The weathermen of Mars

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Arizona Lunar Planetary Laboratory and Cornell University Center for Radiophysics and Space Research have discovered further evidence for the possible existence of a changing, and perhaps predictable, Martian climate. Using data gathered by a neutron spectrometer aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, scientists have mapped large deposits of hydrogen in areas centered on Arabia Terra and the Mars equator. The distribution of hydrogen deposits cannot be explained by the general north-south latitude gradient of water vapor in the present Martian atmosphere, thereby requiring different climatic conditions in the relatively recent past.

[Todd Hanson, 505/667-7000,
tahanson@lanl.gov]

Disappearing neutrinos support case for neutrino mass

Results from the first six months of experiments at KamLAND, an underground neutrino detector in central Japan, show that anti-neutrinos emanating from nearby nuclear reactors are "disappearing," which indicates they have mass and can oscillate or change from one type to another. These results provide independent confirmation of earlier studies involving solar neutrinos and show that the Standard Model of Particle Physics, which has successfully explained fundamental physics since the 1970s, is in need of updating. U.S. participation in the KamLAND experiments, which included researchers with DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was primarily funded by DOE's Office of Science.

[Lynn Yarris 510/486-5375,
lcyarris@lbl.gov]

Absolutely no bang for the bucks

[David Schwoegler, 925/422-6900,
newsguy@llnl.gov]

Award-winning sorbent, RVS-1, holds new promise

RVS-1 sorbent pellets

Ranjani Siriwardane, senior scientist at DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory, says her R&D 100 award-winning invention, developed to remove sulfur from high temperature coal gasification streams, shows promise in biomass applications. A 20-cycle test with simulated gas produced from black liquor—a pulp and paper industry by-product—shows RVS-1 reduces gas-stream sulfur from 4 percent volume to less than 40 ppmv. The regenerable sorbent becomes mechanically stronger and remains chemically active when subjected to multiple cycles. NETL program manager, Dan Cicero says, "With RVS-1 we expect energy cost reductions, capital cost reduction of $25-30 million, and incremental profit improvements in pulp production nearing $20 million annually in a typical Kraft paper mill."

[Damon Benedict, 304/285-4913, damon.benedict@netl.doe.gov]

Sea squirt DNA sheds light on vertebrate evolution

The genome of Ciona intestinalis, a common sea squirt closely related to vertebrates on the evolutionary tree, is providing new clues about the origins of key vertebrate systems and structures. In the cover article for the December 13 issue of the journal Science, an international consortium of researchers led by DOE's Joint Genome Institute reports that a comparison of Ciona's genome with those of the human and other animals is yielding new insights into the evolutionary origins of the human brain, spine, heart, eye, thyroid gland and nervous and immune systems.

[Charles Osolin, 925/296-5643,
osolin1@llnl.gov]

Cracks measured in time

A system designed and built at DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory reconstructs breaks in common structural materials, such as carbon and stainless steels. The technique, known as microtopography, uses the crack's edges to map the fracture process—from an initial defect to component failure. Featured in the February issue of Engineering Fracture Mechanics, the invention promises to boost scientists' basic understanding of how structures break under the strain of accidental overloads, such as earthquakes. INEEL researchers predict the advance will lead to improvements in building design and analysis that bolster the safety of everything from aircrafts to waste storage tanks.

[Kendall Morgan, 208/526-3176,
morgkk@inel.gov]

Linking the astrophysics and particle physics communities

Larry Wai

Dr. Larry Wai is one of the young "particle astrophysicists" working on the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Mission at DOE's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Having worked at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, and on the Super-Kamiokande project in Japan, he represents the young particle physicists who are finding ready uses for their skills in the emerging fields of astrophysics and experimental cosmology.

Wai is currently in charge of the department of "Integration, Facilities, Configuration, and Test" within the group responsible for constructing the SLAC facilities in which much of the GLAST satellite instrumentation will be assembled, tested, and qualified before flying into space.

"People who have made the transition from particle physics to astrophysics," Wai noted, "have tended to be successful because a lot of the instrumentation training we go through is fairly rigorous. We tend to be good instrumentalists: Building detectors, debugging them, understanding problems with data...we have all these skills in our bag of tricks."

In noting that "This is the first major satellite-building project at SLAC," Wai said, "It's different from the typical particle physics effort because it is in an aerospace environment. There is a lot more rigor in terms of contamination and process control, because you have only one shot. You shoot it up and it has to work. Here on the ground, you can go back in and fix whatever is wrong. Not so in space. The imperative for excellence is very challenging and stimulating."

Part of the NASA Office of Space Science Strategic Plan, GLAST is an international and multi-agency mission planned for launch in 2006. It will study the cosmos looking at objects that emit high-energy wavelengths of light—celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy band extending from 10 MeV to more than 100 GeV.

Submitted by DOE's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center