World

Differences, Similarities of Early Los Alamos, Soviet Scientists Focus of 70th Anniversary Lecture

Istvan Hargittai, right, talks with Edward Teller at Stanford in 1996. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • June 12 at Bradbury Science Museum

The differences and similarities between Manhattan Project-era scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and scientists working at the former Soviet Union’s secret Arzamas-16 installation will be discussed by Professor Istvan Hargittai at 5:30 p.m., June 12 at the Laboratory’s Bradbury Science Museum. The talk is part of the Laboratory’s 70th anniversary lecture series.

According to Hargittai, Los Alamos’ first director, Julius Robert (J. Robert) Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition: Different Styles Mark Cliburn Competitors

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
By ANN MCLAUGHLIN
 
DIFFERENT STYLES MARK CLIBURN COMPETITORS

Chinese pianist Fei Fei Dong closes the semifinals of the Cliburn Competition. The judges are scheduled to announce the finalists at 11:30 p.m., well past our bedtime, but for this we will stay wide awake.

That all of these pianists have formidable technical skills is a given. Pyrotechnics abound. But I have decided that the competitors fall into two broad categories.  Some choose repertoire and play in a way that says, “This is the kind of pianist I am and I’ll Read More

LANL: Metamaterial Flexible Sheets Could Transform Optics

Members of the metamaterials team, from left: Nathaniel K. Grady, Hou-Tong Chen, Jane E. Heyes. Courtesy/LANL

(a) Photograph of an ultrathin (72 µm thick) metamaterial sample. (b) Illustration of how the metamaterial redirects an electromagnetic wave, which would not happen for a normal thin film. The structure is not drawn to scale. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • New design flattens bulky optical devices

New ultrathin, planar, lightweight, and broadband polarimetric photonic devices and optics could result from recent research by a team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists. The Read More

Searching for Clandestine Graves with Geophysical Tools

Workers examine remains at a mass grave in eastern Bosnia in 2004. Photo by Polargeo

AGU News:

By Carlos M. Molina, National University of Colombia, Bogota and Orlando Hernandez, National University of Colombia, Bogota

Cancún, Mexico — It’s very hard to convict a murderer if the victim’s body can’t be found. And the best way to hide a body is to bury it.

Developing new tools to find those clandestine graves is the goal of a small community of researchers spread across several countries, some of whom are presenting their work on Tuesday, May 14, at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancún, Mexico, a scientific Read More

US, China Hold Joint Meeting to Discuss Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Technology

Beijing, China. Courtesy photo

NNSA News:

  • Eighth U.S.-China PUNT Joint Coordinating Committee Meeting Held in Beijing

NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington

BEIJING – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the China National Energy Administration (NEA) this week held the 8th Joint Coordinating Committee meeting of the 1998 U.S.-China Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Technology (PUNT) Agreement.

NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington and Director General of the NEA Nuclear Power Department Read More

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Dies at 87

WHITE HOUSE News:

Statement from President Obama on the death of Britain’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher:

With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend.

As a grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s first female prime minister, she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.

As prime minister, she helped restore the confidence and pride that has always been the hallmark of Britain at its best.

And as an unapologetic supporter Read More

U.S. Removes Last Remaining HEU from Czech Republic, Sets Nonproliferation Milestone

Casks containing HEU being loaded into shipping containers at the Nuclear Research Institute in Rez, Czech Republic, Friday, March 22, 2013. Courtesy/NNSA

A worker checks for radiation at the Nuclear Research Institute in Rez, Czech Republic, Friday, March 22, 2013. Courtesy/NNSA

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States’ National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Czech Republic’s Nuclear Research Institute announced today the successful removal of 68 kilograms (approximately 150 pounds, or enough material for two nuclear weapons) of highly enriched uranium Read More

NIST Goes to the End of the Earth for Measurement Science

NIST researcher Johannes (Hannes) Hubmayr at the South Pole Telescope. Courtesy/NIST

NIST News:

NIST Boulder researcher Johannes (Hannes) Hubmayr recently spent several weeks at the South Pole Telescope, where he optimized the performance of a NIST camera delivered to the telescope in 2011.

The camera measures signals generated fractions of a second after the Big Bang to help scientists learn about the conditions and evolution of the early universe.

The instrument is performing remarkably well. Hubmayr’s tasks included snowmobiling across the Antarctic tundra to set up equipment and Read More

Traveling the World on $100 a Day

Kerri (Foxx) Frazier, Jason Frazier and Sydney Frazier Riding bikes in Paris, France. Courtesy photo

Kerri (Foxx) Frazier, Sydney Frazier and Jason Frazier in Denia, Spain. Courtesy Photo

 

Traveling the World on $100 a Day
By TERALENE FOXX
Los Alamos

Travel can be expensive. Can you travel around the world on $100/day/person? 

Jason, Kerri (1991 graduate of Los Alamos High School) and their daughter Sydney, 8, are on a Round the World Trip (https://ladailypost.comcontent/traveling-world.)

Before going, they researched costs and found the estimated $25,000 per person per Read More