Friday, May 16, 2014

Odd planet, so far from its star

An international team has discovered a new planet 155 light-years from our solar system. The research team led by the Université de Montréal includes Didier Saumon of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The planet is located around GU Psc, a star three times less massive than the Sun and located in the constellation Pisces. The international research team used the Gemini Observatory, the Observatoire Mont-Mégantic, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, and the W. M. Keck Observatory. (full story)

 
Speed dating with science

They’ve found it! The New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program and the Santa Fe Business Incubator have partnered to present a new way for local small businesses and startups to get free advice from scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratories. What organizers have dubbed the “Eureka Effect” is a speed dating event, where business leaders will have the chance to talk to 12 LANL scientists for four minutes each. Incubator President and CEO Marie Longserre says the program’s name is a perfect fit for what her organization is trying to accomplish. (full story)

 
Powell appointed to LANS and LLNS Boards of Governors

Norman J. Pattiz, chairman of the LANS and LLNS Boards of Governors, today announced that Robert Powell has been appoint an executive committee governor on the LANS and LLNS Boards of Governors.

“Bob is highly respected by the UC regents and President Janet Napolitano as a senior academic leader and faculty representative within the University of California,” said Pattiz. (full story)

Success comes with a price for Titan Aerospace

Titan Aerospace, which was acquired by Google last month, will be the first company to have to pay back the Los Alamos Venture Acceleration Fund.

“The Los Alamos Venture Acceleration Fund is seeing true momentum here in New Mexico,” said David Pesiri, director of the Feynman Center for Innovation at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “We instituted the payback trigger last year in hopes that when a company sells or moves out of state the next entrepreneur down the line would have a chance at funding." (full story)

Physicist leads effort to image melted cores

Haruo Miyadera is spearheading a project to use subatomic particles called muons to peer into the damaged reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

After completing graduate school, Miyadera became a research fellow at the University of California. He then got a call from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and was invited to join its muon program to research and develop ways to combat nuclear terrorism. “Let’s make a better world together,” a Los Alamos official told him. (full story)

SwRI’s McComas to receive 2014 COSPAR Space Science Award

The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has selected Dr. David J. McComas, assistant vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute, to receive a 2014 COSPAR Space Science Award.

“It’s really a tribute not to me, but to all of the great people that I have been privileged to work with here at SwRI and, before that, at Los Alamos National Laboratory,” said McComas. (full story)

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