Science

New Mexico Economic Development Grant Aids ‘Build With Robots’ Expansion Into R&D, Exhibit Space In Albuquerque

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The robotics team builds a robot, to make schools, factories and other work places safer. Courtesy/EDD

A Breezy One robot disinfects the Albuquerque International Sunport. These robots can disinfect 100,000 sq. ft. in less than an hour, often using a fog disinfectant developed at Sandia National Laboratories. Courtesy/EDD

STATE News:

ALBUQUERQUE — “Build with Robots”, an Albuquerque company designing and manufacturing smart robots to disinfect and sanitize large areas, such as schools and airports, has been awarded a State of New Mexico economic development grant to expand its workforce Read More

LANL: SuperCam Sends First Data Back To Earth From The Perseverance Mars Rover

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Photos of ‘Yeehgo’, the second rock target analyzed with SuperCam’s various imaging capabilities. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Following the successful landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater on Mars, the SuperCam operational teams at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) received the first results showing that SuperCam is in good health and giving its first impressions of the crater.

“It’s amazing to see SuperCam working so well on Mars,” Roger Wiens said, the lead scientist on SuperCam at Los Alamos. “When we first dreamed

Read More

LANL: Experiment Boosts Evidence For Sterile Neutrinos

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The neutrino detector at Fermilab, MiniBooNE, has confirmed a 1990s Los Alamos National Laboratory experiment that showed the existence of sterile neutrinos. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Analysis of results from an experiment called MiniBooNE at Fermilab has provided yet more evidence that particles called “sterile neutrinos” could indeed exist, supporting results from a 1990s Los Alamos National Laboratory experiment that indicated an update to the Standard Model of physics might be in order.

“We believe that this paper vindicates the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) results Read More

History On Tap Online: Women Of The Manhattan Project

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Dorothea Hermann, left, and Lyda Speck sit in their barracks in the summer of 1945. Courtesy/Vieira Collection, Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives

Los Alamos Historical Society News:

Join the Los Alamos Historical Society and the Los Alamos Creative District for History on Tap online 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 22.

Celebrating Women’s History Month, historian Heather McClenahan will introduce us to stories of women who lived and worked here in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. 

History on Tap is free, and you can register to attend via Zoom here.

You may often hear the complaint: Read More

Scott A. McLaughlin Tapped To Head Spaceport America

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Spaceport America is the world’s first purpose-built Spaceport. The Gateway to Space is outside of Truth or Consequences. Courtesy/Spaceport America

Scott A. McLaughlin

SPACEPORT AMERICA News:

Scott A. McLaughlin, a New Mexico native and long-time business and engineering professional, has been selected by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority Board of Directors as the new executive director of Spaceport America, Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced today.

McLaughlin graduated from New Mexico State University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and has worked at several Read More

Researchers Learning From The Brainy Bats Of Borneo

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Virginia Tech researchers study the biosonar and motion behaviors of bats. Courtesy/Virginia Tech 

VIRGINIA TECH News:

Virginia Tech researchers have teamed up with international partners to create a state-of-the-art image capture tunnel that will provide a new level of insight in the field of biomotion. Combining the efforts of faculty and student teams, their project has yielded more than $800,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation to continue the work.

The effort is led by mechanical engineering Professor Rolf Mueller, who has been studying the biosonar and motion behaviors Read More

Cornell Lab: Shade-Grown Coffee Could Help Save Birds

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Female Blackburnian Warbler in a coffee bush in Colombia. Photo by Guillermo Santos

Cornell Lab of Ornithology News:

ITHACA, NY—The message about the bird-conservation benefits of shade-grown coffee may not be getting through to the people most likely to respond—birdwatchers.

A team of researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Virginia Tech surveyed birdwatchers to learn if they drank shade-grown coffee and, if not, why not. Their findings were published today in the journal People and Nature.

“One of the most significant constraints to purchasing bird-friendly coffee among Read More

DOE/NNSA Awards $57.5 Million Phase 1 Contract To Nuclear Fuel Services For Uranium Purification And Conversion

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DOE/NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (DOE/NNSA) efforts to modernize capabilities and facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), on Feb. 26, 2021, DOE/NNSA awarded a $57.5 million Phase 1 contract to Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) for the design and pilot demonstration of highly enriched uranium (HEU) conversion and purification services.

This contract serves as a bridging strategy to enable Y-12 to develop and implement more modern technologies with improved efficiency and safety to carry Read More

Night With A Nerd: Alan Carr On Beyond The Moon

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Alan B. Carr

The next Night with a Nerd is 6 p.m. March 11 via zoom.

Abstract: Between 1955 and 1973, LASL (Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory)  attempted to build a reactor engine for space travel intended to carry astronauts far beyond the moon.

The Rover Program, as it was known, successfully produced three reactors suitable for flight testing, including the Phoebus-2A: the most powerful individual reactor of any type ever built.

Unfortunately, the proposed mission to Mars was canceled in the early 1970s and the Rover Program along with it.

Still, the Rover Program changed history.  Beyond Read More

Male Lyrebirds Create ‘Acoustic Illusion’ To Snare Mates

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Male Superb Lyrebird. Photo by Alex Maisey

Cornell Lab of Ornithology News:

ITHACA, NY — Famous for their uncanny ability to imitate other birds and even mechanical devices, researchers find that Australia’s Superb Lyrebird also uses that skill in a totally unexpected way.

Lyrebirds imitate the panicked alarm calls of a mixed-species flock of birds while males are courting and even while mating with a female. These findings are published in the journal Current Biology.

“The male Superb Lyrebird creates a remarkable acoustic illusion,” said Anastasia Dalziell, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology Read More