LIVERMORE, Calif. — Volatile organic compounds can be found in the air — everywhere. A wide range of sources, including from plants, cooking fuels and household cleaners, emit these compounds directly. They also can be formed in the atmosphere through a complex network of photochemical reactions. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and colleagues from other […]
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Deconstructing deleterious soot
February 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — In most situations, breaking things apart isn’t the best way to solve a problem. However, sometimes the opposite is true if you’re trying to characterize complex chemical compounds. That’s what Sandia National Laboratories scientists Nils Hansen and Scott Skeen did to definitively identify pollution-causing soot precursors in a flame. The researchers discovered […]
Modeling terrorist behavior with Sandia social-cultural assessments
January 24, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Part of what makes terrorists so frightening is their penchant for unpredictable, indiscriminate violence. One day they could attack a global financial center. And the next they could hit a neighborhood bike path. A team of Sandia social-behavioral scientists and computational modelers recently completed a two-year effort, dubbed “Mustang,” to assess interactions […]
Second Act: Sandia retirees band together to help small businesses with tech challenges
January 22, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Retirement means different things to different people. To Mike Murphy it wasn’t about TV and golf, not after logging 40 years as an electrical engineer in the nuclear weapons program at Sandia National Laboratories. He wanted to put his experience to work. Murphy, who retired in 2009, was running his family’s cattle […]
Sandia Labs spending tops $1 billion on goods and services, economic impact booms in FY18
January 17, 2019 – 9:54 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories spent nearly $1.3 billion on goods and services in fiscal year 2018, with spending on New Mexico companies up by $55 million compared to the previous year, according to the labs’ latest economic impact report. “We had a really good year and topping $1 billion with nearly half a […]
Heat it and read it
January 10, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — You’re sweating and feverish and have no idea why. Fortunately, Sandia National Laboratories scientists have a device that can pinpoint what’s wrong in less than an hour. Unlike most medical diagnostic devices which can perform only one type of test — either protein or nucleic acid tests — Sandia’s SpinDx can now perform […]
Engineered light could improve health, food, suggests Sandia Labs researcher in Nature paper
January 9, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — People who believe light-emitting diodes, or LEDS, are just an efficient upgrade to the ordinary electric light bulb are stuck in their thinking, suggest Sandia National Laboratories researcher Jeff Tsao and colleagues from other institutions in a Nature “Perspectives” article published in late November. “LED lighting is only in its infancy,” the authors write. […]
Quantum computing steps further ahead with new projects at Sandia
January 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Quantum computing is a term that periodically flashes across the media sky like heat lightning in the desert: brilliant, attention-getting and then vanishing from the public’s mind with no apparent aftereffects. Yet a multimillion dollar international effort to build quantum computers is hardly going away. And now, four new projects led by […]
Sandia microneedles technique may mean quicker diagnoses of major illnesses
January 2, 2019 – 12:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When people are in the early stages of an undiagnosed disease, immediate tests that lead to treatment are the best first steps. But a blood draw — usually performed by a medical professional armed with an uncomfortably large needle — might not be quickest, least painful or most effective method, according to […]
Friendly electromagnetic pulse improves survival for electronics
December 6, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, emitted by a nuclear weapon exploded high above the United States could disable the electronic circuits of many devices vital to military defense and modern living. These could include complicated weapon systems as well as phones, laptops, credit cards and car computers. Also in trouble might be […]
Support group aims to curb fears of talking about addiction at Sandia Labs
December 3, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Almost every morning on her way to work, Theresa Rolfe drives past homeless people outside a fast food restaurant, and the sight takes her back to a time when her son could have been among them. It wasn’t too long ago that Rolfe, an emergency management employee at Sandia National Laboratories, cried […]
Responders provide technical expertise in case of nuclear weapons accidents
November 28, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Decades ago, technical experts from the national labs responded in an ad hoc manner to accidents involving nuclear weapons, called “broken arrows.” Thirty-two such accidents have occurred since the 1950s, so the Accident Response Group was created about five decades ago to provide technical expertise in assessing and safely resolving nuclear weapons […]
Six Sandia researchers appointed fellows
November 26, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Six Sandia National Laboratories researchers have been appointed to the extraordinary positions of Sandia Fellows. The new appointees, from a wide variety of backgrounds, include the first female and first Hispanic fellows, Katherine Simonson and Gilbert Herrera, respectively. In announcing the fellows, Labs Director Steve Younger wrote that the appointments recognize careers […]
CRADA boom spurs innovation, collaboration with Sandia Labs
November 19, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories signed more Cooperative Research and Development Agreements this past fiscal year than in any previous year this century, sparking dozens of new collaborations and potential technological innovations. “CRADAs are one of the crown jewels of the technology transfer industry,” said Sandia business development specialist Jason Martinez. “Sandia is out […]
CRADA enables resilient microgrid research between Sandia, Emera Technologies
November 15, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine a hurricane similar in magnitude to 2017’s Maria that pummels through islands and small communities, stripping out power lines and wreaking havoc on residents’ lives. Only imagine this time around there is a local power system that is more resilient and can withstand the storm, having the potential to always have […]