Making Longer-Lasting
Hybrid Car Batteries

As part of the Department of Energy-funded FreedomCAR program, Sandia National Lab’s Power Sources Technology Group is researching ways to make lithium-ion batteries work longer and safer. The research could lead to these batteries being used in new hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in the next 5 to 10 years. Five national laboratories — including Berkeley Lab — are involved in the program, each researching different aspects of making hybrid electric-hydrogen vehicles a reality. Full story.

'Water Flea' Gets Its
Genome Sequenced

An organism widely used for genetics-versus- environment studies has joined the panoply of mice, rats, dogs, humans and other species whose entire genomes have been sequenced. At the Daphnia Genomics Consortium's annual meeting in Bloomington this week, Indiana University and Joint Genome Institute scientists announced the completion of a "shotgun" sequence for Daphnia pulex, or the water flea, as it's better known to high school biology students. Full story.

Errant Mailings
From Blue Cross

Blue Cross recently sent a letter to Blue Cross PLUS (employees and retirees) and PPO (Medicare only) members. The original purpose of the mailing was to provide annual notice of HIPAA rights. However, an "Authorization for Use of Protected Health Information" letter was mistakenly sent instead. Employees should disregard this notice. Blue Cross is currently preparing another mailing to advise of its error and distribute the correct document.

Crane Work Interrupts Traffic Tomorrow

A mobile crane will be set up on McMillan Road between Buildings 76 and 26 tomorrow to facilitate the removal of a large boulder from the hillside. Traffic in this area will be detoured for about four hours. After the completion of this job, the crew will be setting up erosion control devices near Building 90, which will require blocking some parking spaces in the adjacent lot.

Right: Christina Galitsky

Scientists to Discuss
Efforts in Darfur

Ashok Gadgil and Christina Galitsky, both with Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, spent two weeks at a refugee camp in the Darfur region of the Sudan last November. They went to help solve one problem of the many facing the refugees—they tested whether energy-efficient sheet-metal cook stoves, developed in India, would work in the region to reduce fuel needed to cook meals, and perhaps reduce the incidence of attacks on women gathering firewood outside of camp boundaries. Gadgil will present a slide show and talk describing their experiences next Thursday in the Building 50 Auditorium. Additional information about this project appears in today’s edition of The View.

Journalist Garreau to Talk
About 'Radical Evolution'

Garreau

Joel Garreau, former reporter and editor with the Washington Post and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy at George Mason University, will discuss "Radical Evolution: the Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies — and What It Means to Be Human" next Tuesday at 8 p.m. in San Jose's California Theatre. The talk, sponsored by the Institute for Science, Engineering and Public Policy, is available to Berkeley Lab employees at 20% discount (go here, use password GRIN). For more about Garreau, go here.

The Berkeley Lab affiliation for scientist Wim Leemans was listed incorrectly in Wednesday’s edition of Today at Berkeley Lab. He is with the Accelerator and Fusion Research Division.

Limited Parking
Near Bldg. 90

Parking will be restricted in front of Building 90 today to accommodate the emergency removal of two large trees that fell over during last week's rain storms. Work will continue until about 6 p.m. For more information, contact Bob Berninzoni at x5576.