Science / Technology / Engineering

August 9, 2006 • LIVERMORE, Calif. and ST. LOUIS — Sandia National Laboratories and Monsanto Company today announced a three-year research collaboration that is expected to play a role in both organizations’ interests in biology and bioenergy.

August 8, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the past three years a Sandia research team headed by Mat Celina has been investigating the performance of various piezoelectric polymer films that might one day serve as ultra-light mirrors in space telescopes.

August 7, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — E M Optomechanical, Inc. (EMOM) of Albuquerque recently obtained a license from Sandia National Laboratories to produce products based on a Labs-developed technology — a new configuration for interference microscopy.

August 2, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When smooth surfaces that hate water approach each other underwater, scientists have observed that they snap into contact. This is apparently due to attractive forces that extend for tens to hundreds of nanometers.

July 26, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Corporation and the youngest CEO of a company listed on the Fortune 500, will visit Sandia National Laboratories at 4 p.m. Friday, July 28, to tour Sandia’s Dell Thunderbird supercomputer — the sixth fastest in the world — and...

July 20, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Far above the heads of Earthlings, arrays of single-cell creatures are circling Earth in nanostructures.

June 19, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A preemptive spark lasting for nanoseconds that helps find potentially dangerous short circuits hidden in the miles of wiring behind the panels of aging commercial airliners has been patented by Sandia National Laboratories.

May 25, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An exceedingly small monorail and a chain with links approximately 1/10 the diameter of a human hair were among the remarkable devices created by the imaginative yet detail-oriented winners of Sandia National Laboratories’ 2006 MEMS University Alliance (UA)...

May 17, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The first of a series of seminars to examine the ideas, trends, people and practices in the education arena, called ImagiNANOvation™ Workshops will be held at the TVI Workforce Training Center on Thursday, May 25. This all-day workshop will include about 40...

May 16, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is accepting applications for the 2006 Dream Catcher Science Program.

May 15, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — 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...

April 17, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A building dedication celebrating the formal opening — on-time and on-budget — of Sandia National Laboratories’ architecturally attractive Microfab and Microlab facilities will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, April 21, on Kirtland Air Force Base.

April 12, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Some 100 wind turbine manufacturers, researchers, and suppliers will be on hand at a Wind Turbine Blade Workshop April 18-19 in Albuquerque sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories. The two-day workshop will be held at the Sheraton Uptown.

April 11, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Thanks to a tax credit passed by the New Mexico Legislature, Sandia National Laboratories was able to provide technical assistance to 283 New Mexico small businesses in 2005.

April 11, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. and UPTON, NY — If a so-called “dirty bomb” exploded in a populated area, first responders would have to make immediate decisions to lessen health impacts on people who might be exposed to radioactive material. In a cover article in the April issue of the...

March 13, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — RADTRAN, software developed by Sandia National Laboratories for assessing risks and consequences of transporting radioactive material, turns 30 this year.

March 8, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia’s Z machine has produced plasmas that exceed temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin — hotter than the interiors of stars.

March 6, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and the City of Albuquerque are hosting the 3rd Annual Technology Showcase & Business Matchmaking Event June 6 at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The goal of the event is to present regional businesses with additional...

February 13, 2006 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., have developed a low-density, energy-absorbing foam that, among other potential applications, could help avoid a complete wipeout for the nation’s $200 million surfboard manufacturing market.

January 23, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and Sharp Corporation recently signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to work together on renewable and alternative energy technologies, including advanced fuel cells for portable power applications.

January 17, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine you are standing, John Wayne style, on the backs of two runaway horses pulling a stagecoach. You try to bring the horses to a stop but instead the harnesses break, the horses separate, and an unlucky passenger gets thrown from the stage.

January 16, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As part of the Department of Energy-funded FreedomCAR program, Sandia National Laboratories’ Power Sources Technology Group is researching ways to make lithium-ion batteries work longer and safer. The research could lead to these batteries being used in...

January 12, 2006 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Several researchers from Sandia National Laboratories, led by principal investigator Susan Rempe, are part of a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary team developing a nano-size battery that one day could be implanted in the eye to power an artificial retina.

January 11, 2006 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Carolyn Pura, who serves as the program deputy for borders and transportation security in Sandia National Laboratories’ homeland security business unit, is blunt in assessing the nature of her job. “Protecting our borders is difficult and expensive,” she says.