Members of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN, including ATLAS Education and Outreach head Michael Barnett of Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division, worked with a science writer and a paper engineer to create Voyage to the Heart of Matter, a book from whose pages models of the 7,000-ton experiment and its working parts leap out in three dimensions. On May 25 the English-language version will be presented at a New York Academy of Sciences ceremony organized by Barnett, featuring science enthusiast Alan Alda, theorist Lisa Randall, and others. More>
Jennifer Doudna, a Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, has won a Gates foundation grant to "explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries." Doudna's project would use RNA restriction enzymes to detect the RNA specific to viruses or bacteria. These enzymes could be imprinted on paper and made to change color when exposed to viral or bacterial RNA in urine, much the way over-the-counter pregnancy tests change color when exposed to hormones in urine. More>
The Berkeley Lab study first reported in February about the potential health hazards of nicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to virtually all surfaces long after a cigarette has been extinguished, continues to draw media attention. Lara Gundel of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) was interviewed this past week for the National Public Radio program Sound Medicine. Other EETD researchers on the team were Hugo Destaillats, Mohamad Sleiman and Brett Singer. Go here for more on the study.
An article in yesterday's edition of Today at Berkeley Lab announced a reduction in service for the Blue Route. After negotiation with the vendor, the Lab's Transportation department reports there will be no interruptions of the normal shuttle bus service, effective immediately. Go here to view the schedule.
The Berkeley Lab Softball League is composed of between eight and 10 teams, populated by existing and retired employees and their spouses.
Games are played every Wednesday evening on Maxwell Field (formerly Kleeberger) on the UC Berkeley campus. Game times are 6, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m., with the season running from early June to late August. The League has been in existence since 1975 and is supported by the Employee Activities Association. If you are a new player looking for a team or would like to form your own team, contact Steve Blair.
UC provides dental coverage for Lab employees and their family members and includes a wide range of services, from routine preventive care and fillings to oral surgery, dentures, bridges, and braces. The dental plans do not have exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
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