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Sandia BROOM tool can help restore facilities following release of biological warfare agents

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a software-based tool called BROOM - short for Building Restoration Operations Optimization Model - to assist in the gathering of samples following a release of a biological warfare agents in a public facility.

Scientists propose new method for studying ion channel kinetics

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for the study of ion channel gating kinetics. An ion channel is a protein pore that lets ions (charged atoms such as calcium) pass through a cell's membrane. The method fits data to a new class of models, called manifest interconductance rank (MIR) models, which will give researchers a better understanding of the mechanisms by which ion channels open and close.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Sandia assists NASA with space shuttle rollout test

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sandia National Laboratories recently conducted a series of tests to help NASA understand the fatigue on the space shuttle caused during rollout from the Kennedy Space Center assembly building to the launch pad - a four-mile trip.

Study uncovers bacteria's worst enemy

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have found that the successful use of bacteria to remediate environmental contamination from nuclear waste and processing activities may depend more upon how resistant the bacteria are to chemicals than to how tolerant they are to radioactivity. The results of a recent Laboratory study may help make bacterial bioremediation a more widespread method for cleaning up sites contaminated with actinides and other radionuclides.

Journal: Environmental Microbiology

Scientists model physics of stellar burning

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A University of California scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory working with astronomers from around the world recently validated a computer model that predicts the rebirth and stellar burning and mixing processes of evolved stars. The discovery is a leap forward in our understanding of how stars like the sun evolve through violent outbursts during their evolution.

Journal: Science

Sandia Labs undergoes management changes

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories

The Sandia Corporation Board of Directors has named Dr. Thomas O. Hunter President of Sandia Corporation and Director of Sandia National Laboratories, effective April 29. Hunter most recently has served as Sandia's senior vice president for Defense Programs, with oversight of the labs nuclear weapons programs.

Researchers bridge superconductivity gap

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of California scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory working with a researcher from Chonnam National University in South Korea have found that magnetic fluctuations appear to be responsible for superconductivity in a compound called plutonium-cobalt-pentagallium (PuCoGa5). The discovery of this "unconventional superconductivity" may lead scientists to a whole new class of superconducting materials and toward the goal of eventually synthesizing "room-temperature" superconductors.

Journal: Nature

Novel ultrafast laser detection of cancer cells also may improve understanding of stem cells

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A lightning-fast laser technique, led by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Paul Gourley, has provided laboratory demonstrations of accurate, real-time, high-throughput identification of liver tumor cells at their earliest stages, and without invasive chemical reagents.

Researchers develop fingerprint detection technology

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a novel method for detecting fingerprints based on the chemical elements present in fingerprint residue. Known as micro-X-ray fluorescence, or MXRF, the technique has the potential to help expand the use of fingerprinting as a forensic investigation tool.

Meeting: American Chemical Society 229th National Meeting

Tiny porphyrin tubes developed by Sandia may lead to new nanodevices

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sunlight splitting water molecules to produce hydrogen using devices too small to be seen in a standard microscope. That's a goal of a research team from the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories. The research has captured the interest of chemists around the world pursuing methods of producing hydrogen from water.