Today at Berkeley Lab nameplate Today at Berkeley LabBerkeley Lab
  Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007 spacer image
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Today

10:30 a.m.
Chemistry Department
Analysis of Colloids by ICPMS in a Single Particle Mode:  Results on Al2O3, Gold, and UO2 Colloids
Claude Degueldre, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
775A Tan Hall (campus)

11 a.m.
Nuclear Science
Creating a Star in the Laboratory: The National Ignition Facility

Richard Boyd, Livermore Lab
Bldg. 50 Auditorium

Noon
CITRIS
Web 2015: Design and Collaboration for Social Change
Paul Braund, RIOS Institute
290 Hearst Mining Bldg. (campus)

Noon
Environmental Energy Technologies
Daylighting the New York Times Headquarters: Moving Daylighting from Niche to Mainstream Markets

Eleanor Lee
Bldg. 90-3122

Noon
Dance Club
Intermediate Foxtrot Lesson
Bldg. 51 Lobby

12:15 p.m.
Yoga Club
Class with Chris Hoskins

Bldg. 70-191

4 p.m.
CITRIS
Blast Protection of Bridges
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, UC Berkeley
502 Davis Hall (campus)


Tomorrow

10 a.m.
EHS27
Performing an Effective Safety Walkaround

Bldg. 70A-3377

3:45 p.m.
Nuclear Engineering
Sustainable Nuclear Energy System Development and the Current Status of the DUPIC Project
Kee-Chan Song, KAIST, Korea
Shephard Room, Etcheverry Hall (campus)

4 p.m.
Physics
Emerging Applications of Atomic Magnetometers: Fundamental Symmetries to NMR

Micah Ledbetter, UC Berkeley
Bldg. 50A-5132

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spacer imageCAFETERIA
 

Breakfast: Chorizo Scramble with Flour Tortilla
Tomorrow's Breakfast: Popeye Omelet served with Fruit Salad
Pizza: Pineapple and Ham
Grill: Chicken Quesadilla with Sour Cream, Salsa and Guacamole
Entree: Chicken Parmigiana with Pasta and Veggies
Deli: Sicilian Combo Prestini
Carvery: Roasted Turkey Breast with Mashed Potatoes

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

Gray Gets Breast Cancer
DOD Innovator Award


Gray
A grant totaling almost $8 million has been awarded to Joe Gray, director of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, in the form of an Innovator Award from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. The Defense Department is the second largest funding agency for breast cancer research in the world. Gray leads a multi-institutional team with collaborators from UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab, and Livermore Lab. The goal of their project is to greatly improve breast cancer screening and reduce mortality from breast cancer. Full story.

Stanley

JGI Facilities Manager
Wins Dragster Title

Greg Stanley, the Joint Genome Institute’s facilities manager, won the NorCal Top Comp Association Championship in late September with his 409 c.i. Chevy small block-powered dragster. The event took place at Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield.  Go here for more details (scroll to third item).

ANNOUNCEMENTS


Changes to Health
Benefits Next Year

There will be several changes to University of California healthcare benefits, starting next year. Health Net and Kaiser will be the exclusive HMO providers. PacifiCare will no longer be offered, however Health Net benefits and primary-care doctors are virtually the same. UC will offer most employees and retirees new wellness benefits through Stay Well. Enhanced and standardized mental and substance abuse benefits will be provided by United Behavioral Health. CIGNA will be a new medical plan option. Rates for Kaiser will increase by 8.4 percent and Blue Cross PPO by 3.3 percent or less. Health Net and Blue Cross participants will have a slight decrease in premiums. Changes can be made to benefit plans during Open Enrollment, Nov. 1-27. The Lab will hold its Open Enrollment fair on Nov. 9 in Perseverance Hall, 1 to 3 p.m. For more information on benefits changes, go here.

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IN THE NEWS


Terahertz Radiation
Controls Properties

Rini

A collaboration led by researchers with Berkeley Lab has used molecular vibrations, triggered by ultrafast pulses of terahertz radiation, to change a manganite crystal from an electrical insulator into a conductor. The ability to induce dramatic phase changes in solid materials through select vibrations holds great promise for future exploitation of prized technological phenomena such as superconductivity and magnetoresistance. “We have shown how macroscopic properties of a solid material, in this case, electrical resistance, can be controlled on ultrafast timescales through the coherent deformation of the material’s crystal structure,” said Matteo Rini, with the Materials Sciences Division. Full story.

Modified Algae Could
Help Produce Biofuels

Mehlhorn

Anastasios Melis, a UC Berkeley professor, has created mutant algae that make better use of sunlight than their natural cousins do. This could increase the hydrogen that the algae produce by a factor of three. It would also boost the algae's production of oil for biofuels. "If you can increase the productivity by means of thinning out the (chlorophyll), it's going to affect any product that you make," says Rolf Mehlhorn, an energy technologist at Berkeley Lab. Full story.

Scientists Still Murky
About Dark Energy

Astronomer Adam Riess remembers the moment he realized gravity was pushing galaxies apart. A decade ago, he was part of a team studying how rapidly the universe has been expanding over the past several billion years. "I still recall feeling very excited and also very anxious … because most things you discover in science are wrong, and they have a half-life of about five minutes." But this time, the finding didn't fizzle. Instead, a rival team, led by Berkeley Lab physicist Saul Perlmutter, had arrived at the same conclusion. Full story.

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