Lab Technology Used
In MESSENGER Mission

MESSENGER, NASA's first trip to Mercury in 30 years, is set to launch Aug. 2 from Cape Canaveral, carrying a high-resolution gamma-ray detector to measure solar wind and elements in Mercury's crust. The detector's technology was adapted from Cryo3, a handheld, mechanically-cooled detector for tracking radioactive material begun at Berkeley Lab by engineer Lorenzo Fabris and other team members before they moved to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to complete its development. The Livermore group collaborated with UC Berkeley's Space Science Laboratory and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to build the spacecraft instrumentation. Go here to read a Livermore Lab press release on MESSENGER.

UC Will Discontinue
Printed Phone Books

The University of California Office of the President has announced that it will no longer publish a hard-copy version of its systemwide telephone directory. Employees are encouraged to use the Web to obtain directory and organizational information. The change was made due to budgetary constraints.

Enrollment for Linux
Security Course Open

Enrollment for Linux Security Hands-On, a Berkeley Lab course in which attendees gain experience in securing Linux systems, is now open. The course will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 4 in Building 90-0026. Go here to read a course description, and here to enroll.

Dirty Bombs: Weapons
Of Mass Disruption

Muller

This Op-Ed piece by Berkeley Lab physicist Richard Muller, appeared in the July 18 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Terrorists might attack the U.S. homeland again this summer, the Justice Department and the FBI first warned several weeks ago. The same day, the Department of Energy announced a $450 million plan to counter terrorist nuclear weapons and dirty bombs... If terrorists do attack this summer using a dirty bomb, the resulting deaths might come from automobile accidents as people flee. Dirty bombs are not weapons of mass destruction, but weapons of mass disruption. Their success depends on public and government overreaction. Beware not of radioactivity but of nuclear panic. Full story.

Breast Homeostasis:
'It Takes a Village'

In the first comprehensive survey of gene activity in each cell type composing normal and malignant breast tissue, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified genes in non-cancerous supporting cells that can spur the growth of breast cancer cells. The findings suggest that aiming chemotherapy at both cancer cells and their genetically normal cellular "microenvironment" might improve the success of breast cancer treatment. Mina Bissell, a noted breast cancer scientist at Berkeley Lab, is the author of a commentary accompanying the article in the July 20 issue of Cancer Cell. Go here to read the article here.