PASADENA, California, Jan. 7 -- The California Institute of Technology issued the following news: Theoretical chemist Martin Karplus (PhD '54) passed away December 28, 2024, at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Karplus was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013 for work that laid the foundations for the field of computational chemistry, which uses advanced software to predict chemical processes using quantum mechanics. He was the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemist  more

POCATELLO, Idaho, Jan. 7 -- Idaho State University issued the following news: A hands-on workshop at Idaho State University is helping train professionals to safely handle the fuels that will power the next generation of nuclear reactors. Called the ISU Hands-On Nuclear Criticality Safety Workshop, this day-long class is held in the Nuclear Engineering Lab on Idaho State's Pocatello campus. It covers what's happening inside a nuclear reactor as it approaches going critical. "Criticality simp  more

LONDON, England, Jan. 6 -- The British Ministry of Defence issued the following news: A revolutionary UK-built atomic clock will make military operations more secure through experimental quantum technology. Military personnel will use groundbreaking quantum technology to conduct more secure and precise operations, thanks to a new high-tech atomic clock. Developed at the top-secret Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, (Dstl) the quantum clock will be a leap forward in improving intellige  more

DURHAM, North Carolina, Jan. 7 (TNSres) -- Duke University Pratt School of Engineering issued the following news: * * * Unusual atomic vibrations in a crystalline structure explain potential solid-state battery material's superionic transport abilities * * * Researchers at Duke University have uncovered the molecular inner workings of a material that could underpin next-generation rechargeable batteries. Unlike today's popular lithium-ion batteries that feature a liquid interior, the lithi  more

BRYN MAWR, Pennsylvania, Jan. 7 -- Bryn Mawr College issued the following news: The below message was sent to faculty, staff, and students on January 7, 2025. Dear Bryn Mawr College Community, A warm welcome to 2025 and to the familiar (and new) routines this year may bring. I hope the end of 2024 brought rest and you enjoyed yesterday's snow day. I slept for much of the first few days of the break. Then there was time with family, too much sugar, a few days away, and a lot of reading, inclu  more

LIVERMORE, California, Jan. 7 -- The U.S. Department of Energy Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory issued the following news: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), the contract manager for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has announced the recipients for the 2024 LLNS Community Gift Program. These gifts, totaling $220,000, reflect LLNS's commitment to local communities. LLNS received applications totaling more than $950,000 in requests. Forty-four applications were  more

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Jan. 7 (TNSres) -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued the following news on Jan. 6, 2025: * * * MIT physicists develop a predictive formula, based on bacterial communities, that may also apply to other types of ecosystems, including the human GI tract. * * * By Anne Trafton, MIT News When a new species is introduced into an ecosystem, it may succeed in establishing itself, or it may fail to gain a foothold and die out. Physicists at MIT have now devis  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 -- Optica, formerly the Optical Society, issued the following news release: [Category: Medical] 07 January 2025 Optica Publishing Group Announces New Editors-in-Chief for Two Journals WASHINGTON --Optica Publishing Group is pleased to announce that Irina Novikova and Siddharth Ramachandran have been appointed as the new Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of the Optical Society of America B (JOSA B) and Optics Express respectively. The Editors began their tenure on 1 January  more

PASADENA, California, Jan. 7 -- The California Institute of Technology issued the following news: On November 8, astronomers at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in the mountains above San Diego directed a brand-new spectrograph instrument to capture data from a newfound supernova. The resulting spectrum--a detailed look at the rainbow of different light wavelengths emanating from the erupting star--delighted many of the Caltech team members, who have been working on the instrument since 2017. "I  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 7 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: At temperatures hotter than the sun, even a small disruption can interfere with a fusion reaction. Scientists planning for the operations of ITER, an international fusion plant now under assembly, needed to solve the problem of runaway electrons, negatively charged particles in the soup of matter in the plasma within the tokamak, a kind of magnetic bottle that confin  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 7 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Simulations performed on ORNL's Summit supercomputer may point to a solution for the problem of runaway electrons inside a fusion reactor's tokamak. The study suggests the Alfven wave, left, a ripple-like fluctuation of the magnetic field within the reactor's plasma, could be used to disperse the electrons, right. Credit: Chang Liu, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (TNSrep) -- The Government Accountability Office issued the following report: Here are excerpts: * * * Highlights Why This Matters Precise measurements can support major improvements in medicine, defense, and research. Quantum sensors have the potential to make a wide variety of measurements with unprecedented precision. Key Takeaways Quantum sensors are the most mature form of quantum technology, but some sensors require further improvements in reliability and cost-eff  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (TNSrep) -- The Government Accountability Office issued the following report: Here are excerpts: * * * Skip to Highlights Highlights Why This Matters Precise measurements can support major improvements in medicine, defense, and research. Quantum sensors have the potential to make a wide variety of measurements with unprecedented precision. Key Takeaways * Quantum sensors are the most mature form of quantum technology, but some sensors require further improvements  more

MENLO PARK, California, Jan. 7 -- The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory issued the following news feature: * * * Funded by the Department of Energy, these centers are part of an effort that brings together national laboratories, universities and industry to invent and accelerate novel microelectronics technologies to operate efficiently or in extreme environments. * * * By Carol Tseng Around the globe day and night, the microelectronics behind much of modern technology help run computers  more

RIVERSIDE, California, Jan. 7 (TNSres) -- The University of California Riverside campus issued the following news: * * * Spur and gap features seen in Milky Way's GD-1 stellar stream could be caused by self-interacting dark matter subhalo * * * Physicists have proposed a solution to a long-standing puzzle surrounding the GD-1 stellar stream, one of the most well-studied streams within the galactic halo of the Milky Way, known for its long, thin structure, and unusual spur and gap features.   more

LA JOLLA, California, Jan. 7 (TNSres) -- The University of California San Diego campus issued the following news: * * * CO-FLIP is faster and less computationally expensive than state-of-the-art elements * * * Computer scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed a groundbreaking method for generating highly realistic computer-generated images of fluid dynamics, in elements such as smoke. This research, conducted by the UC San Diego Center for Visual Computing, was pr  more

ITHACA, New York, Jan. 6 -- Cornell University issued the following news: An international marine research team guided by Cornell expertise has successfully completed an ambitious drilling project to investigate the plate boundary fault that ruptured during the Tohoku earthquake that devastated Japan in 2011. At an extreme water depth of 7 kilometers, the team used the Japanese drilling vessel Chikyu to drill a series of deep boreholes, including a sub-seafloor borehole observatory that inter  more

BIRMINGHAM, England, Jan. 7 (TNSres) -- The University of Birmingham issued the following news: Students from the University of Birmingham, along with groundwater professionals and industry partners drill 29-metre borehole on campus In November 2024, the MSc Hydrogeology student cohort joined 10 external groundwater professionals from organisations based the UK, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Spain and Netherlands to attend a drilling course organised and delivered by Groundwater Relief and the University  more

WOLLONGONG, Australia, Jan. 7 (TNSres) -- The University of Wollongong issued the following news release: * * * Two projects recognised in NHMRC's Ideas and Development grants scheme * * * Two separate projects that aim to improve treatments and outcomes for cancer patients, led by the University of Wollongong's (UOW) Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), have been awarded more than $2 million in funding from the National Health Medical Research Centre (NHMRC). Associate Professor Ol  more