Lab’s Wenzel Co-Author
Of Physics Today Article

Wenzel

The physics of traffic safety is the subject of an article in this month’s issue of Physics Today. Authored by Marc Ross and Deena Patel of the University of Michigan Physics Department and Tom Wenzel of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, “Vehicle Design and the Physics of Traffic Safety” examines how cars, light trucks, and SUVs might be re-engineered to share the road more safely. Readers with subscriptions to the Physics Today web site can read it here.

Milky Way Galaxy
Vibrating Like a Drum
By Robert Sanders

The most prominent of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies — a pair of galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds — appears to be interacting with the Milky Way's ghostly dark matter to create a mysterious warp in the galactic disk that has puzzled astronomers for half a century. The warp, seen most clearly in the thin disk of hydrogen gas permeating the galaxy, extends across the entire 200,000-light year diameter of the Milky Way, with the sun and earth sitting somewhere near the crease. Leo Blitz, professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley, and his colleagues, Evan Levine and Carl Heiles, have charted this warp and analyzed it in detail for the first time, based on a new galactic map of hydrogen gas (HI) emissions. They found that the atomic gas layer is vibrating like a drum, and that the vibration consists almost entirely of three notes, or modes. Full story.

Hey

Tony Hey, Microsoft Corp.’s Vice President for technical computing and an international expert in parallel computation, will discuss "e-Science and Cyberinfrastructure" at 1 p.m. Thursday in Building 50A-5132. Hey’s talk is part of Computing Sciences’ distinguished speaker series and all interested staff are invited. Prior to joining Microsoft last May, Hey was the leader of the United Kingdom’s e-Science Programme and head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Full story.

Give Blood at Lab
Donor Drive Next Week

The American Red Cross Bloodmobile will be at Berkeley Lab on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 17, 18 and 19, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside the cafeteria. Go here to make an appointment (click "registration" link, sponsor code is LBL). For questions, contact Clark Wood (x6489), or Heather Pinto (x4181). Please note: Parking at the cafeteria will be slightly affected during the blood drive.

No Ethanol Available
For Immediate Future

Berkeley Lab's ethanol fuel tank is currently down until further notice. Fleet Office personnel are advised to use their unleaded fuel cards during the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Questions can be addressed to Leslie Striplin at x5475.

Calendar Down Tonight

The Berkeley Lab calendar server will be unavailable from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. tonight to allow for urgent database maintenance. Questions should be directed to the help desk (x4357) in the Information Technology Division.