world, in real life, by inspiring creative solutions and novel approaches that foster greater understanding Read More
LANL Monitoring Situation Unfolding In Paris, France
LANL News:
Los Alamos National Laboratory is monitoring the situation unfolding in Paris, France.
Security officials are engaged with the Department of Energy (DOE) as well as federal and local law enforcement. There are no known imminent threats to DOE sites or personnel.
LANL employees traveling in France are directed to contact their manager or the Emergency Operations Center for accountability purposes. In addition, the EOC is prepared to take calls for additional assistance and information. Employees are further directed to stay posted on local events and security precautions
NASA’s Swift Spots Its Thousandth Gamma-ray Burst
GRB 151027B, Swift’s 1,000th burst, center, is shown in this composite X-ray, ultraviolet and optical image. X-rays were captured by Swift’s X-Ray Telescope, which began observing the field 3.4 minutes after the Burst Alert Telescope detected the blast. Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) began observations seven seconds later and faintly detected the burst in visible light. The image includes X-rays with energies from 300 to 6,000 electron volts, primarily from the burst, and lower-energy light seen through the UVOT’s visible, blue and ultraviolet Read More
Los Alamos National Laboratory To Study Future Computing Technology Capabilities
D-Wave’s newest quantum processor is over 1000 qubits – about double the size of its previous generation processor, and far exceeding the size of any other quantum processor. Courtesy/D-Wave
LANL News:
Los Alamos National Laboratory is exploring the future of computing by critically evaluating quantum annealing technology through the acquisition of a 1000+ quantum bits (qubits) D-Wave 2X™ system.
D-Wave is a company that specializes in the development, fabrication, and integration of superconducting quantum annealing computers.
“Eventually Moore’s Read More
LANL: Molecular Clocks Control Mutation Rate In Human Cells
In research reported in the journal Nature Genetics, two clock-like mutational processes have been found in human cells and the rates at which the two clocks tick in different human cell types have been determined. Image courtesy Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Courtesy/LANL
LANL News:
- Cancer and ageing could be predetermined by the speed of molecular clocks
CAMBRIDGE, UK, and LOS ALAMOS—Every cell in the human body contains a copy of the human genome. Through the course of a lifetime all cells are thought to acquire mutations in their genomes.
Some of the mutational processes generating Read More
Looking For Deliberate Radio Signals From KIC 8462852
Allen Telescope Array. Courtesy/Seth Shostak, SETI Institute
SCIENCE News:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.— Could there be intelligent life in the star system KIC 8462852? A recent analysis of data collected by the Kepler space telescope has shown that this star, informally known as Tabby’s Star, evidences a periodic dimming of 20 percent and more.
While several natural explanations for this strong change in luminosity have been proposed, one possibility is that a technologically adept civilization has built megastructures in orbit around star, causing the dimming.
One example