Methane rules could have big impact in New Mexico
The Four Corners methane hot spot, LANL image.Northwestern New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, a major natural gas and coal production area, could be a chief target of a proposed federal regulation aimed at dramatically cutting methane gas emissions.
A team of scientists recently found a methane hot spot half the size of Connecticut in the Four Corners area, The hot spot “accounted for 10 percent of all oil- and gas-related methane emissions from the U.S.,” said Manvendra Dubey, one of the Los Alamos climate scientists involved in the study. (Full Story)
A surprisingly elegant formula for molecular aggregates
Molecular aggregate system, from Asian Scientist.Joint research by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory has discovered a way to predict the emerging structures and bulk properties of molecular aggregations. Their discovery has significant technological implications in manufacturing new functional materials.
In real life bulk systems, it is the degree of molecular aggregation that defines the resulting material’s eventual properties. The OIST researchers ran 2D simulations involving tens of thousands of particles. (Full Story)
DOE selects Los Alamos for carbon storage research
DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory has selected Los Alamos National Security, LLC to receive funding to research new CO2 storage technologies devoted to intelligent monitoring systems and advanced well integrity and mitigation approaches through DOE’s Carbon Storage Program.Los Alamos National Security LLC (Los Alamos, NM) will research technology to identify, characterize, and monitor leakage pathways using acoustic probes that use 3-D scanning of barrier systems to identify fracture defects in wellbore cement. (Full Story)
Also from the Daily Post this week:
Young, Jupiter-like planet discovered
Jupiter-like planet, LANL image.“The exploration of very young planetary systems that will evolve to look like our own has just begun,” said Didier Saumon of Los Alamos National Laboratory, whose role was theoretical modeling and data analysis for the project. “The Gemini Planet Imager is amazing new technology that has quickly discovered the first extrasolar analog of Jupiter, but much younger,” Saumon said. (Full Story)
Descartes Labs is now off and running
Steven Brumby. The story of startup tech company Descartes Labs reads like something from the heyday of Silicon Valley. A group of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists strike out on their own. They leap bureaucratic hurdles to acquire licensing for technology developed at the lab and manage to secure venture capital.
“The fact that a group of scientists from Los Alamos could start their own company and within seven months of opening have a first product to start to sell to industry is an unusual thing,” said co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Steven Brumby. (Full Story)
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