This is the world's rarest form of gold. New clues are revealing why
The "Ram's Horn," Harvard image.
Researchers just got their first peek inside the exquisite sample, known as the Ram's Horn, with the assistance of a half-mile-long particle accelerator at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The results revealed that the bundle, which seems to be dozens of glimmering golden wires, is actually either one massive crystal or only a few crystals growing together.
“That’s probably the most valuable item that I ever held in my hand or put my hands on,” says Sven Vogel, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory's neutron science center. (Full story)
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LANL helps build a SuperCam for Mars
Bruno Dubois, a SuperCam mechanical engineer from L’Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie,working on SuperCam at Los Alamos.
When NASA approved Los Alamos National Laboratory’s SuperCam for the next Mars rover, officials referred to it as a “Swiss Army knife of an instrument.”
The nickname came from all the different tools the device will be able to use to study rocks and soil on the Red Planet, according to Roger Wiens, LANL scientist and principal investigator of SuperCam.
By expanding the scope of what’s been possible with the ChemCam camera currently on Mars aboard the Curiosity rover, Wiens says, scientists will be able to unlock more clues about whether life did or did not once exist out there. (Full story)
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Data mining paves the way for a better understanding of seismic activity
When handled effectively, data mining combined with automation can help advance industries and even save lives. Just last month, researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory were able to track seismic activity through data mining, resulting in a better understanding of how stress impacts the earth’s crust. Here in North Carolina we were recently hit by yet another string of earthquakes earlier this year, and the findings from Los Alamos have the potential to help earthquake prevention measures nationwide. (Full story)
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Española company lands $52M contract at LANL
PMI CEO Eric Quintana, left, with LANL Director Thom Mason, PMI photo.
Performance Maintenance Inc. of Española has won a five-year, $52 million subcontract to provide janitorial services and supplies to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Performance Maintenance is a 25-year-old family-run business that started as a part-time cleaning business. It now has 170 employees and provides commercial and residential building maintenance, food service and hotel supplies as well as janitorial services. It also offers a line of green cleaning products. (Full story)
