A vision for actionable science in a pandemic
Sara del Valle, LANL photo.
Sara del Valle, a computational epidemiologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and other scientists talked to Nature Communications about their experience with COVID-19 response and their vision on a new system for disease surveillance.
"I think this pandemic has highlighted the need for a global disease forecasting centre or initiative whose goals would include: (1) data collection, (2) monitoring/tracking, (3) understanding, (4) forecasting, and (5) analysing the impact of different intervention strategies in order to provide decision support during emerging and re-emerging epidemics and pandemics. In general, I’m optimistic about the potential for future data sharing agreements, not just when we’re facing a pandemic, but always." (Full Story)
Opening a window to quantum weirdness
LANL illustration.
How, as we zoom out from the very small to human scales, do we transition from quantum to classical rules? What happens on the brink of the two worlds as we move from one to the other?
One potential way to understand the intersection of the two worlds is by building a quantum device to directly observe the transition between the quantum and classical worlds with our classical microscopes, cameras, and even our eyes.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a prototype Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) that's only a fraction of the diameter of a human hair, but it’s much larger than most things that follow quantum laws. (Full Story)
A better way to search for traces of life on Mars
On a drone, OrganiCam could search Mars for organic molecules, LANL illustration.
Los Alamos National Laboratory has leveraged expertise designing and fielding instruments for space exploration to develop a new model, OrganiCam. Here's how it works. When stimulated by the laser, biological organic molecules emit quick bursts of light (about 100 nanoseconds). But other materials, like rock, emit light more slowly (microseconds to milliseconds).
OrganiCam uses the same super-fast camera as SuperCam to measure these fast emissions, letting us discriminate biological signals from the background rocks. As a next step in the instrument's analysis, Raman spectroscopy identifies the molecular structure of the biological materials, so we can tell limestone from a volcanic rock. (Full Story)
Los Alamos announces details of new HPE Crossroads Supercomputer
The Alliance for Computing at Extreme Scale (ACES), a partnership between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, announced the details of a $105 million contract awarded to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to deliver Crossroads, a next-generation supercomputer to be sited at Los Alamos.
“This machine will advance our ability to study the most complex physical systems for science and national security. We look forward to its arrival and deployment,” said Jason Pruet, Los Alamos’ Program Director for the Advanced Simulating and Computing (ASC) Program. (Full Story)
Also from the Albuquerque Journal
As a helium shortage looms, "vacuum balloons" could save physics, medicine, and birthday parties
Image from Salon.
Some physicists have a plan to develop floating balloons that don't use helium. These balloons can be a game-changer for both industrial uses like blimps and internet access balloons, as well as the fun balloons like those kids get at birthday parties.
Miles Beaux, a physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is leading a team working on its own design that uses "ultra lightweight aerogel materials that are basically 98 to 99 percent open space or void space, so they're very low density materials," he said. (Full Story)
A sure sign you have been infected with the new version of Coronavirus
Illustration from Inventiva.
Bette Korber, a theoretical biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and colleagues wrote in the report that: Our global tracking data reveals that the G614 variant in Spike spreads faster than the D614 variant. We think this means that the virus may be more infectious. Interestingly, we found no evidence that G614 has an effect on the severity of the disease.
Korber said in a statement: Whether the final result is subsequently confirmed or not, it emphasizes the value of what an already considerable idea such as wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing. (Full Story)
To subscribe toLos Alamos Press Highlights, please e-maillistmanager@lanl.govand include the wordssubscribe PressHighlightsin the body of your email message; to unsubscribe, includeunsubscribe PressHighlights.
Please visit us at www.lanl.gov
