March 9, 2026 • Sandia National Laboratories researchers developed a faster, cheaper way to test for PFAS.
Researchers develop rapid PFAS detector
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Eight wins for Sandia at the 2025 R&D 100 Awards
February 20, 2026 • Sandia National Laboratories earned eight honors in the 2025 R&D 100 Awards, including seven technology awards and the program’s Researcher of the Year professional award.
Categories: Awards, Science / Technology / Engineering
It is rocket science: New heat shields, faster
December 15, 2025 • A team of engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed ways to rapidly evaluate new thermal protection materials for hypersonic vehicles.
Categories: Materials Science, Military / Defense
Topics: LDRD
Space-based nuclear detonation detection mission endures
September 22, 2025 • The Global Burst Detection system, developed by Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, carries a suite of sensors and instruments capable of identifying signals from nuclear detonations and providing real-time information to the U.S. military and government.
Protecting the grid with artificial intelligence
September 8, 2025 • Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed brain-inspired AI algorithms that detect physical problems, cyberattacks and both at the same time within the grid.
Categories: Computing, Energy / Environment / Water
Topics: LDRD
Designing long-duration toxin sensors
April 23, 2025 • Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have spent the last three years developing an ultra-low-power chemical sensor to detect sarin and other chemical warfare agents or gaseous industrial toxins, aiming to protect the public and warfighters.
Study asks: Can cell phone signals help land a plane?
October 22, 2024 • Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and The Ohio State University are taking experimental navigation technology to the skies, pioneering a backup system to keep an airplane on course when it cannot rely on global positioning system satellites.
Categories: Science / Technology / Engineering
Work toward a cleaner way to purify critical metals
August 27, 2024 • A team of researchers from Sandia National Laboratories has been pioneering an environmentally friendly method to separate rare-earth elements from watery mixtures. The team’s ultimate goal is to design sponges that selectively absorb one rare earth metal while excluding others.
Categories: Materials Science
Sandia studies subterranean storage of hydrogen
April 9, 2024 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine a vast volume of porous sandstone reservoir, once full of oil and natural gas, now full of a different, carbon-free fuel — hydrogen. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are using computer simulations and laboratory experiments to see if depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs can be...
Bruised and bleeding: New materials show where they’re hurt
February 13, 2024 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Every over-the-counter medication bottle sports a protective seal, usually a plastic wrap or foam layer, or both. These seals offer signs of tampering attempts. In a parallel concern, the International Atomic Energy Agency relies on tamper-indicating de…
Categories: Chemistry, Nonproliferation
Creating the self-healing grid of the future
January 23, 2024 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Self-healing electrical grids: It may sound like a concept from science fiction, with tiny robots or some sentient tech crawling around fixing power lines, but in a reality not far from fiction a team of researchers is bringing this idea to life. What’s not hard to imagine...
Categories: Computing, Energy / Environment / Water
Topics: LDRD
Beyond Bennu: How OSIRIS-REx is helping scientists study the sonic signature of meteoroids
September 25, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In the high desert of Nevada, Elizabeth Silber watched NASA’s Sample Return Capsule from OSIRIS-REx descend into Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday, but unlike most scientists, she wasn’t there for the asteroid rocks. Silber, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, is working with researchers from Sandia and Los...
Categories: Science / Technology / Engineering
High-tech invisible ink spells trouble for counterfeiters
September 12, 2023, Media Advisory • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A high-tech invisible ink invented at Sandia National Laboratories could become the newest tool for stopping counterfeit goods. The research team is now seeking partnerships to help develop and ultimately commercialize the new technology. Beyond their negative economic impact, counterfeit goods can threaten public health. In 2022,...
Categories: Materials Science
Testing new technology and research on orbit
August 28, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Industry can develop new computer chips and other potential satellite payload components more quickly than national labs can test and integrate them into satellites that must meet strict security and space-readiness standards. This can create a lag in using the latest technology for national security space systems....
Silicon nose: Small sensor ‘smells’ incipient seizures
June 20, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In people with epilepsy, seizure-alert dogs can smell small changes in body chemistry and warn of an impending seizure an hour or more before it occurs. Inspired by this feat of nature, a team of researchers has sniffed out a way to replicate the abilit…
Categories: Bioscience / Medical Research
Using math to map social connections
May 4, 2023 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Imagine being able to predict how a group of people will behave before they even know it themselves. From the dynamics of a sports team to the complexities of a nation, the ability to anticipate human interactions has long been a goal of scientists and analysts. Now,...
Categories: Computing
Let’s get cracking: Sandia scientists detect gases from fractured rock
May 2, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Geoscientists have detected specific gases being released from fractured rocks in real time after a series of small chemical explosions set underground. This fundamental research, led by Sandia National Laboratories geoscientist Steve Bauer, could one day improve the prediction of earthquakes or detection of underground explosions. “In...
Categories: Science / Technology / Engineering
Hackers could try to take over a military aircraft; can a cyber shuffle stop them?
February 27, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A cybersecurity technique that shuffles network addresses like a blackjack dealer shuffles playing cards could effectively befuddle hackers gambling for control of a military jet, commercial airliner or spacecraft, according to new research. However, th…
Categories: Cybersecurity
New superalloy could cut carbon emissions from power plants
February 16, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As the world looks for ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions, researchers from Sandia National Laboratories have shown that a new 3D-printed superalloy could help power plants generate more electricity while producing less carbon.[caption id="attachment_…
Categories: Materials Science
Securing supply chains with quantum computing
February 14, 2023 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Russo-Ukrainian conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic have shown how vulnerable global supply chains can be. International events can disrupt manufacturing, delay shipping, induce panic buying and send energy costs soaring. New research in quantum computing at Sandia National Laboratories is moving science closer to being able...
Categories: Computing
Sandia nuclear physicist selected fellow of AAAS
January 13, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Susan Seestrom, associate laboratories director for advanced science and technology and chief research officer at Sandia National Laboratories, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The physicist was cited “for her pathbreaking work in nuclear physics, especially using ultra cold...
Materials developed at Sandia help extinguish solar panel fires before they ignite
November 19, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As solar panels become popular and their voltages increase, there is a need to have built-in capabilities to extinguish fires caused by arc-faults, which are high-power discharges of electricity that can create explosions or flash events due to damaged …
How to multitask when nuclear nonproliferation is on the line
September 29, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New cognitive science research from Sandia National Laboratories shows that while maps can help someone identify landmarks while being escorted, using one also limits situational awareness and knowledge of surroundings not highlighted on the map. This finding is one of several coming from a three-year project that...
Categories: Nonproliferation, Science / Technology / Engineering
Armoring satellites to survive and operate through attacks
October 21, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Satellites do a lot of things — they help people navigate from one place to another, they deliver television programming, they search for new stars and exo-planets and they enable the U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy. But until recently, one thing they haven’t done — or needed to...
Containing a nuclear accident with ground-up minerals
September 30, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a promising new way to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination and contain the hot molten mass that develops within a nuclear reactor during a catastrophic accident.[caption id="" align=…
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