LIVERMORE, Calif. — Researchers at Sandia and Argonne national laboratories have demonstrated, for the first time, a method to successfully predict pressure-dependent chemical reaction rates. It’s an important breakthrough in combustion and atmospheric chemistry that is expected to benefit auto and engine manufacturers, oil and gas utilities and other industries that employ combustion models. A […]
Category Archives: Chemistry
Older posts | Newer postsBreakthrough in predictions of pressure-dependent combustion chemical reactions
December 23, 2014 – 5:00 am
Turning biological cells to stone improves cancer and stem cell research
December 8, 2014 – 10:15 am
‘Zombie’ method also hardens biostructures for mass production ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Changing flesh to stone sounds like the work of a witch in a fairy tale. But a new technique to transmute living cells into more permanent materials that defy decay and can endure high-powered probes is widening research opportunities for biologists who are developing […]
Prototype electrolyte sensor provides immediate read-outs
June 3, 2014 – 5:00 am
Painless wearable microneedle device may reduce trips to doctors’ offices ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Patients trying to navigate today’s complex medical system with its costly laboratory analyses might prefer a pain-free home diagnostic device, worn on the wrist, that can analyze, continuously record and immediately remedy low electrolyte levels. Runners, athletes in other strenuous sports and […]
Sandia chemist Mitch Anstey to illuminate the Smithsonian Future Is Here Festival
May 16, 2014 – 5:00 am
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chemist Mitch Anstey of Sandia National Laboratories will join Patrick Stewart, George Takei, Brian Greene, Sara Seager and other notable minds from the galaxy of science and science fiction at Smithsonian Magazine’s The Future Is Here Festival on May 16-18 in Washington, D.C. Anstey’s talk, “Let’s Make Light of the Situation,” will […]
American Physical Society names four Sandia fellows
May 7, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Four Sandia researchers have been named Fellows of the American Physical Society, an honor that indicates recognition by scientific peers of exceptional contributions to physics. No more than one half of 1 percent of APS membership can be elected in a given year. Those honored are: Charles Barbour, for outstanding contributions to […]
Entrepreneur teams with Sandia scientists to bring life-saving vaccines to far reaches of the world
March 25, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Getting life-saving vaccines to the most remote parts of the world is no easy feat. Biopharmaceuticals are highly sensitive to heat and cold and can perish if their temperature shifts a few degrees. “The vast majority of the world’s population lives in areas where electricity and refrigeration are not reliable,” said Bruce […]
Computer power clicks with geochemistry
January 28, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is developing computer models that show how radioactive waste interacts with soil and sediments, shedding light on waste disposal and how to keep contamination away from drinking water. “Very little is known about the fundamental chemistry and whether contaminants will stay in soil or rock or be pulled off […]
Study could help improve nuclear waste repositories
September 19, 2013 – 12:59 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Here’s the question faced by a team of Sandia National Laboratories researchers: How fast will iodine-129 released from spent nuclear fuel move through a deep, clay-based geological repository? Understanding that process is crucial as countries worldwide consider underground clay formations for nuclear waste disposal, because clay offers low permeability and high radionuclide […]
Sandia’s Nancy Jackson named American Chemical Society Fellow
August 21, 2013 – 8:38 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A Sandia National Laboratories chemical engineer whose team partners with chemistry labs around the world to ensure chemicals are handled safely and securely has been named a 2013 American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow. The prestigious honor, given by the world’s largest scientific society, is awarded to scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments […]
Sandia wins three R&D 100 awards
July 8, 2013 – 11:05 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers — competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs — captured three R&D 100 Awards in this year’s contest. R&D Magazine presents the awards each year to researchers whom its editors and independent judging panels determine have developed the year’s 100 most outstanding advances in […]
Detecting homemade explosives, not toothpaste
June 13, 2013 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers want airports, border checkpoints and others to detect homemade explosives made with hydrogen peroxide without nabbing people whose toothpaste happens to contain peroxide. That’s part of the challenge faced in developing a portable sensor to detect a common homemade explosive called a FOx (fuel/oxidizer) mixture, made by mixing […]
Fertilizer that fizzles in a homemade bomb could save lives around the world
April 23, 2013 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A Sandia engineer who trained U.S. soldiers to avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has developed a fertilizer that helps plants grow but can’t detonate a bomb. It’s an alternative to ammonium nitrate, an agricultural staple that is also the raw ingredient in most of the IEDs in Afghanistan. Sandia has decided not […]
Alloy developed at Sandia has potential for electronics in wells
March 19, 2013 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An alloy that may improve high-temperature electronics in oil and geothermal wells was really a solution in search of a problem. Sandia National Laboratories first investigated the gold-silver-germanium alloy about 15 years ago as a possible bonding material in a new neutron tube product. But a design change forced Sandia to shelve […]
Keeping tabs on the world’s dangerous chemicals
February 15, 2013 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In the chemistry labs of the developing world, it’s not uncommon to find containers, forgotten on shelves, with only vague clues to their origins. The label, if there is one, is rubbed away. Left alone for years, some chemicals can quietly break down into explosive elixirs, and what was once an innocent […]
Scientists to explore need for, relevance of combustion engines at AAAS gathering
February 12, 2013 – 9:00 am
Enhancements to combustion technology can still help with carbon reduction, oil savings issues LIVERMORE, Calif.— The internal combustion engine has been the workhorse for transportation for more than a century, but Sandia National Laboratories researchers say there is still plenty to learn about engineering it to burn cleaner and more efficiently. A Sandia researcher will […]