Down to a Science: A LANL Podcast

Forests are one of the most cherished natural habitats on the planet. Climate change brings more risk and uncertainty to their future. When thinking about climate change many people picture rising temperatures, increasing carbon emissions, fluctuating weather patterns, more wildfires and rising sea levels. Against that backdrop, how will climate change affect our forested ecosystems?

Drought and fire take their toll, but an often overlooked climate-change-driven threat to forests is bark beetles.

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A team of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory recently returned from the Haughton Impact Crater in northern Canada, where they tested technology that could one day be used to search for life on other planets. Today on Down to a Science, we’re talking with Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos, and Lisa Danielson, director of the Center for Space and Earth Science at Los Alamos, about their expedition to the Arctic.

Genes are complex systems that determine a person’s eye color, hair color and susceptibility to certain diseases such as heart disease. What are the driving factors in genetic expression? That’s one question Karissa Sanbonmatsu, a structural biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, is trying to answer by creating 3D simulations of genes. She explains how visual simulations at the molecular level will lead to a better understanding of genetic expression and better medical treatments.

In a world where there is an increasing need for clean energy, an often-overlooked solution is biofuels. Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Babs Marrone talks about technologies that can combat carbon emissions.

Across the six-state Intermountain West region, people are wondering how the transition to a carbon-neutral economy will affect them, their families, their jobs and their towns. Los Alamos National Laboratory is leading the Intermountain West Energy Sustainability & Transitions (I-WEST) initiative to create a community-based roadmap of the technologies and industries that will help us get there. With a place-based approach that emphasizes community-level input, I-WEST is looking at how best to incorporate the various technologies for decarbonization, such as clean hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, bioenergy, wind and solar, into the region’s economies.

Michael Peterson, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, detected two world-record lightning "megaflashes." The longest in distance spanned more than 477 miles, from Mississippi to Texas. The longest in duration lasted 17.1 seconds. Peterson talks about how — and why — researchers want to track these monster bolts.

Every year, LANL scientist Anna Llobet organizes a free summer camp for high-schoolers from New Mexico and beyond. With direction and inspiration from women in STEM, students dive into science. Hear how the camp expands minds (and lives).

Climate change can make it easier for diseases to jump from animals to humans. Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers Andrew Bartlow, Jeanne Fair and Carrie Manore discuss the impact climate change has on infectious disease spread.