Friday, August 15, 2008

News from Los Alamos National Laboratory for Aug. 11-15


Ancient galactic magnetic fields stronger than expected

Mining the far reaches of the universe for clues about its past, a team of scientists including Philipp Kronberg of Los Alamos National Laboratory has proposed that magnetic fields of ancient galaxies like ours were just as strong as those existing today, prompting a rethinking of how our galaxy and others may have formed. Read the entire story.




Networks of the future: Extending our senses into the physical world

The picture of a future with wireless sensor networks "webs of sensory devices that function without a central infrastructure" is quickly coming into sharper focus through the work of Los Alamos National Laboratory computer scientist Sami Ayyorgun.

Go to Physorg and read the entire story with the click of a link!















Colossal Carbon Tubes Above the Nanoscale

A new type of carbon tube has emerged that is thousands of times larger than carbon nanotubes.

Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory in
the US and Fudan University in China recently created the colossal carbon tubes, which are 40 to 100 µm in diameter and are centimeters long, which makes them visible to the naked eye.

Why not use your naked eye to check out the whole story?









DOE announces $15.3m for hydrogen storage research and development

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary Clarence H. "Bud" Albright, Jr. announced on Thursday the selection of 10 cost-shared hydrogen storage research and development projects, which will receive up to $15.3 million over five years, subject to annual appropriations...

The organisations selected for negotiation of awards include: Los Alamos National Laboratory "up to $2.3 million for novel concept using an electric field to increase the hydrogen binding energy in hydrogen adsorbents."

Read the entire story here.






LANL Foundation hosting fundraiser

The Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation will host its 12th annual fundraising banquet on Friday [this evening] at the Ohkay Casino Resort Hotel north of Española, with this year's event honoring retiring U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. All proceeds will support the Los Alamos Employees Scholarship Fund.

In 2008, the LANL Foundation established the Sen. Pete Domenici Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fund is d
edicated to providing college scholarships to northern New Mexico high school seniors who exhibit academic excellence and outstanding leadership.

Through donations and proceeds raised from the banquet, the LANL Foundation plans to endow one $10,000 scholarship in each of the seven northern New Mexico counties of Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Taos.

Here's where you can find the entire story.





LANL: Domenici hailed by lab

It was a mutual admiration society Monday as Sen. Pete Domenici and senior officials, past and present, of Los Alamos National Laboratory exchanged memories and appreciation. Domenici, who is retiring at the end of this year, met with senior managers, took a tour of the laboratory's Roadrunner supercomputer and held a meeting with Laboratory Fellows before speaking at an all-employee meeting in the classified space of the National Security Science Building, the laboratory reported this morning.

Get full details here.




Hyperion Power receives first purchase order

Hyperion Power Generation has received its first letter of intent by a customer to purchase the Hyperion Power Module - a small, compact, transportable nuclear power reactor. Los Alamos-based Hyperion licensed the technology for the nuclear units from Los Alamos National Laboratory. The units use energy generated by low-enriched uranium fuel. The company eventually expects to build 4,000 units for sale worldwide.

Get the scoop.





Video marks placement of final beam in first phase of CMRR Project

The Laboratory posted a short video about a major facility milestone—the first-phase "topping out" of LANL's Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project.



Or watch the video here.





Biographer recounts life, times of first lab director

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the first director of the Los Alamos laboratory, did not quite come to life Monday night, but his shadow cast by a master storyteller had a haunting and unusual presence.

The prize-winning co-author of an acclaimed biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer performed a powerful feat of ventriloquism, placing his subject squarely in his own time while speaking directly to our own.

Martin Sherwin, along with Kai Bird, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2006, for their acclaimed biography, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer."

The full Monitor story is here.


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