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25-Jun-2008

Nanotubes could help study retrovirus transmission between human cells

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Naturally occurring nanotubes may serve as tunnels that protect retroviruses and bacteria as they infect healthy cells. The unexpected shielding may explain why vaccines fare poorly against some invaders. Sandia researchers now have formed similar nanotubes that could be used to duplicate the phenomenon.

Journal: Langmuir
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories

12-Jun-2008

Roadrunner supercomputer puts research at a new scale

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Less than a week after Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roadrunner supercomputer began operating at world-record petaflop/s data-processing speeds, Los Alamos researchers are already using the computer to mimic extremely complex neurological processes.

Funder: National Nuclear Security Administration

27-May-2008

Battling bird flu by the numbers

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A pair of Los Alamos National Laboratory theorists have developed a mathematical tool that could help health experts and crisis managers determine in real time whether an emerging infectious disease such as avian influenza H5N1 is poised to spread globally.

Journal: PLOS One

4-May-2008

Turning fungus into fuel

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A spidery fungus with a voracious appetite for military uniforms and canvas tents could hold the key to improvements in the production of biofuels, a team of government, academic and industry researchers has announced.

Journal: Nature Biotechnology
Funder: US DOE Joint Genome Institute

7-Mar-2008

Language of a fly proves surprising

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A group of researchers has developed a novel way to view the world through the eyes of a common fly and partially decode the insect's reactions to changes in the world around it. The research fundamentally alters earlier beliefs about how neural networks function and could provide the basis for intelligent computers that mimic biological processes.

Journal: PLOS Computational Biology
Funder: DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Science Foundation

28-Feb-2008

Sandia weighs in on new definition for kilogram

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The kilogram is losing weight and many international scientists, including some at Sandia National Laboratories, agree that it’s time to redefine it. Scientists are hoping to redefine the kilogram by basing it on standards of universal constants rather than on an artifact standard. "The idea is to replace the single master kilogram with something based on physical constants, rather than an artifact that could be damaged accidentally," says mechanical engineer Hy Tran, a project leader at the Primary Standards Laboratory at Sandia.

21-Feb-2008

1 million trillion 'flops' per second targeted by new Institute for Advanced Architectures

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Preparing groundwork for an exascale computer is the mission of the new Institute for Advanced Architectures, launched jointly at Sandia and Oak Ridge national laboratories.

13-Feb-2008

Sandia, Stirling Energy Systems set new world record for solar-to-grid conversion efficiency

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems have set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate. The old 1984 record of 29.4 percent was toppled Jan. 31 on SES's "Serial #3" solar dish Stirling system at Sandia's National Solar Thermal Test Facility.

3-Jan-2008

Earthquake 'memory' could spur aftershocks

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using a novel device that simulates earthquakes in a laboratory setting, a Los Alamos researcher and his colleagues have shown that seismic waves -- the sounds radiated from earthquakes -- can induce earthquake aftershocks, often long after a quake has subsided.

Journal: Nature

20-Dec-2007

The quest for a new class of superconductors

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Fifty years after the Nobel-prize winning explanation of how superconductors work, a research team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Edinburgh and Cambridge University are suggesting another mechanism for the still-mysterious phenomenon.

Journal: Nature