Two thousand years after Pliny the Elder compiled one of the earliest surviving encyclopedic works, and in the spirit of his goal of providing “light to the obscure,” the Joint Genome Institute has published the initial “volume” of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea (GEBA). Presenting a provocative glimpse into this uncharted territory, an analysis of the first 56 genomes representing two of the three domains of the tree of life appears in the Dec. 24 edition of Nature. More>
Research: Mapping Cosmic Microwave Background, Infrared UniverseWhen Julian Borrill of the Computational Research Division came to Berkeley Lab to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB), one of his first projects was MADCAP, the Microwave Anisotropy Dataset Computational Analysis Package, developed with colleagues Andrew Jaffe and Radek Stompor. Since a major challenge in mapping the CMB is sorting through correlated noise, part of MADCAP is a “maximum likelihood map-making code” dubbed MADmap. But MADmap turns out to be perfectly suited to correlated infrared measurements as well, and has been adapted as its core map-making software by the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory, the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever flown in space. MADmap and Herschel will be the subject of a forthcoming feature. More>
Though the Lab was quiet over the recent holidays, three Lab scientists made a bang in the press, with stories about them appearing in three high-profile publications. A New York Times article chronicled life scientist Mina Bissell (left) and her groundbreaking research on cancer tumors and their cellular environments. The San Francisco Chronicle profiled physicist George Smoot (center) and his less-than-typical rise to Nobel Prize winning scientist, including a stint working for Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. The San Jose Mercury News covered the “Godfather” of energy efficiency Art Rosenfeld and his long-term efforts to make homes, commercial buildings, and appliances more environmentally friendly, the “low-hanging” fruit in the battle against climate change.
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Facilities Division are announcing an enhanced cleanup service for the Lab. Effective Jan. 4, ongoing courtesy pick-up of salvage materials will be provided at no cost. The material must weigh less than 250 pounds and cannot include hazardous waste or universal e-waste. Go here to request a pick-up, then click the “Cleanup” link. Include a description of all the material and attach a Transportation Authorization Form (TAF) to all items. For information about hazardous or universal waste pick-ups, contact your Division Safety Liaison.
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