Los Alamos Press Highlights

New math in HIV fight

Study focused on the HIV capsid, an inner shell of the virus. From WSJ interactive.

Scientists using a powerful mathematical tool previously applied to the stock market have identified an Achilles heel in HIV. Bette Korber, an expert on HIV mutation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said the study added "an elegant analytical strategy" to HIV vaccine research. (Full Story)


Spacecraft goes from crash landing to mission accomplished

The Genesis spacecraft components. NASA illustration.

Two papers in this week's issue of Science report the first oxygen and nitrogen isotopic measurements of the Sun, demonstrating that they are very different from the same elements on Earth. These results were the top two priorities of NASA's Genesis mission.

The Genesis capsule contained a special instrument built by a team at Los Alamos National Laboratory to enhance the flow of solar wind onto a small target to make possible oxygen and nitrogen measurements. (Full Story)


Obama: We need more manufacturing jobs

President Barack Obama

President Obama is in Pittsburgh Friday to highlight American manufacturing, which he hopes to boost with a series of appearances and a program called the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.

Proctor & Gamble, for example, has agreed to share software it developed with help from the Los Alamos National Laboratory to reduce manufacturing costs. The partnership also hopes to foster more efficient factory processes and cultivate advanced materials. (Full Story)


LANL scientists earn R&D 100 Awards

NanoCluster Beacons—one of LANL’s 2011 R&D 100 Award winners—light up when they bind with specific nucleic acid targets. LANL photo.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Wednesday applauded its laboratories and production sites for receiving 10 of R&D Magazine’s 2011 R&D 100 Awards. NNSA-funded research also led to two additional R&D 100 Awards. (subscription required to view entire article)


Los Alamos resumes criticality experiments

The LANL criticality team. LANL photo.

Scientists said they recently successfully replicated a nuclear experiment last conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 2004.

In the experiment, a small amount of nuclear material was brought into a chain reaction using the Planet criticality assembly machine at the Nevada National Security Site, Los Alamos officials said Friday in a news release. (Full Story)



New study reveals how the immune system responds to hepatitis “A” virus

Hepatitis at 20x Magnification. From MicroscopyU.

A surprising finding in a study comparing hepatitis C virus (HCV) with hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections by a team that includes Alan S. Perelson, Ph.D., of the Los Alamos National Laboratory sheds new light on the nature of the body’s immune response to these viruses.

Understanding how hepatitis C becomes chronic is very important because some 200 million people worldwide and 3.2 million people in the U.S. are chronically infected with HCV and are at risk for progression to cirrhosis and liver cancer. (Full Story)


LANL names fund recipients

Los Alamos National Laboratory has selected Manhattan Isotopes Technology, LLC and Vista Therapeutics, Inc. as recipients of $100,000 awards from the Los Alamos National Security, LLC Venture Acceleration Fund.

The Venture Acceleration Fund invests in innovative Northern New Mexico companies seeking to commercialize technology and take it to market faster. (subscription required to view entire article)


Science superstar to speak at J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Lecture

Paul Nurse. Nobel photo

Larry Deaven, a retired biologist from Los Alamos National Laboratory and chairman of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee, said this week that the selection of Paul Nurse, a genetic biologist from a humble English background who became a Nobel Laureate in 2001, was based as usual on scientific accomplishment and the ability to speak to a general audience. (Full Story)


LANL’s Student Sustainability Challenge enters fourth year

A growing interest in sustainability has fueled the 4-year-old program, which aligns with LANL's efforts at improving sustainability and implementing the Department of Energy’s Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. (subscription required to view entire article)


To subscribe to Los Alamos Report, please e-mail listmanager@lanl.gov and include the words subscribe losalamosreport in the body of your email message; to unscubscribe, include unsubscribe losalamosreport.

Please visit us at www.lanl.gov
And follow us on Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr