An external team of safety experts is conducting a peer review of Berkeley Lab's compliance with environment, safety and health policies this week, including "in the field" testing of the Lab's integrated safety management performance. Lab Director Steve Chu arranged the review, with University of California and Department of Energy acknowledgement, as a way to address the root causes of the Laboratory's recent low scores in ES&H evaluations. The nine-person peer review team is chaired by Associate Director Bill Bookless of Lawrence Livermore National Lab and includes representatives from Brookhaven, Livermore, Los Alamos and Stanford Linear Accelerator labs, and professors from UCLA, Howard, and Idaho State universities. Chief Operations Officer David McGraw encourages all employees to cooperate fully with team members who visit their areas.

Lab Nuclear Scientists
Join Physical Society

Jacobs
Thomas

Two Berkeley Lab nuclear scientists have been named fellows of the American Physical Society. Both Peter Jacobs and James Thomas were honored for their work on the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC (located at Brookhaven Lab). Jacobs led the effort to study the suppression of high-momentum particles and jet quenching in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, while Thomas was involved with the construction and operation of the STAR detector at RHIC.

AFRD's Gourlay Given
Yearlong Lectureship

Gourlay

Steve Gourlay, acting director of the Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division, has been appointed the 2006 Distinguished Lecturer by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He will represent the institute's Council on Superconductivity by presenting talks to universities and labs here and abroad throughout the year.

First Detailed Look
At Dicer Enzyme

Dicer enzyme

A team of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley scientists has gotten its first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages. The researchers — led by Lab biochemist Jennifer Doudna — used x-ray crystallography at the Advanced Light Source to determine the crystal structure of Dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in the process known as RNA interference. The Dicer enzyme is able to snip a double-stranded form of RNA into segments that can attach themselves to genes and block their activity. Full story.

Astronomer Sees 'Brake'
In Cosmic Expansion
By Dan Vergano

The universe's expansion underwent an unexpected braking in its first billion years, an astronomer recently suggested. The report throws a curve at an idea first proposed by Einstein that cosmic expansion occurs at a constantly increasing rate known as the cosmological constant. Eric Linder, a guest in the Lab's Physics Division, reacted to the findings with caution, saying certain variables could throw off the calculations used in the study. Full story.

Heinemann Memorials
Set in D.C., Berkeley

Heinemann

Heinz Heinemann, distinguished Berkeley Lab chemist who died Nov. 23, will be honored at two memorial services, one in Washington D.C. this Friday at 4 p.m. at the University Club, and one on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 3 p.m. at the UC Berkeley Faculty Club. Heinemann's wife and children will host the tributes. Memories or thoughts about Heinemann can be submitted here. Contributions can be made to the Heinz Heinemann Memorial Fund, made payable to the UC Berkeley Foundation. Send donations to Jane Scheiber, College of Chemistry, 420 Latimer Hall, #1460, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1460. Go here to read the College's reflection on Heinemann's life.