BP's Lord Browne: Optimistic on Energy

Browne

In a speech he gave last Thursday at Stanford University's business school, outgoing BP chief executive John Browne acknowledged the major challenge of reversing global warming, but he told the audience, "The challenge of climate change is contributing to a new sense of community -- of a shared fate and a shared future. In this lies hope." He also noted BP's plan "to produce fuels from non-food crops and ones which have a far lower full cycle carbon content than conventional fuels. We believe this can be done by, for example, using the sugars derived from breaking down cellulosic materials" at the Energy Biosciences Institute, a joint BP/Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley/U. of Illinois project. Go here to read his speech, "Energy and the Environment: 10 Years On."

Lab physicist Marco Battaglia, left, Falaschi, center, and Scapolla

Italian Consulate Members Get Science, Staff Update

The San Francisco Consul General of Italy, Roberto Falaschi, and Terenzio Scapolla, of the Consul's Office of Scientific and Technological Experts, paid a visit to Berkeley Lab on Thursday. The visit is part of a Bay Area program to map ongoing R&D in emerging technologies and meet with Italian staff, faculty and students. While at the Lab, Flaschi and Terenzio received tours of the Advanced Light Source, LOASIS Laser, and Superconducting Magnet facility. They also learned about the Physics Division's Sound Restoration Project and Silicon Detector development.

Sun, IBM Offer New High-End Server Class
By John Markoff

Patterson

Sun Microsystems and IBM will introduce specialized high-end server systems that provide fresh evidence of a new era in computing. The Sun machine — an ultra-fast video server designed by the company’s co-founder, Andreas Bechtolsheim — is potentially powerful enough to transmit different standard video streams simultaneously to everyone watching TV in a city the size of New York. Berkeley Lab computing scientist David Patterson said he did not feel that the simple lashing together of more and more microprocessors had run its course. But he did say that “if the future of computing is the data center and the consumer gadget” — rather than on the desktop, for example — then IBM and Sun’s machines could be the wave of the future. Full story.

Gathering Offers Updates
On Aging Research

The Berkeley Lab-UC Berkeley Center for Research and Education on Aging (CREA) will host an event highlighting the latest trends in aging and longevity research and welcoming the newest member in the CREA fold: Jan Vijg, who has recently joined the faculty of the Buck Institute for Age Research.  He will be joined by UCLA professor Greg Cole, who will briefly explore the current strategies in establishing academic programs in aging and longevity.  The event will be held on Wednesday, May 9, from 4 to 6 p.m. in 2063 Valley Life Sciences Building (campus). More information on CREA and the event program can be found here. Those interested in attending can send e-mail here.

Free Sunscreen, Skin Safety Info in Cafeteria Tomorrow

Representatives from the Lab's Health Services Department will be in the Cafeteria lobby tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. to disburse information about protecting skin from the sun. Free samples of sunscreen products will be distributed. Visitors can also make an appointment for a skin screening session — to be held at Health Services (Bldg. 26) on Wednesday, May 9, from 8 a.m. to noon. — at the event, or by calling x6266.