ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Solid-state lighting pioneers long have held that replacing the inefficient Edison light bulb with more efficient solid-state light-emitting devices (LEDs) would lower electrical usage worldwide, not only “greenly” decreasing t…
In an operating room in Carle Hospital in Urbana, Ill., on May 7, as scientists from the University of Illinois (UI) and Sandia National Laboratories watched, surgeon Michael Goldwasser fitted a highly unusual ceramic prosthetic device into the mouth of an elderly woman who had lost most of her teeth and along with it, much of the bone of her lower jaw.
Throwing its hat into the ring of machines that offer the possibility of achieving controlled nuclear fusion, Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine has created a hot, dense plasma that produces thermonuclear neutrons, Sandia researchers announced today at a news conference at the April meeting of the American Physical Society in Philadelphia.
Sandia National Laboratories President C. Paul Robinson today announced that a recent lab self-assessment and an ongoing investigation have revealed serious concerns about the management of the lab’s security force. He specified actions Sandia has taken to correct those concerns and provided information about continuing investigations into the matter.
Researchers have developed a new class of composite anode materials composed of silicon and graphite that may double the energy storage capacities currently possessed by graphite anodes, potentially leading to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with more power, longer life, and smaller sizes.
A half-ounce ‘sniffer’ intended to ride on small aerial drones to detect possible gas attacks on cities and military bases has been created by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in partnership with Lockheed Martin Corporation. The patented device, which detects nerve gases and blister agents, operates on only half a watt of electrical power, says Sandia researcher Doug Adkins. While other gas monitors exist, “this is small, lightweight, low power, and offers rapid analysis,” says Adkins. “Rapid analysis currently is not possible with any other package near this size.”
Software developed at the federal Sandia National Laboratories could help farmers keep the nation’s dairy supply safer from bioterrorism. The system asses factors such as dairy location, numbers of buildings, how many cows there are and the types of shelters present. It then provides a risk assessment. Dull, you say? Maybe. But dairy is a multibillion dollar industry in the U.S. and no one wants to eat anthrax-tainted ice cream.
Hand me a cheap plastic bag, an oxygen tank and some low-tech sensors and I’ll give you … well … I’ll give you them back. But a team from Sandia National Laboratory and a California company has combined the three into an inexpensive wound-healing device that the U.S. military says it plans to license for active and retired personnel. Think of it as a low-rent — but effective — hyperbaric chamber. But instead of costing $1 million to build and $1,500 per treatment, the whole shebang can be had for about $185.
Intel-rival Advanced Micro Devices got a nice science win Monday when Sandia National Laboratory and Cray Inc. said they would build a supercomputer capable 40 trillion calculations per second using AMD’s forthcoming Opteron processor. Ten thousand of them, to be precise. Total cost: $90 million. Sandia says it will use the computing heavyweight for “modeling and simulation of complex problems that were only recently thought impractical, if not impossible.”