DOE's Abraham Unveils
Proposed '05 Budget

Abraham

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham yesterday released the Department of Energy’s $24.3 billion budget request for fiscal year 2005, a part of President Bush’s overall budget request to Congress. At $24.3 billion, DOE's budget is the largest thus far and continues to support President Bush’s commitment to national security, energy security, science and the environment. Funding of $3.4 billion is budgeted for fundamental scientific research, an increase of roughly 2 percent over FY 2004 when excluding Congressional additions in the Omnibus and Energy and Water Appropriations bills. (A look at Berkeley Lab's part of the budget will be in Friday's issue of The View). Read DOE's news release here.

Microbial Communities
Genomes Revealed

Banfield

Researchers from the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and UC Berkeley — including Lab earth scientist Jillian Banfield — report the first genomic characterization of a microbial community. The results, announced Feb. 1 in Nature, reveal how the genetic identities of microorganisms thriving in toxic conditions, “extremophiles,” were recovered from a natural biofilm growing at an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. Full story.

Cohen
Zettl

Nanotech Firms Gear Up For Emerging Industry

Although the nanotech business is still in its infancy, that hasn't stopped several Bay Area firms from placing their bets now on the technology of making things small. Quantum Dot, Nanosys and Nanomix — the latter co-founded by Lab scientists Marvin Cohen and Alex Zettl — are three of a small but growing population of companies focused solely on the nascent industry. Although hundreds of U.S. firms are involved in nanotech, only a fraction are actually devoted to it. Full story.

Blair

Steve Blair — with the Facilities Division’s Civil/Structural Section — isn’t just the president of the Lab’s Music Club, he’s also an enthusiastic member. He specializes in playing vintage Hammond B3 organs with Leslie speakers, and has a massive collection of these instruments at home. Click on Blair’s photograph to hear a sample of his playing (Real Player required), and go here to read a story about Blair that appeared in the last issue of the Facilities Quarterly.

If the Price is Too Cheap,
Beware; It May Be a Scam

Recently, a Lab employee received an e-mail offering Windows XP software for only $39.95, about $100 less than the lowest U.S. price. Sound too good to be true? It probably is. Often, the software is sold without documentation or support, which may mean the vendor is selling illegal copies or trying to obtain credit card information. Mark Rosenberg, with the Lab’s Information Technologies and Services Division, says purchasing software through the Lab’s Procurement office is the safest route.

Nuclear Waste Topic
Of Next ASD Talk

Bodvarsson

The ASD Academy is pleased to announce the next in its “Science for Non-Scientists” lecture series. On Friday at 11 a.m., in the Building 50 Auditorium, Bo Bodvarsson, Division Director for Earth Sciences, will discuss the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste program. Those interested in attending must register at the Employee Self Service website. Refer to class number ASD9027.