Los Alamos Press Highlights

Lab brings $2.9 billion to area

Demolition projects means hiring subcontractors, stimulating the local economy. LANL photo.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is the sixth-largest employer in New Mexico and contributes nearly 24,000 jobs to the state, according to a University of New Mexico study based on 2009 numbers.

The study by UNM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research pegs LANL’s impact on the state’s economy at $2.9 billion. (Full Story)


LANL helping Japan, economy of NM

Scientists in New Mexico are helping those in Japan dealing with their recent nuclear disaster.

KOAT-TV talks with Tom D'Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration at this week's community leaders breakfast about how the administration is assisting Japan and the economic impact that Los Alamos National Laboratory has in New Mexico. (Full Story)


Governor visits Los Alamos

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. LANL photo

Gov. Susana Martinez spent the morning at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, attending a leadership breakfast Wednesday. Martinez addressed the gathering as did lab director Michael Anastasio and NNSA head Thomas D'Agostino.

"I look forward to continuing our partnership with the lab," Martinez told those in attendance. And she also commended Anastasio, who is scheduled to retire June 1. "Dr. Anastasio, I want to thank you for the contributions you have made to our national security and the state of New Mexico." (Full Story)


Discovery could make fuel cells much cheaper

Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers Gang Wu, left, and Piotr Zelenay examine a new non- precious-metal catalyst. LANL photo.

Fuel cells use a lot of platinum, which is frightfully expensive and one reason we’ll pay $50,000 or so for the hydrogen cars automakers say we’ll see in 2015.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a platinum-free catalyst in the cathode of a hydrogen fuel cell that uses carbon, iron and cobalt. That could make the catalysts "two to three orders of magnitude cheaper." (Full Story)
Also covered by Green Economy


Cell phones, microwaves and the human health threat

The microwaves that cell phones emit can interact with human tissue in an entirely new way, says theoretical biologist at a government lab.

If there's one topic likely to generate spit-flecked ire, it is the controversy over the potential health threat posed by cell phone signals.

That debate is likely to flare following the publication today of some new ideas on this topic from Bill Bruno, a theoretical biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. (Full Story)


Recreating life? High school students chat with protocell physicist from LANL

Recently a group of high school students enrolled in the Lincoln Interactive Cutting Edge Science (CES) program participated in a videoconference with Hans Ziock, a physicist at LANL. (Full Story)


NNSA announces new space debris modeling

Space junk illustrated. From the European Space Agency.

Scientists at LLNL, using NNSA supercomputers to better understand the impact of space debris, are working in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, to develop a set of tools known as the Testbed for Space Situational Awareness (TESSA). (Full Story)


A hundred minutes of JFK artifacts

Los Alamos National Laboratory is displaying its collection of memorabilia from President John F. Kennedy's visit to Los Alamos nearly 50 years ago.

The collection will be on exhibit through August at the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visited the lab's Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility in 1962. They spent 100 minutes at the lab as part of a tour of U.S. defense installations. (Full Story)


LANL reaches settlement

Environmental and community groups and Los Alamos National Laboratory announced Wednesday that they had reached a settlement agreement resolving a three-year legal dispute over stormwater runoff from the lab. (Full Story)


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