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Raiders of the lost dimension

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of scientists working at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos has uncovered an intriguing phenomenon while studying magnetic waves in barium copper silicate, a 2,500-year-old pigment known as Han purple. The researchers discovered that when they exposed newly grown crystals of the pigment to very high magnetic fields at very low temperatures, it entered a rarely observed state of matter.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Address water scarcity, water quality issues around the world now, Sandia/CSIS report says

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Now is the time to address the devastating effects of increasing water scarcity and declining water quality around the world, according to a recently released white paper written jointly by Sandia National Laboratories and the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Repeatable low-breakdown voltage antifuses enabled through a Sandia-developed dielectric thin film

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed an inexpensive, reliable and easy-to-manufacture class of dielectric films that have the capability of enabling programmable antifuses on integrated circuits (IC) at less cost and using easier-to-manufacture methods.

Laboratory scientists study soot in megacity pollution

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of Los Alamos scientists recently returned from a month-long data-gathering trip to Mexico City as part of an international, multi-agency environmental science collaboration. The March campaign was designed to examine the chemical and physical transformations of gases and aerosols in the polluted outflow from the Mexico City metropolitan area.

Experiments examine hydrogen-production benefits of clean coal burning

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Experiments are underway at Sandia to optimize the combustion of coal to produce the most energy and the least possible pollution. Researchers say coal may remain competitive with other fuels after figuring in the possible benefits of sequestering carbon dioxide and generating both electricity and hydrogen in coal-fired power plants.

Avian flu modeled on supercomputer, explores vaccine and isolation options for thwarting a pandemic

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using supercomputers to respond to a potential national health emergency, scientists have developed a simulation model that makes stark predictions about the possible future course of an avian influenza pandemic, given today's environment of worldwide connectivity.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: US Department of Homeland Security

Scientists observe solitary vibrations in uranium

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Los Alamos scientists, working with collaborators from around the world, recently observed experimental evidence of solitary vibrations (solitons) in a solid.

Journal: Physical Review Letters

Sandia-designed supercomputer ranked world’s most efficient in two of six categories

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new series of measurements -- the next step in evolution of criteria to determine more accurately the efficiency of supercomputers -- has rated Sandia National Laboratories' Red Storm computer the best in the world in two of six new categories, and very high in two other important categories.

Funder: NNSA's Advanced Simulation and Computing Program

Cassini measures geisers of Saturn's moon Enceladus

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cassini data obtained during a close flyby of the Saturn moon Enceladus support an observation that large amounts of water are spewing into space from the tiny moon's surface. This water originates near south polar "hot spots" on the moon, possible locations for the development of primitive life in the solar system.

Sandia's Z machine exceeds two billion degrees Kelvin

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sandia's Z machine has produced plasmas that exceed temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin -- hotter than the interiors of stars. The unexpectedly hot output, if its cause were understood and harnessed, could eventually mean that smaller, less costly nuclear fusion plants would produce the same amount of energy as larger plants.