Los Alamos Press Highlights

 
Planet’s most precious piece of gold discovered at LANL

Scientists at Los Alamos National Lab are thrilled to be part of discovering the most precious piece of gold on the planet, Action 7 News reporter Alana Grimstad explains how they did it and how much it's really worth.

We are in the belly of the HIPPO, and for the very first time TV cameras are allowed down here, but the HIPPO isn't exactly what you're thinking, it's not an animal, it's a one-of-a-kind machine at Los Alamos National Laboratory ...
(full story)
 
‘Dynamic Duo’ sweep computing awards

When U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján introduced the winners of this year’s New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge, he referred to them as the “Dynamic Duo” from La Cueva High School in Albuquerque.

And certainly Eli Echt-Wilson and Albert Zuo meet the definition as a pair “positive in attitude, and full of energy and new ideas.” The La Cueva juniors raided last week’s award ceremony, earning honors in four categories. (full story)

Label-free, sequence-specific, inexpensive fluorescent DNA sensors

Using principles of energy transfer more commonly applied to designing solar cells, scientists at the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE)’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new highly sensitive way to detect specific sequences of DNA.

Synthesized by Hsing-Lin Wang, a collaborator at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the polymers used in this study were functionalized with side chains that carry a positive charge, allowing them to naturally bind with negatively charged DNA via electrostatic interactions. (full story)

Nanoscale optical switch could replace electrons with photons

Connecting hardware using photons is one thing, but it’s something entirely different when they are used to create an optical switch that could one day be found in micro-circuitry. Scientists from Vanderbilt University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the University of Alabama have succeeded in creating a nanoscale optical switch capable of turning on and off trillions of times per second. (full story)

Solar windows for homes soon to be reality thanks to quantum-dot research

Photovoltaic solar panel windows could soon be on the horizon, thanks to recent quantum-dot research by Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and scientists from University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB) in Italy. The project demonstrates that the superior light-emitting properties of quantum dots can be applied in solar energy by helping to harvest sunlight more efficiently. (full story)
 
NERSC, Cray, Intel to collaborate on next-generation supercomputer for science

The DOE's National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Center and Cray Inc. announced today that they have signed a contract for a next generation of supercomputer to enable scientific discovery at the DOE's Office of Science.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), which manages NERSC, collaborated with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to develop the technical requirements for the system. (full story)
 
Mining the literature to improve our ability to counter biothreats

The amount of genome data in the published literature has increased exponentially as the price of genomic sequencing has continued to fall. With that, a key question arises: How can all this data be used to enhance biomedical research and enhance warfighter capabilities?

Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico are finding new ways to mine that data, which could provide clues that will enable more effective countermeasures to biothreats. (full story)
 
LANL releases strategic plan

Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan addressed the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities last Friday, giving an overview of the state of the laboratory.

The biggest piece of news was that LANL has just completed a new strategic plan. McMillan spelled out three themes underlying the plan. (full story)

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