The Delta variant could create “two Americas” of COVID, experts warn
Graphic from BuzzFeed.
The Delta coronavirus variant, which devastated India and forced the UK to delay lifting its remaining coronavirus restrictions, is now on the rise in the US. What that means for you will depend on whether you are fully vaccinated and where you live.
It’s unclear whether Delta will dominate as quickly and totally as it did in the UK, where it replaced an outbreak driven almost entirely by the Alpha variant. In the US, a larger number of competing variants are circulating, making it harder to predict what will happen, Bette Korber, a computational biologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told BuzzFeed News. But she expects Delta to become the most common variant in the US within weeks. “It’s really moving quickly,” Korber said. (Full Story)
Los Alamos lab aids efforts to boost plastic recycling
Sorters at the Buckman recycling and transfer center, New Mexican photo.
Los Alamos National Laboratory is part of a consortium developing a technology to rapidly break down discarded plastic at the molecular level into components that can be used to create other materials, such as nylon. Early research has led to identifying enzymes that can biodegrade plastic noticeably within several days, versus the several hundred years it normally would take for the material to decompose.
Now the teams want to accelerate the decomposition, because breaking down the plastic in days is not nearly fast enough, lab scientist Taraka Dale said. “So what we’re shooting for is really observable changes and degradation in a matter of, ideally, hours,” said Dale, who leads the lab’s BOTTLE program. “So that you can, in theory, put this in an industrial process eventually.” (Full Story)
Los Alamos National Lab studies smoke from western fires
Scientists at Los Alamos National Lab studied smoke from Arizona and southwest New Mexico to see how the smoke affects the public and the climate. It's the small particles that cause us some trouble. “Anything below 2.5 microns is actually classified as toxic by the EPA,” said Manvedra Dubey, a Los Alamos scientist. "That is toxic because it gets into your lungs. It can penetrate your nose and get into your lungs."
The smoke’s chemical composition affects air quality, human health and regional climate, said James Lee, a Los Alamos Scientist. “It’s white because it's actually scattering light or reflecting light. And that has influence on climate when it's a really large fire, actually reducing the amount of sunlight that is reaching earth's surface," he said. (Full Story)
Thin, stretchable biosensors could make surgery safer
Biosensor attached to a pig heart obtained commercially. Purdue photo.
A research team from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Purdue University have developed bio-inks for biosensors that could help localize critical regions in tissues and organs during surgical operations.
"The ink used in the biosensors is biocompatible and provides a user-friendly design with excellent workable time frames of more than one day," said Kwan-Soo Lee, of Los Alamos' Chemical Diagnostics and Engineering group.
The new biosensors allow for simultaneous recording and imaging of tissues and organs during surgical procedures. (Full Story)
Also from Science Daily this week:
Boundary of heliosphere mapped
For the first time, the boundary of the heliosphere has been mapped, giving scientists a better understanding of how solar and interstellar winds interact.
"Physics models have theorized this boundary for years," said Dan Reisenfeld, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author on the paper, which was published in the Astrophysical Journal today. "But this is the first time we've actually been able to measure it and make a three-dimensional map of it."
The heliosphere is a bubble created by the solar wind, a stream of mostly protons, electrons, and alpha particles that extends from the Sun into interstellar space and protects the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation. (Full Story)
Also from New Atlas
What are imaginary numbers?
Renaissance mathematicians were first with the idea of imaginary numbers. From How Stuff Works.
Complex numbers with imaginary components also are useful in theoretical physics, explains Rolando Somma, a physicist who works in quantum computing algorithms at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
"Due to their relation with trigonometric functions, they are useful for describing, for example, periodic functions," Somma says via email. "These arise as solutions to the wave equations, so we use complex numbers to describe various waves, such an electromagnetic wave. Thus, as in math, complex calculus in physics is an extremely useful tool for simplifying calculations."
Complex numbers also have a role in quantum mechanics, a theory that describes the behavior of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. (Full Story)
Los Alamos in R&D pact with Quantum Computing Inc. for exascale and petascale simulations
“Los Alamos National Laboratory is committed to supporting R&D at the frontier of quantum information sciences to enable responsive solutions for emerging national security needs,” said Irene Qualters, Associate Laboratory Director for Simulation and Computation and leader of Los Alamos’ quantum computing research and development. “There are many interesting problems that require a quantum-classical approach. QCI’s Qatalyst cloud software application provides the classical side to allow us to run larger problems and orchestrate the use of quantum devices in the process, extending the use of quantum computing to solving larger optimization problems.” (Full Story)
Also from Homeland Security Today
Also from the Reporter this week:
New integration of cloud technology leads to more efficient research efforts
Through ongoing collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), laboratory researchers are now able to use the power of cloud technologies to more efficiently conduct complex scientific research using high-performance computing applications. These technologies allow administrators to perform upgrades and maintenance to computing systems without interfering with critical ongoing work.
“By leveraging Linux software containers and container orchestration in both user space and for system management, the Laboratory’s latest Institutional high-performance computing system, named Chicoma, is now providing hundreds of users with greater flexibility than was available on previous generation systems,” said Gary Grider, Los Alamos’ HPC division leader. (Full Story)
Also from the Los Alamos Daily Post
Driving clean-energy research in the right direction
A new collaborative paper out in the journal Joule presents a Los Alamos research team’s assessment of future research targets for advances in fuel cell technology.
Fuel cells, part of a promising path toward zero-emission vehicles, are making progress at overcoming some specific challenges on the road to powering heavy-duty vehicles. One near-term need is to ensure the electrochemical and mechanical stability of a key component, the proton exchange membrane at the heart of the fuel cell structure. A new collaborative paper out in the journal Joule presents a research team’s assessment of future research targets. (Full Story)
Also from the Daily Post this week:
LANL Foundation awards $56,250 in student scholarships
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Foundation, in partnership with the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund (LAESF), has announced its 2021 Fall term Career Pathways Scholarship recipients.
The Career Pathways Scholarship awards up to $3,000 to qualified applicants pursuing a 2-year degree, trade or certificate. High school seniors and individuals with a high school diploma or GED/High School Equivalency (HSE), or some college experience are encouraged to apply. (Full Story)
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