Illustration of how DART's impact will alter the orbit of Didymos B about Didymos A. Credit: JHUAPL.
This week — asteroids. Could a space rock really slam into us and
destroy the world? And if we did spot one heading straight for us, is there
anything we could do to stop it? We speak with asteroid researcher Dr. Alan
Harris, astrophysicist Dr. Sergey Zamozdra, Los Alamos computational physicist
Dr. Cathy Plesko, and physicist Dr. Andy Cheng. (Full story)
New
Mexico scientist creates flu forecasting software
Dave
Osthus, from KRQE.
The flu is unpredictable, at least until now. A scientist at Los
Alamos National Lab is responsible for creating software that forecasts flu
activity across the country and that software is showing things are not looking
good for this flu season.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know your chances of getting the flu?
That’s possible now, thanks to a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Dave Osthus created a software known as Dante, that can actually forecast flu
activity. Dante has some bad news this season, it’s predicting flu activity
will continue to increase across the state, and it expects a severe flu season
nationwide. (Full story)
Monitoring
algal health is key to biofuel development
Alagal
biofuel, LANL photo.
New methods are being applied to identify new and improved algae
strains for the production of biofuels. An example is with fluorescence-based,
high-throughput flow cytometry, which is being pioneered at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory.
Applying flow cytometry equipped with a sorting module enables
scientists to separate cells that differ in cell size, morphology, or
fluorescence being derived from photosynthetic pigments (autofluorescence) or
from applied fluorescent probes. This technology s key to algae optimization,
and the use of algae are in turn important for the production of biofuels. (Full story)
Los
Alamos preliminary assessment finds promise in Enchant Energy’s carbon capture
project
San Juan
Generating Station, Daily Times photo.
A Los Alamos National Laboratory preliminary assessment states
that, from a technological standpoint, Enchant Energy could successfully
retrofit the San Juan Generating Station with carbon capture and keep it open
after 2022.
The report is not a detailed engineering assessment and relied
on publicly-available information, including the Sargent & Lundy
pre-feasibility report completed earlier this year. The Los Alamos team did not
assess non-technical aspects such as costs, financing and potential regulatory
changes. (Full story)
LANL
Director joins Aspen Elementary School third graders for Hour of Code lesson
Director
Thom Mason participates in a computer science coding activity at Aspen Elementary. LA
Reporter photo.
Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Thom Mason observed
Computer Science Education Week Friday by participation in an Hour of Code
lesson with third grade students in the Maker Space at Aspen Elementary School.
Each year, Hour of Code teaches K-12 students coding basics and
broadens participation in the field of computer science and Mason is one of 60
Laboratory volunteers in 94 classrooms in 24 area schools. At Aspen, under the direction of teacher
Rachel Bartram, Mason and the students navigated a spherical robot through a
maze using programming they developed during Hour of Code. (Full story)
