The media speculation that ran rampant last week was finally confirmed yesterday with the official announcement of Lab Director Steve Chu's nomination for Secretary of Energy. President-elect Barack Obama announced his selection of Chu at a press conference, streamed live from Chicago via C-Span. 
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Special Event: Holiday Party on Thursday; Bring
Items for Food Bank Donation All employees are invited to join together in the cafeteria from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday to celebrate the holiday season. Food and beverages will be served, and Director Chu will address the gathering at approximately 4 p.m. The Lab is conducting a collection drive for the Alameda County Food Bank, so attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item for donation. The barrels will remain in the cafeteria for donations until Jan. 5. Go here to view a list of recommended foods.
In The News: TV’s Nerdy ‘Big Bang Theory’ is Unlikely Ratings Hit[Wall St. Journal] During a recent taping of CBS's "The Big Bang Theory," the opening scene featured dialogue referring to galactic dark matter and high-energy positrons. Almost as unusual as the science jargon: the live studio audience laughing at it. "It's a good device, juxtaposing that culture of nerds," says Berkeley Lab physicist George Smoot, whose Nobel Prize-winning research helped shape the actual Big Bang Theory. While the characters' awkward social tics are "a little overdrawn," he says, he appreciates how the show represents a population whose job it is to think rigorously. More>
Research: Toward A Cooler World Staying cool saves energy, so one way to keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, according to a new study in the journal Climate Change by Hashem Akbari and Surabi Menon of EETD, along with former Berkeley Lab scientist and California Energy Commissioner Art Rosenblum, is to use more cool roofing and paving materials, especially in urban areas. Cooling the neighborhood, they argue, could help cool the world. More>
In Memoriam: Lab, JGI Administrator Jeanne Turturice Jeanne Turturice, who retired from Berkeley Lab in 2006 after 24 years of service, died on Nov. 16. She worked as an administrative assistant in the Transportation and Shipping Department and was a PCard buyer for Life Sciences and the Joint Genome Institute. Services will be held at the Celebration Christian Center (1135 Blue Bell, Livermore) at 11 a.m. this Saturday. Go here to read a family obituary.