Science Videos

Los Alamos maintains broad science, technology, and engineering (ST&E) capabilities across multiple disciplines, leveraged to meet the Laboratory’s diverse national security missions. These videos showcase some of the innovative science supporting our mission at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Innovative Science Supporting Our Mission

	Quantum Security for the Electric Grid Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Laboratories partnered with the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, a Tennessee utility and telecommunications company. Their field trials demonstrated the effectiveness of securing electric grid communications using quantum information.
	ALFa LDS: Autonomous, Low-cost, Fast Leak Detection System ALFa LDS (Autonomous, Low-Cost, Fast Leak Detection System) is a robust system for the detection of natural gas leaks. Our first-of-a-kind platform operates 24/7/365 to locate natural gas leaks early, enabling fast repair. The detector distinguishes natural gas leaks from biogenic sources of methane.
	Atomic Armor Atomic Armor is the first and only "tunable" shielding for technological devices. This one-atom-thick coating is customizable so users can control the needed characteristics to extend a device's lifetime and maximize its functionality. It is the thinnest and most durable, flexible and customizable shielding ever made.
	BOM: Next Generation of High-Performance explosives Bis(1,2,4-oxadiazole)bis(methylene) dinitrate, or BOM, is a next-generation explosive. BOM is a higher-performing, less-toxic replacement for TNT. It is 50% more explosive and far less toxic to make and use. BOM is the “green” alternative to TNT because it reduces hazards to human health and the environment.
	FEARCE: Fast, Easy, Accurate, and Robust Continuum Engineering FEARCE is a new software system that predicts complex turbulent flows in combustion engines. Such predictions help designers improve engine performance, enhance fuel efficiency, and reduce pollutant emissions. When it comes to improving engine performance, it doesn’t get any more FEARCE.
	RetroRX: Rapid, Easy Tools for Responding to Outbreaks and Re-emergence Events The complementary tools in RETRO Rx—AIDO and RED Alert—fill a need in the infectious disease surveillance community by creating a new class of analytics in the space between traditional epidemiological models and unanalyzed spreadsheets of data. RETRO Rx compiles data and presents analysis in a clear, concise visual format to support disease mitigation and prevention planning. The tools can be used by analysts, scientists, practitioners, decision makers, and the public at no cost via the Internet.
	Severe Contingency Solver for Electric Power Transmission Analysis The Severe Contingency Solver is a new, free, open-source software that reliably predicts how damage from hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, and other extreme events will restrict power delivery from utility grids. It is the only software available—commercially or open-source—that reliably supports analysis of extreme events that cause widespread damage.
	SimCCS^2.0 SimCCS^2.0 is an open-source software package that industry, researchers, and government can use to design CO₂ capture and storage infrastructure that optimally links CO₂ sources (such as power plants) with CO₂ sinks (such as saline aquifers and depleted oil fields) to reduce industry carbon footprints and maximize revenues.
	SPLASH SPLASH is a fully customizable, miniature liquid handling platform technology that can execute sequential operations involved in complex laboratory processes. Its electricity-free, pocket-sized variants bring automated sample preparation and processing to the point of need and resource-limited settings.
	Turbulence In Complex Natural & Engineered Systems Los Alamos National Laboratory applies innovative science, and engineering from multiple disciplines to help solve the nation's toughest technical challenges. Turbulence is one of those complex challenges that impacts many aspects of the environment and energy applications. This video gives an overview of how Los Alamos National Laboratory leverages its fundamental physics research to better understand the important role turbulence plays in complex natural and engineered systems, including oceans, weather and wildfire, wind turbines, and engine efficiency.
	Acoustic Collimated Beam (ACCObeam) A team of Los Alamos scientists has created the Acoustic Collimated Beam (ACCObeam), a novel high-power, low-frequency, collimated sound beam that penetrates deeply and in high resolution for applications such as borehole imaging, explosives threat evaluation, underwater communication, and biomedical imaging.
	Lighthouse Directional Radiation Detectors » The Lighthouse Directional Radiation Detectors developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory transform traditional omnidirectional detectors into directional detectors that can precisely determine the location, amount, and movement of a radioactive source, even in the presence of background radiation.
	Long-Range Wireless Sensor Network » Using decades of experience developing satellite components for the harsh space environment, Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers invented the Long-range Wireless Sensor Network (LRWSN), a low-power sensor network that is self-forming and self-healing and can affordably collect, process, and transmit data over long distances in rugged and remote outdoor environments.
	Turbulence & Mix in Extreme Environments » Los Alamos National Laboratory studies turbulence and mix in extreme environments to help fulfill its national security mission to ensure the safety, reliability, and performance of the US nuclear weapons stockpile. Experimental and computer-simulation projects at Los Alamos enhance our understanding and ability to predict turbulence and mixing in complex flows, at all scales, from the very small to the astronomical. This video describes some of the Los Alamos national security research conducted into turbulence and mix in extreme environments..
	Universal Bacteria Sensor » Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have looked to the human immune system to develop the Universal Bacterial Sensor (UBS)—a unique technology that mimics biological recognition of bacterial pathogens, requiring only a small volume of sample to detect all pathogens quickly, simply, and efficiently without prior knowledge of what they might be.
	Video-Based Dynamic Measurement & Analysis (ViDeoMAgic) » Engineers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed ViDeoMAgic (Video-based Dynamic Measurement & Analysis), a revolutionary new technology that uses video of a vibrating structure and extracts high-spatial-resolution structural vibration and dynamics information to measure the dynamic response and analyze the health of civil, mechanical, and aerospace structures.
	Discrete Fracture Network Modeling Suite (dfnWorks) » Discrete Fracture Network Modeling Suite (dfnWorks) is a computational suite that simulates and predicts the flow and transport of fluids through underground fractured rock. It covers length scales that range from millimeters to kilometers, can run on computers as small as a laptop and as large as a supercomputer and requires minimal effort to create representative models. Applications for dfnWorks include helping catch rogue nations performing underground nuclear tests and maximizing the extraction of natural gas, oil and geothermal wells while minimizing environmental impacts.
	Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large, Dynamic Storms (SHIELDS) » Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large, Dynamic Storms (SHIELDS) protects communication, navigation, and scientific satellites orbiting Earth’s magnetosphere by predicting hazards resulting from solar storms that cause space weather. Space weather could damage onboard electronics in satellites and thus interrupt radio and television reception, disrupt the operation of cellphones and GPS, shut down the Internet and endanger military and civilian operations. Researchers developed the software platform to understand, model, and predict this weather about an hour before it hits satellites, enabling instruments to be placed in a safe mode.
	Tiny Device Mimics Human Lung Function » Pulmonary Lung Model (PuLMo) is a miniature, tissue-engineered lung developed to revolutionize the screening of new drugs or toxic agents. PuLMo has the potential to enable screening of new drugs more effectively by improving the reliability of pre-clinical testing and saving time, money and lives. PuLMo also could be used as a platform to study the flow dynamics of particles inside a lung for applications in drug delivery and particle/pathogen deposition studies.