Gamma Ray Burst
Origin May Be Found

Wang

Observations by two of the world's largest telescopes provide strong evidence that a peculiar type of exploding star may be the origin of elusive gamma-ray bursts that have puzzled scientists for more than 30 years. A team of scientists — including Berkeley Lab physicist Lifan Wang — conclude from observations with the Keck and Subaru telescopes in Hawaii that naked carbon/oxygen stars that flatten as they collapse into a black hole are good candidates for the source of gamma-ray bursts. Full story.

Summer Class of '05
Arrives at Lab Today

More than 100 students accepted to the Department of Energy's Science Undergraduate Summer Internships program at Berkeley Lab will be participating in orientation sessions today as they begin their 10-week experiences. The students, from colleges and universities around the country, work with scientists or engineers on projects related to the Lab's research programs. Due to the high demand for badging services for the newcomers, the Badge Office is closed today. For more about the internship program, go here.

Emergency Evacuation Exercise on June 16

The Lab will conduct a site-wide emergency evacuation exercise the morning of Thursday, June 16. The event will be initiated with the announcement of a simulated earthquake over the public address system, followed by a "drop, cover, and hold-on" drill, then a request to evacuate all buildings. Employees who need assistance with evacuating should contact their building manager (LDAP required, see menu at left). The time required to conduct the exercise should not exceed 15 minutes.

Beware: the Mytob
Worm is Loose

Variants of the Mytob worm are now attacking Windows systems. Recipients are goaded into opening e-mail attachments that infect systems, enabling remote hackers to run malicious commands. One version, Mytob.bi, scans hard drives, then mails copies of itself to e-mail addresses stored on that computer. The worm arrives in the form of a message appearing to be from a mail administrator that tells users their e-mail accounts are going to be suspended soon. To avoid infection, download anti-virus software (available for free here) and don't open unexpected attachments, even if they appear to be from known sources.