Science

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

LANL: Beaufort Sea Freshwater Threatens Arctic, Climate

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Dye tracer released from the Beaufort Gyre region of the western Artic Ocean indicates freshwater transport through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago into the western Labrador Sea, causing freshening there. Courtesy/Francesca Samsel and Greg Abram (University of Texas at Austin)

LANL News:

The Beaufort Sea, the Arctic Ocean’s largest freshwater reservoir, has increased its freshwater content by 40 percent over the last two decades, putting global climate patterns at risk.

A rapid release of this freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean could wreak havoc on the delicate climate balance that Read More

Los Alamos ScienceFest 2021 Seeks Content Proposals

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Los Alamos ScienceFest 2021 seeks content proposals for ‘Discovery Boxes’. Courtesy image

ScienceFest News:

The annual Los Alamos ScienceFest is returning July 6-11 in a variety of channels and under the theme “Driven By Science”.

New this year, ScienceFest organizers will be piloting a “Discovery Box” concept, for which they are seeking proposals for different age-appropriate at-home Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) activities.

Content ideas are due April 1 and interested local organizations and businesses can visit LosAlamosScienceFest.com and click on Read More

LANL: A look Into Mysteries Of Proton Structure And Dynamics Of Antiquarks And Gluons

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A new paper out in Nature describes unusual results from the E-906/SeaQuest experiment, showing that distributions of antiquarks are significantly different than expected, with more abundant ‘down’ type antimatter quarks than ‘up’ antimatter quarks. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Physics experiment explores antimatter asymmetry

A complex high-energy nuclear physics experiment, aiming to measure the contributions of antiquarks to the structure of the proton and neutron, has produced results that are the opposite of what had previously been understood about proton structure and the Read More

LANL: Explosives Chemist David Chavez Added To Editorial Advisory Board Of Journal Of American Chemical Society

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Explosives Chemist David Chavez in his lab working on a possible TNT replacement, bis-oxadiazole. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • JACS Editor-in-Chief seeks to broaden diversity and inclusivity of the Journal’s peer review

David Chavez, deputy group leader of High Explosives Science and Technology (Q-5) group at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been added to a newly formed Editorial Advisory Board for the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) by the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Erick Carreira.

The new Editorial Advisory Board, “has been crafted to be inclusive. Read More

LANL Frontiers In Science Talk: COVID Solutions Feb. 24

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At Wednesday talk, Nick Hengartner will set the stage for how disease modeling works. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

The community is invited to join an online Frontiers In Science Talk at 6 p.m., Feb. 24 with three top Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) researchers exploring COVID solutions.

Click here to register. Email fis@lanl.gov to submit questions.

Nick Hengartner is an applied mathematician at LANL and former leader of the Theoretical Biology and Biophysics group (T-6), one of the few research groups in the world devoted to mathematical biology and infectious disease modeling. 

He Read More

Spaceport America Cup Is Going Virtual For 2021

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Courtesy/Spaceport America

Spaceport America News:

Sierra County — Spaceport America and partners Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) have announced that the 2021 Spaceport America Cup will be held as a virtual event June 18-20.

The 2021 Spaceport America Cup will be an online competition and technical conference. Student teams from across the globe will complete to win technical awards and one team will be selected as the overall 2021 Virtual Spaceport America Cup winner.

In addition, teams will participate in interactive poster session reviews, hear from special guest Read More

LANL Invites Public To Mars Rover Landing After-Party

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An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance on the surface of Mars. Courtesy/NASA/JPL-Caltech

LANL News:

The public is invited to a free Mars Perseverance landing after-party hosted by Los Alamos National Laboratory 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18, MST. Due to COVID restrictions, the event will take place online.

The after-party is a chance to celebrate the landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars and learn more about Los Alamos National Laboratory’s role in the mission.

This hour-long virtual event will feature presentations by more than a dozen Los Alamos scientists and engineers who helped Read More

Tech Warrior Ops Virtual Event Showcases Nationwide Technology Demonstrations For US Air Force Application

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Tech Warrior Enterprise News:

DAYTON, Ohio — Tech Warrior Enterprise a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program that is managed by Parallax Advanced Research will host its Tech Warrior Tactical OPS event from April 19-23, in an online setting.

The virtual event provides an opportunity for small businesses and innovators from around the U.S. to demonstrate their technologies, science and innovations to U.S. Air Force warfighters and first responders and gain early feedback to improve their innovation for Read More