Los Alamos Press Highlights

Domestic Production of Medical Isotope Mo-99 Moves a Step Closer at Los Alamos

Today, Los Alamos National Laboratory announced that for the first time, irradiated uranium fuel has been recycled and reused for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production, with virtually no losses in Mo-99 yields or uranium recovery. This demonstrates the viability of the separation process, as well as the potential for environmentally- and cost-friendly fuel recycling. Medical isotope production technology has advanced significantly now that scientists have made key advances in separating Mo-99 from an irradiated, low-enriched uranium (LEU) solution. (full story)

This story also appeared in Phys.Org and the Los Alamos Monitor

A Hack-Proof Internet Exists, Thanks to Quantum Physics

Leave it to the quantum physicists at Los Alamos National Labs to have run for the past two years something that sounded like science fiction: a quantum Internet that promises perfectly secure online communications. (full story)




This story also appeared in The Connectivist

 
Questions and answers with Eric J. Heller

Eric (Rick) Heller is the Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in chemical physics in 1973. He has held faculty positions at UCLA and the University of Washington and a scientific staff position at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Heller's research focuses on few-body quantum mechanics, spectroscopy, scattering theory, nanophysics, and condensed-matter physics. He also produces computer-generated prints based on his research. His art has been featured in private and public collections, in traveling exhibits, and on his website. (full story)
 
Antibody evolution could guide HIV vaccine development

Observing the evolution of a particular type of antibody in an infected HIV-1 patient, a study spearheaded by Duke University, supported by analysis from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has provided insights that will enable vaccination strategies that mimic the actual antibody development within the body. (full story)






McMillan talks 'Moneyball'

Los Alamos National Laboratory director Charlie McMillan spent the good portion of his week in Washington and one of his stops was Capitol Hill where he testified at a hearing before a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. (full story)




Also from the Monitor this week:
Two LANL scientists honored by DOE

Two Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are among the 61 national recipients of the Energy Department’s Early Career Research Program awards for 2013.

Marian Jandel won for his proposal, “New Data on Neutron Reactions Relevant to Basic and Applied Science,” selected by the Office of Nuclear Physics. (full story)

This story also appeared in the Los Alamos Daily Post

 
Curious about Curiosity? Get scoop on rover at lecture

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity is a nuclear-powered workhorse about the size of a small Jeep. Since it landed Aug. 6, 2012, to great public fanfare back on Earth, the six-wheeled Curiosity has been busily photographing and sampling the planet and collecting data.

Scientists are pretty pleased with the results so far, said Roger Wiens, a Los Alamos National Laboratory geochemist, who is among the international gaggle of researchers using Curiosity’s data to learn more about the Red Planet. Wiens will talk about Mars, the rover mission and what scientists have learned so far during a free talk Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe. (full story)

RA Students Garner Lab Scholarships

Sixteen Rio Arriba County students are among 73 Northern New Mexicans who were awarded a total of $411,500 in scholarships from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Employees'Scholarship Fund to realize their dreams of attending college. (Story in hard-copy edition only)

Never-before-seen energy pattern observed at National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Two research teams at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) broke through a nearly40-year barrier recently when they observed a never-before-seen energy pattern.

“The observation of the ‘Hofstadter butterfly’ marks a real landmark in condensed matter physics and high magnetic field research,” said Greg Boebinger, director of the MagLab. “It opens a new experimental direction in materials research.” (full story)

 
Congressional committees OK added spending for LANL cleanup

Congressional committees have approved transferring funds that will provide an extra $19 million for cleaning up radioactive waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The votes came after a letter was sent to the committees by Democratic Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-3rd District) supporting the transfer, which was requested by the Department of Energy (full story).

This story also appeared on KRQE

as well as the Albuquerque Journal, the Los Alamos Monitor and elsewhere.

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