Environment

Los Alamos National Laboratory: Levitating Particles Could Lift Nuclear Detective Work

LANL News:
 
Laser-based ‘optical tweezers’ could levitate uranium and plutonium particles, thus allowing the measurement of nuclear recoil during radioactive decay.
 
This technique, proposed by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, provides a new method for conducting the radioactive particle analysis essential to nuclear forensics.
 
“Our idea relies on trapping a particle using ‘optical tweezers,’ a technique which is the subject of this year’s Nobel prize in Physics,” said Alonso Castro of the Lab’s Actinide Analytical Chemistry group, one of the authors
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‘Cut-Your-Own’ Christmas Tree Permits Start Nov. 19

Courtesy/USDA FS

SFNF News:

  • Fourth graders get one permit free

SANTA FE – Permits to cut your own Christmas tree on the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) are available for purchase beginning Monday, Nov. 19 at SFNF Headquarters, all SFNF Ranger District offices and select third-party vendors.

As part of the “Every Kid in a Park” initiative, every fourth grader is eligible for a free Christmas tree permit.

In order to redeem the free permit, the student must present a valid fourth-grade pass, downloadable at www.everykidinapark.gov. Once the pass is printed, the fourth grader must be accompanied Read More

UA: Aging A Flock Of Stars In Wild Duck Cluster

UA News:
 
TUCSON, Ariz. — Do star clusters harbor many generations of stars or just one? Scientists have long searched for an answer and, thanks to the University of Arizona’s MMT telescope, found one in the Wild Duck Cluster, where stars spin at different speeds, disguising their common age.
 
In a partnership between the UA and the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute, a team of Korean and Belgian astronomers used UA instruments to solve a puzzle about flocks of stars called open clusters.
 
Astronomers have long believed that many open clusters consist of a single
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Cow Spotted Grazing At Los Alamos Golf Course

A cow is spotted grazing late Tuesday afternoon at the Los Alamos County Golf Course. A County spokesperson indicated that the cow likely made its way over from Guaje Pines Cemetery where several cows have been known to congregate. The Golf Course is operating on winter hours of Wednesday-Sunday, so was closed Tuesday. The cow has not been sighted today. The County intends to erect temporary fencing at the cemetery to corral the roaming cows, after which they will call the State Livestock Associate to pick them up and transport them to a proper cow pasture. Photo by Jan Barnes Read More

Historical Society Dives Into LANL’s Infamous Kitty Litter Drum

Vincent Lalenti

HISTORICAL SOCIETY News:

The next lecture in the Los Alamos Historical Society’s series will feature Vincent Lalenti who will present “Waste Makes Haste: An Anthropologist’s View of the 2014 LANL-WIPP Organic Kitty Litter Accident.”

Lalenti will begin his talk at 7 p.m., Nov. 13 in Fuller Lodge. This talk explores political, social, and financial factors that contributed to LANL’s transuranic waste drum #68660 bursting open and spewing out fire underground at the WIPP deep geologic repository on Valentine’s Day 2014.

To what extent was this infamous “organic kitty litter” Read More

AGU: Scientists Theorize New Origin For Earth’s Water

Artist’s conception of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system. Courtesy/NASA
 
AGU News:
 
WASHINGTON — Earth’s water may have originated from both asteroidal material and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, according to new research. The new finding could give scientists important insights about the development of other planets and their potential to support life.
 
In a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, researchers propose a new theory to address the long-standing mystery
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BLM Public Room Closed Nov.13

BLM News:
 
SANTA FE The Bureau of Land Management will close its public room Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 301 Dinosaur Trail in Santa Fe.
 
The closure will allow staff to perform records inventory and file maintenance. Normal business hours resume Wednesday, Nov. 14.
 
For more information, contact Carlos Martinez at 505.954.2096.
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Summit Garden Club Meets Today

SGC News:
 
Summit Garden Club’s monthly meeting is at 1:30 p.m., today, Nov. 5, at the White Rock Presbyterian Church at 310 Rover Blvd.
 
Members and guests will learn the art of making grapevine wreaths. Participants should bring items for decorating their own wreaths. One large wreath will be donated to the Festival of Trees Nov. 17.
 
Email Laurie Stunkel at lauriesgarden@q.com for help with supplies. Refreshments will be served. All newcomers are welcome.
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LAHS Key Club Participates In ‘Single Service Project Day’ Filling Gabion Baskets At County Landfill

Some 36 Key Club members spent the club’s annual ‘Single Service Project Day’ Saturday, Oct. 27, working at the Los Alamos County Landfill. They spent almost three hours filling ‘gabion baskets’ with recycled glass and fastening the baskets together into a long line designed to prevent soil erosion at the top of a hill. Later, County Environmental Services Manager Angelica Gurule sent an email to Kiwanis youth liaisons Morrie Pongratz and Don Casperson complimenting the young people and their work. ‘The students were terrific to work with. We actually ran out of glass and left a few unfinished Read More

Amateur Naturalist: What Is Happening To The birds?

Redwing blackbirds gather at the top of tree in the autumn. Photo by Robert Dryja

 
By ROBERT DRYJA
Los Alamos

The transition for fall to winter is a good time to consider what is happening to birds from a variety of viewpoints. The seasonal movement of various bird species is closing. Redwing blackbirds have been appearing in groups of 20 to 50 in trees. They suddenly fly as a group from one tree to another, making a constant raucous. White-winged have been in small groups of about five to eight birds that walk quietly about on the ground. Broad-tailed hummingbirds flew away when autumn started Read More

Santa Fe Watershed Piles Burn Planned

SFNF News:
 
SANTA FE  Fire managers on the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) plan to take advantage of favorable conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality, wind directions, and weather forecasts to initiate a piles burn in the Santa Fe Watershed area as early as Nov.15.
 
Depending on conditions, ignitions could possibly not start until sometime in early 2019.   
 
The treatment area is approximately 50 acres and is located adjacent to Forest Road (FR) 102 approximately four miles east of the City of Santa Fe and six miles southwest of Ski Santa
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Interior Department Disburses $634.9 Million In FY 2018 Energy Revenues To New Mexico

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke
 
DOI News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced that Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), disbursed $634.990 million in Fiscal Year 2018 energy revenues to New Mexico.
 
This represents an increase of $179.890 million from the previous year’s total. The funds are derived from energy produced on federal and Indian lands, as well as U.S. offshore areas.
 
“President Trump’s energy dominance strategy is paying off and local communities across America are the beneficiaries,”
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PEEC: Learn About Declining Bird Populations On Pajarito Plateau Nov. 6

A male Western Tanager by Bob Walker. Learn what the future may hold for the birds and forests of the Pajarito Plateau at a talk at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the Los Alamos Nature Center. Courtesy/PEEC
 
PEEC News:
 
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory recently published a paper about bird populations on the Pajarito Plateau, finding declines in the number and diversity of bird populations at nine sites in northern New Mexico.
 
Jeanne Fair, who led the research team, will share her research and discuss what the future may hold for the birds and forests of the Pajarito
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