Science on the Hill: What cosmology tells us about quantum mechanics

Cosmology, the study of the universe at gargantuan distances, has recently become good enough to test our understanding of quantum mechanics, which describes minuscule, subatomic systems. A possibly surprising consequence is that quantum mechanics, in turn, helps cosmologists understand observations of the vastness of space, including those soon to be made with forthcoming “extremely large” telescopes.

Given Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 70-plus years of research in nuclear physics, and its nuclear stockpile mission, the lab has a vested interest in knowing everything about the subatomic world, now and way back then. (Full Story)

Quantum computing is real, and D-Wave just open-sourced it

D-Wave hardware, from D-Wave.

IBM demonstrated a working quantum computer in 2000 and continues to improve on its technology. Google is working on its own quantum computer and also teamed up with NASA to test D-Wave’s system in 2013. Lockheed Martin and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are also working with D-Wave machines. But today’s quantum computers still aren’t practical for most real-world applications.

That’s where the company’s new software tool Qbsolv comes in. Last year Scott Pakin of Los Alamos National Laboratory–and one of Qbsolv’s first users–released another free tool called Qmasm, which also eases the burden of writing code for D-Wave machines. (Full Story)

NASA's bold plan to save Earth from killer asteroids

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), NASA image.

If we don't have 50 years or a fast enough battering ram, we might need to break up an asteroid instead. Catherine Plesko of Los Alamos National Laboratory uses supercomputers to study how to break up asteroids using nuclear explosions and "kinetic impactors," essentially giant space cannonballs.

"Cannonball technology is actually very good technology, because you're intercepting the object at very high speed, so it ends up being more effective than conventional high explosives," Plesko said at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December. (Full Story)

And the Oscar goes to “Organ-On-A-Chip”

Lung module from the PuLMo system, LANL image.

In a world of nanotechnologies and microchips, the ability for large-scale processes to take place on the microscale are becoming increasingly prevalent, even in the environment of combating chemical and biological threats to our warfighters. A research effort by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Wake Forest University has resulted in an award-winning miniature technology in the eX-vivo Capability for Evaluation and Licensure (XCEL) program, the Pulmonary Lung Model (PuLMo). (Full Story)

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Astrobiology Top 10: NASA rover findings point to a more Earth-like Martian past 

Mars geology, NASA image.

This research also adds important context to other clues about atmospheric oxygen in Mars’ past. The manganese oxides were found in mineral veins within a geological setting the Curiosity mission has placed in a timeline of ancient environmental conditions. From that context, the higher oxygen level can be linked to a time when groundwater was present in the rover’s Gale Crater study area.

“The only ways on Earth that we know how to make these manganese materials involve atmospheric oxygen or microbes,” said Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. “Now we’re seeing manganese oxides on Mars, and we’re wondering how the heck these could have formed?”

Full story

Stunning new image reveals the view from lower Mount Sharp

Mars Curiosity, NASA image.

Another ingredient increasing in recent measurements by Curiosity is the element boron, which the rover's laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument has been detecting within mineral veins that are mainly calcium sulfate. 

'No prior mission has detected boron on Mars,' said Patrick Gasda of the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. 

'We're seeing a sharp increase in boron in vein targets inspected in the past several months.' 

Full story

Leaky plumbing impedes Greenland ice sheet flow

Surface meltwater that drains to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet each summer causes changes in ice flow that cannot be fully explained by prevailing theories. Now a multinational, multidisciplinary team led by ice sheet modelers at Los Alamos National Laboratory is exploring how changes in extensive, sediment-choked subglacial “swamps” actually explain why the ice sheet’s movement slows down in late summer and winter.

Full story

Amid transitions, both NM nuke labs get good evaluations

Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, both in the midst of management transitions, got good marks from the federal government in performance evaluations for the 2016 fiscal year that ended in September. 

Los Alamos lab director Charles McMillan, in a memo to his employees obtained by the Journal, said, “As I have stated many times in the past, the people of the Laboratory are and will remain this institution’s greatest asset. The mission and operational successes of 2016 are a tribute to your spirit and character. I continue to anticipate a vibrant future filled with technical challenges worthy of this national laboratory.”

Full story

LANL improves in annual federal evaluation

An annual federal evaluation of Los Alamos National Laboratory, made public Wednesday, showed marked improvement in the lab’s overall management practices and its ability to handle nuclear weapons programs and maintain operations.

The new report for Los Alamos showed the lab exceeded expectations in resuming work at the plutonium facility and the weapons engineering tritium facility, which is used to research fusion energy. Strides also were made in cleaning up old facilities contaminated by radiation from weapons production, meeting goals in this area by 75 percent.

Full story

Top Los Alamos science stories of 2016

From discoveries on Mars to breakthroughs in cancer research, from national security science to materials science, 2016 has proven to be another productive year for Los Alamos National Laboratory achievements.

‘This year’s significant advancements in high-performance computing, materials science, cancer research as well as national security, space exploration and nuclear nonproliferation science underscore the Lab’s unique multidisciplinary scientific capabilities,’ said Alan Bishop.

Full Story

NASA’s far-flung space robots keep finding signs of water

An illustration of the space probe dawn arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres. (NASA)

Robotic explorers have found signs of long-lost water on Mars and extensive ice still present on the dwarf planet Ceres — evidence that water truly is almost everywhere we look.

The results were announced last week at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union — the world's largest gathering of Earth and space scientists. There, NASA scientists discussed the results from several of the dozen space probes currently exploring the universe beyond our planet.

Full story

Scientists may have found evidence of life-supporting water on Mars

While scientists are working hard to reach Mars, others are trying to discover whether something beat us there already.

Researchers have long known that Mars is barren and uninhabited, but the question as to whether life ever exited in the planet's past is still up for debate.

Full story

Asteroid insurance: LANL researcher studies how to defend Earth from massive collisions

This rendering shows NASA’s DART spacecraft serving as a “kinetic impactor” in an effort to change the orbit of the “moonlet” that revolves around the bigger Dydimos asteroid. (ESA Photo)

Cathy Plesko, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, just wants us to be ready.

She’s a computational geophysicist whose computer models are intended to help figure out how to avoid the potential apocalypse of big comets or asteroids striking the Earth.

“It’s one of those things, like I keep a fire extinguisher in my kitchen,” Plesko says, “not because I expect to have a kitchen fire, but just in case, because sometimes kitchen fires happen.”

Right now, apparently, Earth has no extinguisher for asteroids.

Full story

Evaluating Reaction Of A Giant Asteroid Making A Splash Into The Sea

What could possibly occur when a huge asteroid strikes the sea?

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory wanted to evaluate what could possibly occur when a huge asteroid strikes the sea. They found the results to be extremely fascinating. The study was presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting.

The study spearheaded by Galen Gisler and team from ANL employed supercomputers to gauge the impact of a speeding space rock hitting the ocean.

Full story

DNA Markers Distinguish Between Harmless, Deadly Bacteria 

Scanning electron micrograph of a murine macrophage infected with Francisella tularensis strain LVS.

The virulent pathogen that causes the disease tularemia, or "rabbit fever," was weaponized during past world wars and is considered a potential bioweapon. Through a new study of the coccobacillus Francisella, Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are working to use DNA markers to discern related but relatively harmless species as they are identified and to provide a means to distinguish them from the harmful F. tularensis. 

"This large study is particularly notable for having used 31 publicly available genomes plus select genes from about 90 additional isolates," said corresponding author Cheryl Kuske of the Bioenergy & Biome Sciences group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The paper was published in the current issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM).

Full story

Leaky plumbing impedes Greenland Ice Sheet flow

On the Greenland Ice Sheet, the ice flow more than doubles in speed in many regions during summer, as surface melt drains to the bed and lubricates the motion.

Surface meltwater that drains to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet each summer causes changes in ice flow that cannot be fully explained by prevailing theories. Now a multinational, multidisciplinary team led by ice sheet modelers at Los Alamos National Laboratory is exploring how changes in extensive, sediment-choked subglacial "swamps" actually explain why the ice sheet's movement slows down in late summer and winter.

"The drainage system beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet controls how fast the ice flows towards the sea and ultimately contributes to sea-level change," said Matthew Hoffman, lead author on the project and an ice-sheet modeler at Los Alamos. "For more than a decade it's been known that the ice flow more than doubles in speed in many regions during summer, as surface melt drains to the bed and lubricates the motion. This acceleration sends ice to the sea faster. However, the motion also slows down in late summer, fall, and winter, which largely offsets the summer speedup. Exactly why it slows down as much as it does and for as long as it does has not been clear.

Scientists warn we're not prepared for surprise asteroid strike

Asteroid deflection computer model, LANL image.

So, how could we defend against these objects? At the talk, The Guardian reports Dr. Cathy Piesko of the Los Alamos National Laboratory said our options could include deploying “a kinetic impactor” — which she described as “basically a giant cannonball” — or perhaps a nuclear warhead.

But both would come with serious risks, and it would take years of preparation to figure out how to do it right. “We are very carefully doing our homework before finals week,” Plesko said. “We don’t want to be doing our calculations before something is coming. We need to have this work done.” (Full Story)

Doomsday preview: Supercomputer simulates asteroid impacts

Impact simulation, LANL image.

Our planet’s surface is 70 percent water by area, and an aquatic impact would create a sizable tidal wave that could do some serious damage if it hits a populated area. But apocalyptic visions of the devastation resulting from an asteroid strike may be slightly overblown, say scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The team used a supercomputer-assisted model to simulate the outcomes of various types of impacts, creating a series of visualizations depicting the aftermath. Along with the size of the rock and angle of impact, the biggest factor in determining the potential for destruction is whether the asteroid breaks up before hitting the surface, or what’s called an “airburst.” (Full Story)

Also from Smithsonian Magazine

Two ways to save the world from asteroid strike

Scientists in the United States have warned that measures need to be taken NOW to prepare for a possible asteroid strike on Earth. And to avoid a catastrophe similar to the one thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs 60 millions years ago, the scientists are looking at an asteroid-blasting spacecraft. Dr Cathy Plesko is a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Listen to the podcast)

Scientists have a crazy plan to nuke deadly asteroids out of the sky

Asteroid heating and off-gassing illustration, from Gizmodo.

Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center spoke about the best approaches for preventing a sequel to the KT-extinction. It turns out there are really only two good options: kinetic impactors, which jostle Earth-bound comets and asteroids onto more benign orbits, and explosives, which blow them to smithereens.

Catharine Plesko, a researcher at Los Alamos who uses supercomputers to model asteroid deflection scenarios, says that with decades to centuries of lead time, the more pacifistic kinetic impactor approach is preferred for asteroid deflection. (Full Story)

First detection of boron on the surface of Mars

ChemCam target Catabola, JPL image.

“No prior mission to Mars has found boron,” said Patrick Gasda, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “If the boron that we found in calcium sulfate mineral veins on Mars is similar to what we see on Earth, it would indicate that the groundwater of ancient Mars that formed these veins would have been 0-60 degrees Celsius [32-140 degrees Fahrenheit] and neutral-to-alkaline pH.” The temperature, pH, and dissolved mineral content of the groundwater could make it habitable. (Full Story)

NASA's Curiosity Rover finds boron under ancient Martian lakebed

Los Alamos postdoc Patrick Gasda, LANL image.

With the first ever detection of the element boron in the ancient surface of Mars, researchers are ever more hopeful that the arid Red Planet’s ancient climate was once clement and habitable. Or so report NASA and Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

“If the boron that we found in calcium sulfate mineral veins on Mars is similar to what we see on Earth, it would indicate that the groundwater of ancient Mars would have been [32-140 degrees Fahrenheit] with neutral-to-alkaline pH,” said Patrick Gasda, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full Story)

Also from Space dot com and YouTube

Forget jetpacks. Where are our hydrogen-powered cars?

X-ray tomography of an experimental fuel cell membrane, LANL image.

To make fuel cells competitive, a U.S. Department of Energy-funded, science-based approach is driving efforts to better understand the materials in them. As part of this initiative, Los Alamos National Laboratory is leading two efforts with industry partners, academics and other national laboratories to lower fuel-cell cost by developing less expensive materials while maintaining durability. The work is being carried out under two consortia within DOE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. (Full Story)

Science on the Hill: Bringing the power of genetic research to an office near you

The DNA code in a genome is built from molecular units called bases, LANL image.     

Seeing a need that the unique expertise at Los Alamos National Laboratory could fill, a team in the Biosecurity and Public Health group … has developed a new computational and web-based tool called EDGE Bioinformatics.

Los Alamos was a key player, contributing its expertise in life sciences, particularly genetics and its world-class computing resources to the task of unraveling the human genetic code. (Full Story)

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