Ancient oasis once existed on Mars
The Curiosity Rover, NASA image.
The surface of Mars was once home to shallow, salty ponds that went through episodes of overflow and drying, according to a paper published today in Nature Geoscience.
“We’ve learned over the years of Curiosity’s traverse across Gale Crater that Mars’ climate was habitable once, long ago,” said Roger Wiens, the principal investigator of the ChemCam instrument at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a co-author of the paper. “What these new findings show is that the climate on Mars was not as stable as we thought it was. There were very wet periods and very dry periods—as these sulfate-rich rocks show us.” (Full story)
Modified quantum dots capture more energy
Doping a quantum dot with manganese
speeds the capture of energy, LANL image.
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have synthesized magnetically-doped quantum dots that capture the kinetic energy of electrons created by ultraviolet light before it’s wasted as heat.
“This discovery can potentially enable novel, highly-efficient solar cells, light detectors, photocathodes and light-driven chemical reactions,” said Victor Klimov, lead researcher on the Laboratory’s quantum dot project.
In standard solar cells, a large amount of sunlight energy is wasted as heat. This waste occurs due to the lack of effective approaches for capturing kinetic energy of ‘hot’ electrons generated by photons in the green to ultraviolet portion of the sun’s light spectrum. (Full story)
Ancient tsunamis that left their mark
Location of Burckle Crater in the Indian
Ocean. From Ancient Origins.
Burckle crater was discovered in 2005 by Dr. Dallas Abbott who estimates it to be between 4,500 to 5,000 years old. The obvious explanation is that a large comet or asteroid smashed into the Indian Ocean 4,800 years ago, producing a monster tsunami at least 600 feet (183 meters) high.
Bruce Masse, an environmental archeologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory believes that the comet fell on May 10, 2807 BC according to information contained in many flood myths from around the world, particularly those mentioning a full solar eclipse which occurred on that day. (Full story)
Los Alamos Reporter visits LANL emergency management division
The Emergency Response Training Center has
props for training exercises, LA Reporter photo.
For more than 12,500 employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the phone number to remember is 7-2400. This is the phone number for the 24-hour Emergency Operations Support Center (EOSC) at Technical Area 69 which operates seven days a week.
The EOSC monitors the LANL fire alarm system, receives notification of incidents and emergencies, and dispatches LANL emergency responders. It also activates other response elements throughout the 43-square mile site, issues protective actions to workers and makes any required notifications. The slogan on bright yellow posters says, “When in doubt, call the EOSC 24/7”. And yes, there’s an app for that! (Full story)
Also from the LA Reporter this week:
John Sarrao named to state technology research collaborative board
John Sarrao, LANL photo.
The New Mexico Economic Development Department’s (NMEDD) Science and Technology Division has named new board members for the Technology Research Collaborative (TRC) including John Sarrao, Deputy Director for Science, Technology, and Engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The TRC was formalized in 2003, with the goal of promoting technology commercialization in New Mexico, increasing high- paying jobs, and diversifying the economy. (Full story)
