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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.

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

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.

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 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.

While studying a compound made of the elements cerium- rhodium-indium, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have discovered that a magnetic state can coexist with superconductivity in a specific temperature and pressure range. The discovery is a step toward a deeper understanding of how Nature is organized in regimes ranging from the fabric of the cosmos to the most fundamental components of elementary particles.

Electrons in atoms move in a choreographed motion on a time scale of attoseconds (one quintillionth, or one billionth of a billionth of a second). To observe this ultrafast motion, physicists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have theoretically demonstrated an attosecond pump-probe technique that captures the steps in this intricate dance by ionizing the atom at selected times. The development of the proposed technique might someday allow scientists to actually see into a world of electron motion.

A team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have developed a method for growing crystalline gallium nitride films at lower temperatures than industry standards. By eliminating the higher temperatures and harsh, reactive environments that currently limit the types of materials used as substrates, the discovery could greatly increase the use of crystalline gallium nitride films in optical-electronic devices, like blue LEDs and laser diodes, high-density optical data storage devices, flat panel displays and solid state lighting.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a low-density, energy-absorbing foam that could provide a boost to the nation's surfboard manufacturing market. TufFoam was originally conceived by Sandia for the National Nuclear Security Administration to protect electronic and mechanical structures from harsh environments. But the foam likely has other applications.

A team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., and Albion College, in Albion, Mich., have achieved quantum key distribution (QKD) at telecommunications industry wavelengths in a 50-kilometer (31 mile) optical fiber. The work could accelerate the development of QKD for secure communications in optical fibers at distances beyond current technological limits.