Windows Users: Beware
The Netsky.C Worm

A new worm, Netsky.C, is propagating extremely rapidly on the Internet. It targets Windows systems, generating messages containing attachments with extensions of .com, .exe., .pif or .scr, and with a variety of subjects. Unless employees have very recently updated their system's anti-virus software (yesterday morning about 9 a.m. or afterwards), it will become infected if the attachment is opened. Staff should immediately update their system's anti-virus software, and can go here to learn the procedures for doing so. Those with infected systems will be blocked from network access to prevent further spread of this worm. Contact the HELP desk to regain access.

What Is This Beautiful
Blue and Green Blob?

This colorful rendering was created by Anthony Mezzacappa -- with the Oak Ridge National Lab -- who is currently conducting research at Berkeley Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. He and colleagues are working to simulate "core collapse supernovae in two and three dimensions with Boltzmann neutrino transport by implementing ray-by-ray Boltzmann transport." This image represents "data output from a 3D supernova simulation that shows a surface of constant temperature below the supernova shock wave." Go here to learn more about Mezzacappa's research.

Mentors Sought For Undergraduate Students

Lab Mentor Will Stringfellow, left

The Lab's Center for Science & Engineering Education (CSEE) is seeking mentors in scientific, engineering, and technical fields to work with undergraduate students this summer and fall, and next spring.   The selection process is already underway, but there are still many student positions to be filled.   With renewed support from the DOE's Office of Science for undergraduate student research participation, and with partial support provided by mentoring groups, CSEE anticipates that it will be hosting from 50 to 75 students this summer, and up to 10 each in the fall and spring. Go here for more information, or contact Laurel Egenberger.

Bypass Operations: The Heartfelt Spring Clean
By Jerome Burne

	A clogged artery

What if, instead of heart bypass operations or inserting catheters and balloons to clear blocked arteries, you could take a protein mixture that unclogged them like a drain cleaner? That is the promise of the latest potential heart drug -- and already experts are talking about "a revolution in the treatment of coronary heart disease". The magic ingredient was a protein produced by a mutation in one of the genes that make HDL cholesterol, known as Apo A-1 Milano (AIM). According to research at Berkeley Lab, it works because the mutation has given the HDL antioxidant powers, so that the free-radical damage linked with cholesterol build-up on artery walls is damped down. Full story.

Reports Analyze U.S. Renewable Energy Plans

Wiser

Two new reports on utility green pricing programs are now available on-line from Berkeley Lab and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Both reports are based on data gathered in early 2003 on green pricing program participation, sales, and various aspects of program design and implementation. Environmental Energy Technologies scientist Ryan Wiser and Scott Olsen analyzed utility green pricing program data to gain insights into program features that might help maximize both customer participation in green pricing programs and the amount of renewable energy purchased by customers in those programs. Full story.

Use Caution When Working With Sharp Metal Objects

As part of the Lab's ongoing effort to improve safety and prevent injuries among employees, "Today at Berkeley Lab" is periodically running photos taken by EH&S that illustrate unsafe working conditions, along with suggestions on how to avoid injury. For example, this photo shows a machinist who placed his hand on the bit to wipe off a piece of metal, which cut through the tip of his finger, requiring many stitches. Machinists should avoid placing fingers and hands on or near sharp metal parts. Another tool, such as a still brush, could have cleaned the bit without risking an injury.