NSF funds computer systems research center at New Mexico Consortium in Los Alamos
The National Science Foundation has announced a $10 million award to the New Mexico Consortium at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Utah to build and operate the Parallel Reconfigurable Observational Environment (PRObE), a one-of-a-kind computer systems research center. (Full Story) 
The math and science of baseball
The Boston Red Sox meet the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park in 2008, the 456th consecutive sellout, setting a new MLB record. Reuters photo.Major-league baseball teams play 162 games in the regular season. While that may sound like a lot, it isn't nearly enough to ensure that the best team in the league ends the season with the best record [according to] a pair of physicists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Their statistical analysis indicates that for the best team of any league to be assured of having the best win-loss record, the number of games on the schedule should be roughly the number of teams cubed. (Full Story)
Meltdown in Greenland: inland ice drips away at record speed
Melting water runs off a glacier in Greenland. AP photo.The Danish research scientist Sebastian Mernild of Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US told national daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten that his calculations show that 540 cubic kilometres of inland ice have melted this summer, 25-50% more than in a typical year. (Full Story)
How to land on a comet: Go south, approach with caution
Artist's concept of the Rosetta spacecraft approaching Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA illustration.A spacecraft that's been chasing a comet for six years should drop its lander on the ice ball's southern half when it finally catches up, a new study suggests.
"Southern sites appear to be both the safest and the most scientifically interesting," study co-author Jeremie Lasue of Los Alamos National Laboratory said in a statement. (Full Story)
Los Alamos National Laboratory selects SGI Altix XE
to support scientific research
SGI today announced that Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, has selected SGI to provide a computing solution to enhance an existing unclassified institution-wide computing capacity. (Full Story)
JPL gets ‘photon gun’ to study Martian rocks
Roger Wiens, ChemCam principal investigator, examines the rover’s calibration target. LANL photo.The ChemCam instrument has completed the first short leg of its long trip to Mars, arriving at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from Los Alamos National Laboratory for installation aboard the next Mars rover, due to launch in 2011.
The NASA Mars Science Laboratory Project's rover, Curiosity, will carry the newly delivered laser instrument to reveal which elements are present in Mars’ rocks and soils up to 7 meters (23 feet) away from the rover. (Full Story)
Lab starts demo work at TA-54
Dome 281 formerly housed a low-level waste compactor. LANL photo.Los Alamos National Laboratory recently began to demolish Dome 281 — a 4,100-square- foot metal and fabric dome at the lab’s Technical Area 54.
It’s the next step in LANL’s multi-year closure plan for TA-54, which must be complete by 2015 under the Consent Order cleanup agreement with the state of New Mexico. (Full Story)
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