Today at Berkeley Lab: November 12, 2007

Monday, Nov. 12, 2007

A full listing of the Lab's activities is available on the


		Open Enrollment 18 Days Left

Today

10 a.m.
Benefits Office
CIGNA Health Plan Informational Meeting
Perseverance Hall

11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Security and Emergency Operations
Red General Parking Pass Exchange: Last Names A-E
Cafeteria Lobby

Noon
Yoga Club
Class with Inna Belogolovsky
Bldg. 70-191

Noon
Benefits Office
CIGNA Health Plan Informational Meeting
Perseverance Hall

Noon
Dance Club
Beginning East Coast Swing
Bldg. 51 Lobby

2 p.m.
Benefits Office
CIGNA Health Plan Informational Meeting
Perseverance Hall

2:30 p.m.
Benefits Office
Open Enrollment Meeting
Sudar Auditorium, Potter St.

5:30 p.m.
Friends of Science
Converting Plants to Fuel
Chris Somerville
Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Tomorrow

11 a.m.
Chemistry
New Tools for Imaging Protein Conformation and Association in Live Cells
Alanna Schepartz, Yale U.
120 Latimer Hall

11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Security and Emergency Operations
Red General Parking Pass Exchange: Last Names F-K
Cafeteria Lobby

Noon
Environmental Energy Technologies
Homeowners' Decisions on Energy Efficient Renovations: Influences and Policy Misconceptions
Charlie Wilson, U. of British Columbia
Bldg. 90-3122

2 to 3:30 p.m.
Benefits Office
Open Enrollment Meeting
JGI-Room 149B

4 p.m.
Life Sciences and Genomics
Remodeling, Repair and Recognition: Structural Biology of Helicases in DNA Repair and Virus Sensing
Karl-Peter Hopfner, U. of Munich
Bldg. 66 Auditorium

4 p.m.
Physics
Interactions and Instabilities in Cosmology's Dark Sector
Mark Trodden, Syracuse U.
Bldg. 50B-4205

4 p.m.
Chemistry
Spectroscopic Properties of Aerosols and Their Microscopic Origin
Ruth Signorell, U. of British Columbia
120 Latimer Hall

5:30 p.m.
Water Resources Center Archives
Climate Change Implications of Waste Treatment
Perry McCarty, Stanford U.
112 Wurster Hall

Breakfast: Roasted Veggie and Swiss Omelet with Hash Browns
Tomorrow's Breakfast: Eggs Benedict
Pizza: Antipasto
Grill: Fried Chicken Wrap with Ranch or Chipotle Mayo
Deli: Smoked Turkey, Swiss and Dijonaisse Prestini
Carvery: Chicken Dijon with Rice and Vegetables
Cultural Cuisines: Pasta Bar with Choice of Sauce, Salad and Garlic Bread

B'fast:	6:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Lunch:	11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Full menu

Classic, Quantum Overlap
At Hydrogen Molecule





Double photoionization of the hydrogen molecule

Berkeley Lab researchers and collaborators at the University of Frankfurt, Germany; Kansas State University; and Auburn University have now established that quantum particles start behaving in a classical way on a scale as small as a single hydrogen molecule. They reached this conclusion after performing what they call the world's simplest — and certainly its smallest — double slit experiment, using as their two "slits" the two proton nuclei of a hydrogen molecule, only 1.4 atomic units apart (a few ten-billionths of a meter). Their results appeared in Friday’s issue of Science. Full story.

Parking Pass Exchange
Today for A-E Names

Staff with last names that begin with A, B, C, D or E can stop by the cafeteria lobby between 11:30 and 1 p.m. today to exchange their red General Parking Passes for new permits. As of Jan. 1, the red passes will no longer be accepted. The exchange continues through the week, with F-K tomorrow, L-Q on Wednesday, R-T on Thursday, and U-Z on Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., same location. Those unable to attend the exchange session can stop by the Site Access Office (Bldg. 65A).

open enrollment

Open Enrollment: Review
Beneficiary Designations

Open Enrollment, which continues through Nov. 27, is a great time for staff to review their beneficiary designations for life insurance and retirement plans. Beneficiary designations do not automatically change when there is change in family status, such as a marriage or divorce. Go here to check designations for health benefits and here for retirement.

Decoding Effort Reveals
Fruit Fly Species’ DNA
By Elizabeth Pennisi

To the uninitiated, one fruit fly is like any other — all equally pesky and deserving a good swat. But in reality, these insects are quite diverse, with species that differ from each other, genetically speaking, more than a platypus differs from a primate. A consortium of about 250 scientists harnessed this diversity and in a blast of reports last week demonstrated the analytical power of comparative genomics. Berkeley Lab Genomics Division researcher Michael Eisen was the co-leader of this project. Full story. Another story on this topic appeared in the Harvard Gazette.

Bristol-Myers Squibb
Joins PHENIX Consortium





Adams

Bristol-Myers Squibb recently joined six other industrial partners to advance the development of PHENIX (Python-based Hierarchical EnviroNment for Integrated Xtallography), a software that automates the macromolecular protein structure determination process. PHENIX — led by Paul Adams in Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division — is designed to significantly decrease the time required to solve a structure, thus providing increased throughput for users at all levels. Go here for more information.

Biofuels Talk Tonight
At Berkeley Repertory

Biochemist Chris Somerville gives the third and final talk in the Friends of Science "Helios" series on Reducing Our Carbon Footprint at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre tonight at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. Go here for details.

Hats Off to Lab Military Veterans Today

While Veterans Day was officially observed yesterday, Today at Berkeley Lab would like to recognize all employees who have served in the United States military. Veterans Day was created to commemorate the ending of World War II on Nov. 11, 1918, and was recognized as a holiday by Congress in 1926. Go here for more information on Veterans Day, and here to read a View story about Site Access Manager Sam Houston, one of the Lab’s many veterans.

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Partly cloudy.
High: 60° (16° C)

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