Younger: A Sputnik moment is coming
Laboratories Director Steve Younger and Chief Research Officer Susan Seestrom took the stage at the Steve Schiff Auditorium Aug. 26 to discuss “discovery science” and what it means for Sandia. The talk was the latest installment of the New Research Ideas Forum.
Strategic Priority No. 5
Sandia's Strategic Priority No. 5 is seeking new pathfinder systems to address threats. The goal of this strategic priority is to think beyond Sandia’s traditional boundaries, taking advantage of the Labs' technical depth and breadth across multiple disciplines. Inventing and demonstrating these systems are important steps toward creating the future at Sandia.
Seeing infrared
Sandia researchers have developed tiny, gold antennas to help cameras and sensors that “see” heat deliver clearer pictures of thermal infrared radiation for everything from stars and galaxies to people, buildings and items requiring security.
Personalized medicine software vulnerability uncovered by Sandia researchers
Sandia researchers have identified a weakness in one common open-source software for genomic analysis that left DNA-based medical diagnostics vulnerable to cyberattacks. Their research helped software developers fix the problem before any significant attacks were identified.
Dragonflies: A lesson in missile defense
Dragonflies catch 95% of their prey, crowning them one of the top predators in the world. Now, Sandia researchers are discovering how dragonfly brains might be wired to be extremely efficient at calculating complex trajectories. Their discoveries could lead to improvements in missile defense systems.
Portable gas detection shrinks to new dimensions
A sensor for detecting toxic gases is now smaller, faster and more reliable, thanks to researchers at Sandia. The sensor’s performance sets it up for integration into a highly sensitive, portable system for detecting chemical weapons. The sensors can also rapidly detect airborne toxins.
Thwarting oil-pipeline corrosion by identifying nanoscale villains
Researchers at Sandia, the DOE Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and the Aramco Research Center in Boston have found that a particular form of nanoscale corrosion can cause variations in material longevity that unpredictably decrease the working life of steel pipes.
Future hypersonics could be artificially intelligent
A test launch for a hypersonic weapon — a long-range missile that flies a mile per second and faster — takes weeks of planning, and it's uncertain how useful test systems will be against urgent, mobile or evolving threats. But Sandia's hypersonics developers think artificial intelligence and autonomy could slash these weeks to minutes for deployed systems.
Sandia spiking tool improves artificially intelligent devices
Whetstone, a software tool that sharpens the output of artificial neurons, has enabled neural computer networks to process information up to a hundred times more efficiently than the current industry standard. The software, created by Sandia neuroscientists, greatly reduces the amount of circuitry needed to perform autonomous tasks and is expected to increase the penetration of artificial intelligence into numerous markets.
Celebration at the intellectual property finish line includes family and friends
Sandia researchers were joined by partners, parents and friends in December to celebrate the ninth annual Innovation Celebration, organized by Integrated Partnerships Organizations. The event, at the Albuquerque Museum, recognized individuals who added patents and commercial copyrights to Sandia’s intellectual property portfolio in 2017.