Research
Highlights...
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Number 276 |
December 15, 2008 |
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Volcanic rock reveals ancient travel routes
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Archaeologist Clayton Marler has analyzed about 500 obsidian artifacts from the INL Site. |
The 890-square-mile site for DOE's Idaho National Laboratory has yielded artifacts dating back to the last Ice Age. Among those artifacts are obsidian tools crafted by Native American hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area over the past 13,000 years. Because the volcanic eruptions that produced the obsidian each had their own unique chemistry, INL archaeologist Clayton Marler can use a method called X-ray fluorescence to trace an artifact to its geological source. Marler has identified obsidian sources ranging from Yellowstone National Park to the California-Nevada border, and the resulting map could help recreate old routes travelled by these roaming tribes.
[Roberta Kwok, 208.526.2941,
roberta.kwok@inl.gov] |
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Tough Ceramic Mimics Mother of Pearl
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| Mother of pearl, or nacre, is renowned for both its iridescent beauty and its amazing toughness. Berkeley Lab scientists mimicked nacre’s microstructure to synthesize a tough new ceramic. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs) |
Biomimicry—technological innovation inspired by nature— is one of the hottest ideas in science but has yet to yield many practical advances. Time for a change. Scientists with DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have mimicked the structure of mother of pearl, the inner lining of the shells of abalone and certain other mollusks, to create what may well be the toughest ceramic ever produced. Through the controlled freezing of suspensions in water of alumina and a well known polymer (PMMA), the scientists, led by Robert Ritchie, produced ceramics that were 300 times tougher than their constituent components.
[Lynn Yarris, 510.486.5375,
lcyarris@lbl.gov] |
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Mysterious neutrinos
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| The MiniBooNE experiment uses 1,280 photomultiplier tubes to detect neutrinos interacting in a tank of mineral oil. |
Stretch out your hand, and a trillion neutrinos cross it within three seconds. Yet very little is known about these invisible particles, which can morph from one type into another. Last Thursday (Dec. 11), the MiniBooNE collaboration at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory presented its first, preliminary results on antineutrinos. In April 2007, MiniBooNE had reported an unexpected excess of electron neutrinos emerging from a beam of low-energy muon neutrinos. While theorists pondered what might be behind this result, the collaboration began repeating the experiment with antineutrinos. So far, the experiment sees no evidence for a corresponding electron antineutrino excess, but data are still sparse. The experiment will continue taking antineutrino data until June 2009.
[Kurt Riesselmann, 630.840.5681,
kurtr@fnal.gov] |
Los Alamos observatory fingers cosmic ray 'hot spots'
A Los Alamos National Laboratory cosmic-ray observatory has seen for the first time two hot spots that appear to be bombarding Earth with cosmic rays. The research calls into question our understanding about galactic magnetic fields near our solar system. Los Alamos researchers Brenda Dingus, Gus Sinnis, Gary Walker, Petra Hüntemeyer and John Pretz and an international team published the findings in Physical Review Letters.“ The source of cosmic rays has been a 100-year-old problem for astrophysicists,” Pretz said. “With the Milagro observatory, we identified two distinct regions with an excess of cosmic rays. This discovery calls into question our understanding of cosmic rays and raises the possibility that an unknown source or magnetic effect near our solar system is responsible.”
[James Rickman, 505.665.9203,
elvis@lanl.gov]
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NETL’s Zitney Enjoying Lifetime Process of Research, Exploration, and
Outreach
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NETL researchers and collaborators from Iowa State University conduct a virtual FutureGen power plant simulation using NETL's Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator (APECS) coupled with ISU's Virtual Engineering Suite (VE-Suite) software. |
Dr. Stephen Zitney, the Director of Collaboratory for Process & Dynamic Systems Research at DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory, is leading efforts to accelerate the development of innovative process systems engineering tools for designing and operating next-generation power plants.
Zitney earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, Pa., and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois. He began his career in the high-tech computer industry with Cray Research in Minnesota, where he had the privilege to meet with Seymour Cray, the “father of supercomputing.” Zitney then ventured into the rapidly growing areas of process simulation and computational fluid dynamics software with AspenTech and Fluent, respectively.
His career has provided opportunities to learn, experience, and explore through travels worldwide, including two years living and working in Cambridge, England. Collecting coins along the way, Zitney continues his long-time numismatics hobby. His family also enjoys traveling, and his children have become collectors, too—of key chains they link together from their world travels.
Mentoring graduate students from CMU and West Virginia University is an important and enjoyable part of his work that has also allowed Zitney to collaborate on research with some of his former chemical engineering professors from CMU in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He finds it rewarding to give back to his alma mater, its students, and research faculty.
Among the many awards Zitney has received for his research are two just this year: NETL’s Hugh Guthrie Award for Innovation and Research & Development Magazine’s R&D100 Award.
Currently residing in Morgantown, W.Va., Zitney has three children: a son and daughter in high school and a son in music performance, viola, at WVU. When he’s not devoting time to his children, he shares his time and talents with his church and others.
Submitted by DOE's National Energy
Technology Laboratory
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