Navy reports breakthrough with "game changing" laser
The U.S. Navy has billed it as a game changing weapons project and now a research breakthrough at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico may mean that weaponization is no longer a theory.The Free Electron Laser (FEL) program, as it's known, is designed to let Navy ships use laser beams to knock out enemy air and sea targets (full story).
New 3D tracking microscope allows scientists to follow individual molecules in live cells
Scientists with the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at LANL have developed a 3D tracking microscope to follow three-dimensional movement of individual protein molecules inside live cells.In an early demonstration, this instrument was used to follow three-dimensional dynamics of key proteins involved in the human allergic response and associated biological signals (full story).
Science in a complex world: The science behind a thriving city
By Luís Bettencourt -- Looking at how wealthy or safe a city is on a per-person basis is a common way of deciding whether you'd like to live, work or open a business there.My colleagues and I think there is a better, more scientific way, for determining what makes one place better or worse than another (full story).
City different finds its matchLos Alamos National Laboratory and Santa Fe Institute scientist Luís Bettencourt and two colleagues are looking for exceptionality in a more literal sense. They've created a model that ranks cities by specific economic and societal standards.
They've created a model that ranks cities by specific economic and societal standards, relative to their size, in an effort to determine "exceptionality." (full story—website may require viewing of an advertisement)
An astronomer's field of dreams
An innovative new radio telescope array under construction in central New Mexico will eventually harness the power of more than 13,000 antennas and provide a fresh eye to the sky.The Long Wavelength Array project is led by UNM and includes Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and others (full story).
CTBTO inspection exercise in JordanWatch a video about an inspection of a simulated nuclear test site by United Nations specialists from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. A team of more than 35 international experts, including LANL's Ward Hawkins, took part in the exercise that was held 1-12 November 2010 in Jordan (click it!).
Opinion: Custodians of the arsenalThis week I visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory - Its number one job is to ensure the effectiveness and safety of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. The lab is responsible for making sure the devices would work the way they are supposed to, no matter how long they have been in the stockpile (full story).
LANL honored with awards in technology transferLos Alamos was recognized with two Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer for supporting the development of Adaptive Radio Technology for Satellite Communications [and] Genie Pro (Genetic Imagery Exploitation) (full story).
Also from the Monitor this week:
LANL unveils new fund
The Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, through the Los Alamos Employees Scholarship Fund (LAESF), is launching a scholarship for students who plan to return to formal education after taking a break (full story).Middle school science bowl
Co-sponsors of the event were the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Security, Department of Energy-Office of Science, and Sandia National Laboratories (full story).
New thin film material promises power generating windows
In what is considered to be a first in new materials science, a team of engineers at the Brookhaven and Los Alamos National Laboratories have created a light-absorbing material that efficiently generates charge and charge separation. What's more, these "films" are transparent, making them perfect for windows (full story).To subscribe to Los Alamos Report, send an email and include the words Subscribe losalamosreport in the body of the message; to unsubscribe, include unsubscribe losalamosreport.
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