The most recent post from Venkat Srinivasan...
You may remember the post on my pathetic financial state that does not allow me to buy a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). I had expected that a public cry for (financial) help would have gotten my bosses to do something. A month has gone by and I don’t see any action, so I have decided to try the plea again couched in the form of a blog post describing the challenges that prevent the widespread penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road. No prizes for guessing that cost would be one of them and a big one at that. More>
On Tuesday, April 13, the Glenn T. Seaborg Center of the Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) will host a reception at 3:30 p.m. followed by the inaugural Pat Durbin Memorial Lecture in the Building 66 Auditorium at 4 p.m. Durbin, who passed away March 5, 2009, had a long history at Berkeley Lab, starting as an undergraduate in 1946. She is best known for her seminal work in medical aspects of radiation protection, especially in the field of actinide chelators. CSD’s Ken Raymond will briefly describe Durbin's life and work, followed by a lecture, “It’s All About the Dose: A History of Internal Dosimetry Research,” presented by Ray Guilmette of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute.
This Saint Patrick’s Day also marked the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the transuranic element Californium. On March 17, 1950, a team led by the late Berkeley Lab Nobel laureate Glenn Seaborg, and including Albert Ghiorso, Stanley Thompson and Kenneth Street, announced that they’d produced element-98 using the 60-Inch Cyclotron to bombard a curium target with helium ions accelerated to 35 MeV in energy. The team named their new element in honor of the state of California and the University of California. This radioactive metal and prolific neutron emitter is used today in cancer therapies, coal power plants, and to start up nuclear reactors.
Lecture: Talk on ‘ChemSpider’ March 24The Lab’s Library is hosting a talk on ChemSpider, a free, online service providing a structure-centric community for chemists and the richest single source of structure-based chemistry information. The talk will be presented by Antony Williams, vice president of strategic development for the Royal Society of Chemistry. Chemical scientists, as well as researchers interested in online collaboration, data storage and curation, data exchange, crowdsourcing, and open access will find this seminar relevant. The event runs from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Building 50 Auditorium. Bring laptops for a hands-on demonstration session. More>
Wellness: More Stress Counseling Appointments Available As a follow up to a recent workshop conducted at the Lab on "Managing Stress In Times of Change" by CARE Services, the counselor will return to the Lab on Wednesday, March 31, from 1 to 4:30 p.m., to provide free individual and confidential counseling. Three one-hour appointments are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Call 643-7754 to make an appointment. CARE Services also provides appointments on the UC Berkeley campus, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (campus is closed next week). Call the same number for off-site appointments.
Direct connection to the Eurofins/MWGwg/Operon website is now available in eBuy. Select “Government Scientific Source (GSS)” on the eBuy menu then click the Operon logo to purchase products. Lab users will now be able to access and purchase from the entire Operon product catalog. Catalog prices are attractively discounted with additional promotional discounts on selected products. Direct purchase by users on eBuy is the best way for Lab users to buy Eurofins/MWG/Operon products.
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