Los Alamos Press Highlights

Phonons in a stellar crust

The crust of a neutron star is extremely dense. Penn State Illustration

Vincenzo Cirigliano and colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory present a theoretical description of phonon interactions in the exotic phases of matter found in neutron stars, which play a role in the stars’ physical properties. (Full Story)


Scientists claim global warming made NM's fires worse

Scientists think global warming isonly going to make the situation worse, and drought will still be a fact oflife in the Southwest. "We expect we're still gonna get drought," said Dr. Todd Ringler, a climate modeling expert at Los Alamos National Laboratory." (Full Story)


Cartographers of the infectious world

Antigenic map of influenza viruses: each virus strain appears as a small coloured blob, each antiserum as an unfilled blob. Cambridge University image.

One analysis that is transforming how scientists track changes in the virus is antigenic cartography. Developed by Professor Smith with Dr Alan Lapedes (Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico) and Professor Ron Fouchier (Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam), and first published in Science in 2004, the technique is useful not only for tracking the past evolution of the virus but also holds promise for predicting what comes next. (Full Story)



Magnetic algae make biofuels sticky

The trick involved transferring to algae a gene from soil bacteria that align themselves with Earth's magnetic field, explained Pulak Nath at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full Story)


A tool to touch the sun

Solar Probe Plus shown with solar array panels in stowed position. NASA image.

The project, Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP), is backed by a consortium of institutions, including the CfA, NASA, the University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Alabama Huntsville, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full Story)


Lab officials speak out on CMRR

NNSA LASO head Kevin Smith (left) and LANL Director Charlie McMillan answer questions during a community leaders breakfast at the lab Tuesday. Monitor photo.

The Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement facility was a hot topic of conversation Tuesday morning as the Los Alamos National Laboratory hosted a community leaders breakfast.

Then McMillan answered his own question when he said, “what do we need (the CMRR) for? “We need it for research,” McMillan said. “Plutonium has been around for 60 years and it is a very complicated material. We need a place where we can do more research on it. (Full Story)

Also from the Monitor this week:

Technology returns home to LA

Project Director Steve Huebner with the heat pipes powering the Justice Center’s new solar thermal domestic hot water system. Monitor photo.

In 1963, local resident George Erickson made the first working model of a heat pipe at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), based on a concept by George Grover.

That technology has traveled to the outer limits – providing thermal control for spaceships and satellites orbiting thousands of miles above the earth – and has now returned home to provide solar thermal domestic hot water (DHW) to the Justice Center and animal shelter. (Full Story)

More from the Monitor:

Bandelier says thanks

Bandelier National Monument Superintendent Jason Lott presents framed artwork of the park to Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan and NNSA Los Alamos Site Office head Kevin Smith during a community leaders breakfast this morning. (Full Story)


Weird science — and other scary Halloween opportunities

Elizabeth Martineau, of the Bradbury Science Museum, frightens Mark Christy, 4, and his mother, Miriam, with a wolf skull as the museum prepares for High-Tech Halloween. New Mexican photo.

Instead of giving out candy, the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos is giving out science for Halloween. Included on the menu are chattering skulls (when people manipulate the skulls, that is) of both man and beast, a gyro bicycle that twirls you round and round like a mad scientist's experiment and a lightning tube that responds to touch. (Full Story)



Photo of the day: Nuclear explosion simulation

Photograph by Lynn Johnson, National Geographic
This Month in Photo of the Day: Photos From New National Geographic Books

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory study nuclear explosions by using 3-D simulations. They follow a long tradition of nuclear research that led to the creation of the atomic and hydrogen bombs. From the National Geographic book Visions of Earth. (See the photo here)


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