Studying Astrophysics
In the South Pole

Klein

Berkeley Lab nuclear scientist Spencer Klein recently contributed an article to the CERN Courier on his work as a physicist working in the South Pole. “The quest for physics can take us in strange directions — climbing high mountains, flying U-2 planes, down mines, and lofting balloons at extreme latitudes,” explains Klein in the story. “The South Pole, too, is one of the stranger places to study astrophysics.” Microwave and infrared astronomers are attracted by the ultra-dry atmosphere and small daily temperature variations, while neutrino astrophysicists are drawn to the extremely clear, 2,800-meter-deep ice sheet, says Klein. Go here to read the full article.

Cholesterol Awareness Month in September

The Health Care Facilitator wants to remind all employees that September is “National Cholesterol Education Month.” Cholesterol is a soft, fat-like waxy substance found in the bloodstream. It is a normal part of every body, but too much cholesterol in the blood is a major risk for coronary heart disease and for stroke. When too much LDL (bad) cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can slowly build up in the inner walls of the arteries that feed the heart and brain.  Together with other substances, it can form plaque, a thick, hard deposit that can narrow the arteries and make them less flexible. Go here to learn more.

Governor Appoints Expert
To Biomonitoring Panel

McKone

Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed Thomas McKone to California’s Scientific Guidance Panel on Contaminant Biomonitoring. McKone is the acting head of the Indoor Environment Department in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division. He is also an adjunct professor in UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. The panel makes recommendations regarding the chemicals that are priorities for biomonitoring in the state, based on the likelihood of a chemical’s being a carcinogen or environmental toxin with potential exposure to the public. Read an article about McKone’s research here.

Mathies		Williams

Health Sciences Grant
For Two Lab Researchers

Berkeley Lab physical bioscientists Richard Mathies and Evan Williams, along with other UC Berkeley researchers, are among those that have received a $4.7 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to develop methods for detecting diseases in humans exposed to environmental contaminants. Williams is part of a team looking at protein adductomics, while Mathies serves on two teams, one researching lab-on-a-chip microsystems, and the other portable biosensors. Go here for more information.

Talk on Data Collection
For Ecological Science

van Ingen

Catharine van Ingen of Microsoft Research will talk about her work developing a data server for ecological science at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in Building 50A-5132. This work has been in coordination with the Berkeley Water Center, a joint project of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley. In her talk on “Observations From a Journey Toward a Generalizable Data Server Architecture for Ecological Science,” van Ingen will discuss how ecological science collaborations are using relational databases to collect, curate and archive their measurement data. “Data cube” technology is used in combination with a relational database to simply and efficiently compute aggregates of temporal, spatial and other data for analysis.