When a dust devil — nearly 400 feet tall — passed directly over the Perseverance rover on Mars, a team of researchers on Earth recorded its sound. The eerie whooshing was captured for the first time ever thanks to the microphone on the SuperCam instrument developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. On the new episode of ‘Mars Technica’ , Baptiste Chide discusses what they learned and just how lucky they were to capture this audio. Click to listen to the latest episode. Courtesy/LANL Read More
Technology
State Announces Major Investments In Cybersecurity
DoIT News:
SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that New Mexico is set to receive nearly $13 million in federal funding over the next four years for Cybersecurity enhancements to better protect networks from outside attacks and bolster the protection of Personally Identifiable Information.
In September 2022, through an executive order the Governor established a Cybersecurity Planning Committee. The committee represents cyber and IT leaders from the Department of Information Technology (DoIT), the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM), local Read More
Office Of Broadband Access & Expansion Announces Third Wave Of Connect New Mexico Pilot Program Funding
OBAE News:
The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) recently extended the deadline for Wave Three of the Connect New Mexico Pilot Program (“Pilot Program”).
The application period will close April 3.
The Pilot Program aims to bridge the digital divide and foster socioeconomic progress by providing infrastructure grants for broadband deployment to unserved and underserved communities across New Mexico. The $123 million pilot program is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. OBAE launched the program in August 2022 and announced Read More
Catch Of The Week: Phone Scams
Courtesy photo
By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
I received this question from a Los Alamos Daily Post reader:
“We receive a lot of robocalls and other spam calls, while there does not seem to be a way to block them, we were wondering if you know why flooding everyone with scam calls is effective? We have answered a few of these calls and nobody is there, and when we call the number back it is disconnected.”
I would not recommend answering or calling back any of these scam calls, it’s always better to avoid interaction. That said, good question, and what possible benefit can it be to scammers to send out Read More
Catch Of The Week: Ransomware? That’s Bananas!
By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
In a less than appealing turn of events last week Dole corporation reported a massive ransomware attack.
What is ransomware? In a ransomware attack malware, a type of malicious software, is installed on your system, this then quietly runs and encrypts your operating system, or possibly just individual files. You will lose access to your system/files unless you can pay a ransom to retrieve the encryption key.
On the individual level this can be bad, at the corporate level it can be a disaster, as Dole seems to be finding out. Consumers had been reporting packaged Read More
Luján Joins Colleagues To Reintroduce Bipartisan Legislation To Strengthen Online Content Moderation & Hold Internet Companies Accountable
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and John Thune (R-S.D.) to reintroduce the Internet Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (Internet PACT) Act, bipartisan legislation which updates the Communications Act of 1934 by requiring social media companies to establish clear content moderation policies and holding them accountable for content that violates their own policies or is illegal.
The bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Bill Read More
US Air Force Recognizes Two AFRL Researchers
Dr. Preston T. Webster, left, and Dr. Andrew J. ‘AJ’ Metcalf are the U.S. Air Force nominees to the 74th Annual Arthur S. Flemming Award. Webster leads an AFRL team that develops novel space sensor technologies for the nation’s infrared surveillance, missile warning and tracking, weather monitoring and other systems. Metcalf serves as the AFRL space mission area lead in the Office of the Deputy Technology Executive Officer for Space Science and Technology. Courtesy/AFRL
AFRL News:
KAFB — The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), recently announced that engineers Dr. Andrew J. “AJ” Metcalf Read More
Luján, Stansbury Welcome First-Ever DOE Foundation For Energy Security And Innovation
Congressional News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) welcomed Monday the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) first-ever agency-related Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI).
During the 117th Congress, Luján and Stansbury introduced the Partnerships for Energy Security and Innovation Act, bipartisan legislation to establish a nonprofit foundation for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that would channel private-sector investments to support DOE’s mission and to accelerate the commercialization of innovative Read More
LANL: Predicting Pandemics Through Museum Animal Collections
A preserved vampire bat, part of the UNM Museum of Southwest Biology collection, is held by Jonathan L. Dunnum, Ph.D., Senior Collection Manager, Division of Mammals, Museum of Southwestern Biology. Items from this collection will be sampled by Los Alamos and UNM scientists to explore how pathogens travel from one species to another. Courtesy/LANL
LANL News:
Zoonotic pathogens, those that spill over from animals to humans such as SARS-CoV-2 and hantavirus, present a challenge for scientists in terms of how the diseases evolve and spread in animal populations. Now, a broad coalition of Read More
Verus Research Awarded $52 Million Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division Contract
Verus Research News:
ALBUQUERQUE — Verus® Research, a New Mexico-based team of scientists and engineers specializing in advanced research and development, announces it has received a $52 million research contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division in Indiana.
The 56-month contract supports the development of “Orthus”, a neutron and gamma test capability comprised of a dense plasma focus (DPF) neutron source and an electron linear accelerator gamma simulator. The work builds on Verus Research’s current development of the Axial Radiator for Electronic Exposure Read More