Friday, October 9, 2020

LANL scientist studying effects of wildfire smoke
 
Smoke rises from the Medio Fire, Journal photo.

It is not too surprising that nearby major forest fires – such as this summer’s Rio Medio Fire – spew particulates into the air that can affect health. But even fires 1,000 miles away can also have detrimental health effects.

 

It is something that Manvendra Dubey, a Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow, is starting to study full-time, since just how serious those health problems can be is still not completely clear. “Smoke is a problem, the aerosols, including biomass burning,” he said. “One of the questions is how dark is the smoke. If it’s white, what does that mean? It’s complicated. (Full story)

 

 


New algorithm could unleash the power of quantum computers

 

Shutterstock illustration.

 

A new algorithm that fast forwards simulations could bring greater use ability to current and near-term quantum computers, opening the way for applications to run past strict time limits that hamper many quantum calculations.

 

"Quantum computers have a limited time to perform calculations before their useful quantum nature, which we call coherence, breaks down," said Andrew Sornborger of the Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and senior author on a paper announcing the research. (Full story)

 

Also from HPCwire

 

 


Scientists studying possible connection between New Mexico rocks and life on Mars

 

Laser zapping rocks in the Los Alamos SuperCam lab.  LANL image.

 

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are working to get a better idea of the past life on Mars and they’re using parts of New Mexico’s own desert to do it. The possibility of life on Mars is still a mystery to most scientists. Exploration missions like NASA’s “Perseverance Rover” landing in 2021 are making those discoveries.

 

“We’ve spent a lot of time studying the surface of Mars so we know there’s not macroscopic life-like trees or dinosaurs,” said Dr. Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “There could still be microscopic life today" (Full story)

 

 


Irene Qualters’ long view of HPC, from a start-up called Cray to today’s ‘no-analog’ research at Los Alamos

Qualters interviewed by Inside HPC's Doug Black. 

From Inside HPC.

Irene Qualters, a senior-level manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has been at the forefront of the convergence of supercomputing and science for decades, extending back to joining Cray as one of that company’s first 100 employees. Few members of the HPC community can match her wealth of experience and wisdom regarding the future of scientific computing and its “no-analog” physics-informed AI exploration of problems confronting our planet, such as climate change. (Full story)

 

 


 Los Alamos to lead fuel cell consortia

 

Rod Borup, LANL photo.

 

The new consortia, funded by the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, will kick off in early 2021. The three multi-laboratory consortia support EERE’s H2@Scale vision and will include approximately $109 million in R&D government funding over 5 years.

 

“Los Alamos National Lab is proud to be involved in these three consortia, both as co-leads and as a partner,” said Rod Borup, program manager. “These are the joint research projects that address both near-term commercialization needs, and the longer-term R&D which will make fuel cells competitive to today’s internal-combustion engines in terms of efficiency, overall cost of ownership, and importantly, zero-emissions." (Full story)

 

 


 Eight Los Alamos National Laboratory projects win R&D 100 Awards


Los Alamos National Laboratory technologies brought in eight R&D 100 Awards and Special Recognition Awards, including a Gold Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, Gold and Silver Awards for Market Disruptor – Services, and a Bronze Award for Green Technology, presented ByR&D World magazine. 

 

The eight winning projects are, Amanzi-ATS, Cluster Integrity, Exception Resolution and Reclustering Algorithm (CIERRA) , Legion: a data-centric HPC programming system, Multi-Burn Solid Rocket, OrganiCam, QUIC-Fire, Smart Microbial Cell Technology, and Spectroscopic Detection of Nerve Agents (SEDONA). (Full story)

 

Also from the Reporter this week:

 

LANL, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NVIDIA partner to speed up scientific computing

 

Los Alamos National Laboratory is partnering with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and NVIDIA to focus on delivering next-generation technologies to accelerate scientific computing. New developments will include innovative high-performance computing (HPC) technology efforts to advance greater performance efficiency, workflow efficiency and analytics. Additional details on the collaboration will be unveiled this fall.

 

“We are excited to be part of this long-term collaboration. Together, we can accelerate the adoption of new HPC advancements and technologies that enable efficient computing for future HPC applications,” said John Sarrao, Deputy Laboratory Director for Science, Technology and Engineering at Los Alamos. (Full story)



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