Today at Berkeley Lab: October 25, 2007

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007

Today

11 a.m.
Scientific Computing
On a New Type of Information Processing for Efficient Management of Complex Systems
Victor Korotkikh, Central Queensland U., Australia
Bldg. 50A-5132

Noon
Environmental Energy Technologies Towards Safer Lithium-Ion Batteries
Guoying Chen
Bldg. 90-3122

12:30 p.m.
Engineering Division
The World Trade Center: A Memorial and the Release of Results of a Five-Year Structural Engineering Investigation
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, UC Berkeley
Bldg. 50 Auditorium

2 p.m.
Advanced Light Source Proposed Quantum-Limited Electron Source
Eugene Commins, U.C. Berkeley
Bldg. 2-100B

4 p.m.
Physics
C3: The New Computational Cosmology Center at Berkeley Lab
Julian Borrill and Peter Nugent
Bldg. 50A-5132

Tomorrow

8 a.m. to Noon
Health Services
Flu Shot Clinic (x6266 for appointment)
Bldg. 26

Noon
Yoga Club
Class with Naomi Hartwig
Bldg. 70-191

2 p.m.
Nano Institute
Bio-Electronic Interfaces and Plasmonic-Molecular Electronic Integration
Nick Melosh, Stanford U.
390 Hearst Mining Bldg.

4 p.m.
Chemistry Department
Tuning the Reactivity of Metal-Carbon Multiple Bonds to Achieve New Catalytic Reactions
Marc J. A. Johnson, U. of Michigan
120 Latimer Hall

Breakfast: Popeye Omelet with Fruit Salad
Tomorrow's Breakfast: Biscuits and Gravy with Two Eggs
Pizza: Three Mushroom with Roasted Garlic and Pesto
Grill: Turkey Burger with Jack Cheese and Guacamole
Deli: Barbecue Chicken Prestini with Cheddar and Spicy Slaw
Carvery: Beef Stew over Egg Noodles
Wild Greens: Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad

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

Cause of Country’s
Mega-Fires Unclear

Mega-fires are torching the United States as never before, with towering infernos scorching more than 1.5 million acres this year, consuming homes block-by-block and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. But there is debate over whether this is a prime example of global warming attacking our planet or merely the way California is, global warming or not. An analysis published last year suggested that rising temperatures eventually would push the peak Santa Ana winds from mid-October to late November. That could worsen fires by allowing more time for the landscape to dry out, said Norman Miller, a Berkeley Lab earth scientist and co-author of the study. Full story.

Clean-Air Aid to Third
World Helps Rich Nations
By Natalie Garcia

The United States could offset its own carbon-dioxide pollution by investing in clean technology in developing countries and providing them with green solutions to fulfill basic needs, says Ashok Gadgil, with Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division. In a 2005 report, Gadgil proposed that wealthy countries cover the cost of developing countries’ moving from old, inefficient technology to cleaner methods of electricity. Wealthier nations would be compensated by earning carbon credits to offset their greenhouse-gas emissions. Full story.

Energy Issues Different
For Various Countries

Both Brazilian sugarcane farmers who turn excess to ethanol and Chinese city dwellers who enjoy hot tea thanks to solar water heaters don't realize it but they are at the forefront of what an international panel of scientists hopes the future will look like. The InterAcademy Council released a report this week detailing how countries can shift from burning coal. Some "1.6 billion people don't have access to electricity," notes Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu, co-chair of the panel that wrote the report. "The energy problem means different things to different people." Full story.

Bioscientist to Speak
At Genome Conference





Mukhopadhyay

Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, a Berkeley Lab physical bioscientist and member of the DOE Genomics: GTL project, will speak at the Human Genome Conference in Los Angeles today and tomorrow. The conference was organized by the African American Genetics Education Project. Mukhopadhyay will talk on the discovery of metal ion-reducing bacteria in waste sites and the development of effective biocontainment strategies. One such bacterium is Desulfovibrio vulgaris, which were selected for sequencing and annotation by the Department of Energy.

Director's Conference Talk On Energy Now Online

Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu's keynote address at the World Affairs Council's "Climate Change and Global Politics" conference last month in San Francisco is now online. The council has posted a downloadable MP3 File, a PDF of Chu's slides, and a RealMedia video of the talk, entitled "A New Energy Program." Go here to access the links (scroll to Sept. 13).

WEATHER

Clear.
High: 66° (19° C)

Extended Forecast

EMERGENCY INFO

Emergency: Call x7911
Cell Phones: Call 911
Non-emergency Incident Reporting: Call x6999

SECON level 3

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