Scientists just got one step closer to the next generation of solar panels. Today’s solar panels convert sunlight to electricity using silicon crystal chemistry. Future solar panels might rely on perovskite, a promising material that has the potential to make panels cheaper, simpler, and more efficient. Scientists just need to tweak perovskite to maintain its… Keep reading →
You just can’t drink enough soda to create a market for bottling and storing all the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But as researchers look for ways to stave off global warming by reducing atmospheric CO2, many have turned to a related idea. Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is one strategy–along with others… Keep reading →
Researchers in the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics at Los Alamos National Laboratory are seeking to transform everyday windows into solar collectors by harnessing the unique properties of quantum dots. The advantages of solar power as a source of clean, renewable energy seem obvious. Sunlight is abundant, free and, for all practical purposes, eternal. While… Keep reading →
We first talked to Dr. Gschneider back in 2013 for one of our “10 Questions with a Scientist” blogs. Today he looks back at over 60 years of studying rare earth metals. Dwight Eisenhower was serving his first term in the White House when Karl A. Gschneidner Jr. began work on his Ph.D. at Iowa… Keep reading →
Dr. Amanda Barry of Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the Energy Department’s leading molecular biologists in the field of algal biofuels. Dr. Barry is also part of team of researchers from the New Mexico Consortium, a nonprofit focused on solving global environmental and health issues. We chatted with Dr. Barry about her work,… Keep reading →
This #SpaceWeek post is an update to the 2014 article about Curiosity’s ChemCam, found here. Don’t you hate it when your photos turn out blurry? Scientists at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory do. So when the ultra-precise camera they developed for NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover started going fuzzy, they came up with a solution that not… Keep reading →
Federal officials said dozens of drums of radioactive waste at a weapons laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico are stable after showing some signs of chemical reactions over the past year.”The drums are being closely monitored after a container with similar contents broke open in 2014, resulting in a radiation release and the indefinite closure… Keep reading →
Awards recognize innovative research with commercial potential U.S. Department of Energy researchers have won 31 of the 100 awards given out this year by R&D Magazine for the most outstanding technology developments with promising commercial potential. The R&D 100 awards, sometimes called the “Oscars of Innovation,” are given annually in recognition of exceptional new… Keep reading →
Over the past several years, Los Alamos National Laboratory has invested in providing state-of-the-art tools to help scientists understand and explore their data. In this photo, researchers are investigating the details of an astronomical simulation in the CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment) — a cube-shaped room with high-resolution projections on all six surfaces. Using 3D… Keep reading →
Was Mars once capable of supporting life? This is the fundamental question the Curiosity rover seeks to answer as it makes its way across the Red Planet. Successfully landing on Mars in the summer of 2012 as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, Curiosity is a roving, robotic laboratory studying the planet’s habitability. To carry… Keep reading →
