July
13, 2001
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July
13, 2001 |
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BaBar Speaks: Matter and Antimatter
Differ — In More Ways Than One
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On Friday, July 6, the international BaBar Collaboration of over 600 scientists — three dozen from Berkeley Lab alone — announced the latest results from the Asymmetric B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). After analyzing data from 32 million pairs of B mesons collected over the past two years, BaBar found that 640 of them exhibited unmistakable differences in the ways that the matter and antimatter forms of these exotic particles decay — a phenomenon called CP violation.
"This is a fabulous result and a milestone in our understanding of the violation of CP symmetry," said B-Factory pioneer Piermaria Oddone, Berkeley Lab deputy director. "It would not have happened but for the outstanding efforts of so many scientists around the world."
Oddone added, "I am especially proud of the physicists, engineers and technicians here at our Laboratory who made crucial contributions in the most important aspects of the detector and the accelerator. Without them we would not be here."
News flash!
The news hit the radio waves the day it was announced, with Richard Harris reporting on National Public Radio’s "All Things Considered" the "good news" that matter and antimatter decay differently.
The New York Times was among the national papers that carried the news Saturday in a report picked up around the country. Writing from the Snowmass physics conference in Colorado, James Glanz ended his article with a quote from BaBar member and Berkeley Lab physicist Natalie Roe, who anticipates that new light will soon be shed on the Standard Model: "This is just the beginning of the story," she said.
Keay Davidson of the San Francisco Chronicle and Glennda Chui of the San Jose Mercury News covered the announcement locally in stories that appeared Saturday morning.
Davidson asked Robert Cahn of the Lab’s Physics Division, a member of the BaBar collaboration, why matter and antimatter behaved differently, and quoted Cahn as replying that "the best people can do is explain how it can happen — not why."
Why antimatter matters
Why does it make a difference how matter and antimatter decay? If the two, created equally in the Big Bang, were equivalent in every way, as physicists once assumed, they would have mutually annihilated long ago, leaving nothing but radiation. To explain the existence of the myriad stars and galaxies, not to mention our own existence, at least one particle of matter must have survived for every billion annihilations.
The existence of antimatter was unsuspected until about 70 years ago, when English theorist Paul Dirac included Einstein’s special theory of relativity in quantum mechanical descriptions of electron behavior. A particle popped out of his equations that looked just like the electron but with opposite charge. Within a few months just such a particle, later dubbed the "positron," was found by Caltech’s Carl Anderson in the debris of cosmic-ray collisions.
The discovery of other antiparticles was not far behind, and scientists soon realized that every kind of particle is matched by an oppositely charged antiparticle. (For some neutral particles, the matter and antimatter versions are identical.)
 Brad Abbott and Roy Kerth of the Physics Division, Chris Hernikl of Engineering, and Fred Goozen and Natalie Roe of Physics — five of the dozens of Berkeley Lab contributors to the B Factory and the BaBar detector — are shown with the Silicon Vertex Detector (SVT), which surrounds the beam pipe at the center of the detector and determines the flight path of B mesons. The SVT system was comanaged by Roe and Francesco Forti of Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics at Pisa. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt |
Crumbling symmetries: a brief history
Charge conjugation is the C in CP
violation, with the P standing for "parity" (sometimes called
mirror symmetry), which assumes that nature does not distinguish between
right and left. But in 1957, T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang at Brookhaven National
Laboratory discovered that parity is not conserved, at least not when
particles decay by the elusive weak force.
Still, theorists maintained
that overall symmetry would be preserved, if every interaction among particles
were identical to the same interaction among corresponding antiparticles
"seen in a mirror" — in other words, if C and P were transformed
together.
In 1964, James Cronin and Val Fitch of Brookhaven found that K mesons occasionally violate even CP transformation. Mesons consist of a pair of quarks, unlike familiar protons or neutrons, which consist of three lightweight up or down quarks. One of the quarks in a K meson is the medium-weight strange quark, the culprit responsible for occasional CP violation.
In 1966, Russian theorist Andrei Sakharov suggested that asymmetries such as CP violation might explain the preponderance of matter in the universe, and in 1973 the Japanese theorists Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa proposed an elegant mechanism to explain CP violation — provided there were three generations of quarks. (At the time, only two quark generations were known.)
Even this mechanism would produce effects too small to account for the universe’s matter-antimatter asymmetry — but perhaps other mechanisms are at work. The B meson, containing a massive bottom quark (discovered in 1977) offered a promising way to find out; the Kobayashi-Maskawa model of very small CP violations in K mesons predicts very large CP violations in some rare modes of B-meson decay.
BaBar on the march
Enter the Asymmetric B Factory. In 1987 Pier Oddone, then director of the Lab’s Physics Division, proposed that a good way to produce and study B mesons would be with powerful colliding beams of electrons and positrons (particles and antiparticles) — provided the beams were of unequal energy.
Numerous individuals from several Berkeley Lab divisions made crucial theoretical and practical contributions to the novel collider and its detector, working with personnel from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a SLAC team led by Jonathan Dorfan, now SLAC’s director. Meanwhile, Japan’s National Laboratory for High-Energy Accelerator Research (KEK) was constructing a similar machine.
Completed late in 1998, the B Factory’s electron beam is almost three times as energetic as its positron beam. Electrons and positrons collide and annihilate in a burst of pure energy from which other particles condense and are swept downstream.
Many of these are pairs of B and anti-B mesons that travel together down the beam pipe. Their independent decay times can be derived from how far they travel, and their many decay modes can be studied in great detail in the BaBar detector.
To date, BaBar has shown definitive CP violation in B-meson decays. The violation is large in the specific rare modes predicted by the simple Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism; if CP violation can be explained by this mechanism alone, matter-antimatter asymmetry remains a puzzle. The search goes on.
Neither K-meson effects nor the B-meson effects observed to date can, on their own, account for the existence of the researchers who study them. But there are many more decay modes of B mesons than of K mesons, and these are yet to be investigated. "We are poised for more exciting discoveries that should open up the field," said Stewart Smith of Princeton University, spokesman for the BaBar collaboration.
The Asymmetric B Factory was funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which also funded about 60 percent of the BaBar detector.
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A succinct explanation of BaBar’s research program in slide-show form can be found at http://hepunx.rl.ac.uk/~egede/pus05Mar2000/img0.htm. Or visit the BaBar homepage at http://www.slac.stanford.edu/BFROOT/
By Lisa Gonzales
 Don Hubbard at the conclusion of this summer’s Integrated Science Partnership Program, which he helped organize over the past four years. |
As a high school student, Don Hubbard had a science teacher who gave him some advice: if he wanted to work in a profession that was personally satisfying and in which he could make a difference in young people’s lives, even if he would not make much money, he should become a science teacher.
"I’m a science teacher because of a science tea-cher," says Hubbard.
Currently retired as the head of the Science Department at Berkeley High School, Don Hubbard is the co-coordinator of the Integrated Science Partnership Project (ISPP), a four-week program for Vallejo science teachers conducted at Berkeley Lab through the Center for Science and Engineering Education (CSEE).
Funded by the California Postsecondary Education Commission over the past four years, the ISPP project has brought science teachers from Vallejo middle- and high-schools to work at the Lab with researchers while compiling curriculum materials. These materials are then distributed to all the science teachers in the district in order to supplement textbooks, develop classroom activities and experiments, and provide information on the most current research frontiers.
"So many teachers have told me that they are experiencing more success in the classroom due to the work they’ve done at the Lab," says Hubbard. He believes that their experience at the Lab helps teachers develop the skills and materials needed to increase the number of classroom activities and experiments, make a more coherent presentation of scientific ideas, and feel comfortable with the material they are teaching.
Born in Indiana, Hubbard did his undergraduate work at Ball State Teachers’ College, then went to Harvard for his Ph.D. in Education, focusing on the teaching of natural sciences. After teaching at a junior high in Philadelphia and then working for the University of Wisconsin in education research and development, Hubbard came to Berkeley High, where he taught physics and chemistry for 18 years. This interdisciplinary teaching sequence gave him the background to develop an integrated science program at Berkeley High — and also made him an obvious choice to lead a project for science teachers with a direct connection to multidisciplinary science at Berkeley Lab.
 Don Hubbard, shown here in his CSEE office at Berkeley Lab, is a true champion of science teaching: "We have to find other ways to get science to students. We have to mine the science for everything we can." |
"The role of CSEE is to bring in people with expertise in education, and then have them take leadership roles in which they fully utilize the resources at the Lab," says Rollie Otto, head of CSEE and co-coordinator of the ISPP. "Don is a master teacher whose leadership is crucial to both the professional and curriculum development the Vallejo teachers establish here."
"After retiring from teaching, helping teachers become better teachers was just a natural progression for me," says Hubbard. As proof of his success at earning the trust of the Vallejo School District, the administration has turned to Hubbard to lead the selection of instructional materials.
Hubbard’s initial contact with the
Lab was similar to that of most of the science teachers. "Coming
here was a real eye-opener to me, because I didn’t really know what scientists
did at this level. Yet what really amazed me is that the fundamental process
they use is the same as for my students doing basic experiments,"
says Hubbard. This shared scientific method is the point of entry for
most of the teachers when working at the Lab.
ISPP addresses growing need
The assistance Berkeley Lab provides to the Vallejo schools is greatly needed. According to statistics compiled by the California Department of Education, of the 3,500 ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students who took the California high school science exam, 30 percent scored below the 25th percentile. Only 14 percent scored above the 75th percentile.
The state of science education in the schools is becoming even more problematic, Hubbard explains, as the focus shifts to other subjects. Now that California is mandating standardized testing in language arts and mathematics, these are the subjects that schools and classrooms are spending most time on. From the scores on these tests, an academic performance index is developed that principals must defend to the community and school board. "On top of that, incentive monies are paid to schools and individual teachers who outperform expectations," he says.
In order to adjust to this shift in emphasis, the ISPP is now trying not only to develop curriculum for the science classroom, but also lessons in which science is integrated into other subjects, such as language arts, math and social science. To this end, seven non-science high school teachers and 15 elementary school teachers have been brought up to the Lab this summer to produce lessons that use science in their fields, such as applying the concept of genomics to classroom exercises on outlining, composition, vocabulary, history, and social science.
"The changing status of science education is a battle we can’t fight," says Hubbard. "So we have to find other ways to get science to students. We have to mine the science for everything we can."
Recently, Berkeley Lab scientists have been playing an increasing role in presenting research to the ISPP teachers. Not only have they opened their labs to the teachers, but they also volunteered for an unprecedented daily lecture series over the past four weeks.
"Don has been particularly effective in providing Lab staff with opportunities to have meaningful interaction with teachers that ultimately benefits both sides," says Otto, pointing out that these Lab researchers are making significant contributions to K-12 education through their work with the ISPP. "Hundreds of pages of curriculum development come out of the Lab every summer, and for some classrooms this output represents their complete basis of instruction."
But perhaps the greatest impact of the Lab is on the teachers themselves. "There is a energy in the air at a world-class scientific institution in which we see that we belong to a larger enterprise, that of the world of science," says Hubbard. "It’s a powerful moment for a science teacher to look at a researcher doing frontier science and realize that he once was a young boy in someone’s classroom."
By Paul Preuss
 Henrike Heise, Dimitris Sakellariou, Carlos Meriles, and Adam Moulé are the 'Pinenuts' from Alex Pines's NMR laboratory who came up with a way to do high-resolution NMR spectroscopy even when the test sample is not inserted into the core of a big magnet. Photo by Robert Couto |
Researchers in the laboratory of Alexander Pines of the Materials Sciences Division, have recovered high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy data from experimental samples in a grossly nonuniform field.
NMR pioneer Pines, also a professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, worked with postdoctoral fellow Carlos Meriles and their colleagues Dimitris Sakellariou, Henrike Heise and Adam Moulé to develop the technique which could significantly extend the use of NMR spectroscopy as an analytical tool. Their new "ex situ" method is described in the July 6 issue of Science.
Until now, high-resolution spectroscopy could only be done "in situ" — by placing the sample inside the bore of a very large stationary magnet that produces a strong, uniform magnetic field. With the new technique, it may be possible in the future to take an NMR probe to otherwise inaccessible samples in the field and obtain high-resolution information.
Peak experiences
NMR spectroscopy has been used to study the molecular structure and chemical dynamics of a vast range of compounds, materials and processes — everything from an organism’s metabolic state to the composition of promising new materials.
"What makes NMR useful is that it can provide a profile of a sample, a kind of fingerprint, in which each component has recognizable features," says Carlos Meriles.
In the usual NMR arrangement, nuclei with magnetic moments align their spins, up or down, with a uniform static field. When the sample is irradiated with the right radio-frequency (rf) pulse, it’s as if the nuclei are knocked off balance, precessing (wobbling) on a tilted axis around the field lines.
Each species of nucleus has a characteristic wobble rate, which is affected by the different magnetic environment of each individual nucleus. This information is reemitted as the nuclei relax and realign with the static field, showing up in the NMR spectrum as a set of distinct peaks of varying height.
Peaks from hydrogen nuclei in organic compounds, for example, vary according to how the hydrogens are bonded to carbons or other atoms. Displacements from a reference peak are called "chemical shifts" and reflect different concentrations of arrangements of hydrogen in the compound.
"This way you can tell the difference between, say, oil and water," says Meriles — just the sort of distinct signatures an oil-well logging instrument looks for in a borehole.
In fact, NMR probes have been devised that can be lowered into boreholes, but they necessarily produce uneven magnetic fields, so the information they can gather has been severely limited. Until now, in order to clearly resolve two or more separate peaks, a sample had to be placed in a uniform magnetic field.
Mixed signals
In a nonuniform field, slight differences in the magnetic environment of nuclei in one part of a sample are overwhelmed by the much larger difference in static field strength between different locations in the sample. The peaks become so broad they blend together, and the spectrum becomes featureless.
"The signal still contains information — it isn’t lost, but it’s jumbled together," Meriles says. "All you can say is, ‘I’ve got a signal,’ not whether it’s oil or water, for example."
Although the signal strength of a decayed NMR signal can be restored by zapping the sample with a second rf pulse, this erases any spectroscopic information.
Evolving toward sharpness
Each distinctive chemical shift can be thought of as a single vector in a diagram that maps spin frequencies; in a nonuniform field some spins are faster or slower, however, spreading the signal until it overlaps other chemical shifts.
Meriles and his colleagues in Pines’ group realized that the sharpness of the vectors could be restored if the slow and fast offsets could be exchanged, so that as the signal evolves these components would converge, not spread. To do this they designed a special sequence of pulses of precise energy, duration, and timing.
Their method depends on arranging matters so that the nonuniform static field and the much weaker rf field both fall off smoothly in a correlated way. Then, from a decaying signal that might otherwise smear to featurelessness as it evolves in a nonuniform field, the tailored train of pulses allows the researchers to recover and intensify individual chemical shifts to yield a high-resolution NMR spectrum.
The Pines group tested their arrangement on a series of compounds, concluding with a liquid known as trans-2-pentenal, whose characteristic spectrum, obtained with a single rf pulse in a uniform static magnetic field, shows the chemical shifts of hydrogen nuclei as five sharp spikes.
The same sample, if subjected to a single rf pulse in a nonuniform field (outside the magnet bore), resembles a featureless mound.
But if the sample is then subjected to the specially tailored string of pulses in the same nonuniform field, the five peaks are restored to their characteristic positions and amplitudes on the spectrum, with virtually the same sharp resolution.
Into the field
In the laboratory, Meriles and his colleagues arranged and correlated a nonuniform static magnetic and rf fields by imposing a strong spatial variation on the static field, with the rf coil placed at one end of the sample — thus simulating the conditions of a mobile, ex-situ experiment.
"We have demonstrated that high-resolution NMR spectra can be recovered even with a strongly inhomogeneous magnetic field," says Meriles, "which means it may be possible to develop a mobile magnet that can be scanned over otherwise inaccessible objects to get magnetic resonance information."
There is much to be done, he stresses. "You need a really strong field to get a decent decay rate. The stronger the gradient, the worse the problem. It’s a challenge to develop a strong magnet that can be taken into the field, or to develop ways to recover a signal from a weak field." But the principle of ex situ NMR spectroscopy has been demonstrated.
President George W. Bush said his administration’s energy plan, crafted under the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney, demands that "we must be wiser about how we conserve energy" in addition to being "wiser about how we develop and increase supply."
Bush made the remarks during a visit to DOE headquarters two weeks ago, after sending the energy plan to Congress earlier the same day. Addressing a crowd of several hundred gathered in the cafeteria, Bush laid equal stress on energy exploration and energy conservation.
After a tour of energy-efficiency exhibits with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the president remarked that "there are no limits to the technology we can bring to market" given the right incentives to the private sector. He then announced $85.7 million in grants to companies and other institutions to further develop fuel cells, advanced engines, and other efficient technologies.
Bush also announced other conservation measures, including an extension of the Energy Star program and an attack on "energy vampires," stand-by devices which waste electricity.
Secretary Abraham has announced that DOE’s Fossil Energy division will make $25 million in research and development grants to support eight projects in carbon sequestration proposed by private firms and other institutions.
The projects include schemes to capture greenhouse gases from power plant emissions and to store carbon dioxide and other byproducts in geological formations or in vegetation, including forests. One project will recover methane from landfills.
Abraham said that carbon sequestration "offers a way to address the global warming issue without having to make radical overhauls to our existing energy systems." The DOE’s goal is to develop technologies that can store a ton of carbon for $10.
BP Corporation, Alstom Power, Praxair, Consol Inc. Research and Development, Dakota Gasification Company, Advanced Resources International, the Nature Conservancy, and the planning and public works department of Yolo County, Calif., are the grantees, who will contribute about 40 percent of the total cost of project development.
In choosing carbon sequestration as a key part of its strategy to combat global warning, the Bush administration is taking a cue from industry. "Significant cost-sharing from the private sector is a clear message that carbon sequestration is an option worth examining," Abraham said.
One year ago, during a walkthrough of the Human Resources Department in Building 937, then-Deputy Director for Operation Klaus Berkner suggested the storage room there be redone to make it safer and more efficient.
During her recent safety visit this summer, Sally Benson (left), Berkner’s successor as deputy director of operations, inspected the recently renovated storage room and talked with Sharllen Lee, safety coordinator for the Directorate and Operations, and Jeffrey Chung of EH&S. Photo by Robert Couto
The University of California and California State University have reached a tentative settlement with Enron Energy Services that will extend their contract for two years and return them to direct access service. The university systems are continuing to negotiate price and other terms of the extension; the agreement is expected to be finalized by December.
Enron had asked to be released from the last year of a four-year contract with the universities, but a federal judge ruled in favor of UC and CSU. As part of the agreement, the universities will drop their lawsuit against Enron and Enron will dismiss its appeal.
"We are delighted that our negotiations with Enron have ended with retention of the two university systems as direct access Enron customers," said Joseph P. Mullinix, UC senior vice president for business and finance.
The agreement covers all UC campuses and the UC Office of the President, with the exception of UCLA and UC Riverside, which have agreements with their local municipalities.
Together, UC and CSU rank as the largest single consumer of electricity in California. UC’s systemwide peak load is 332 megawatts, and CSU’s is 117 megawatts. UC’s annual electric bill is about $87 million and its natural gas bill is about $26 million. CSU annually pays about $40 million for electricity and $20 million for natural gas. — Lisa Gonzales
The University of California and the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) union have reached tentative agreement on a two-year contract. Salary increases for Fiscal Year 2000-01 will be retroactive to Oct. 1, 2000, and increases for 2001-02 will be effective Oct. 1, 2001.
The tentative agreement, reached after negotiations concluded on July 3, will now go out for ratification by University/Lab and UPTE membership. If ratified, the wage increases will be distributed within 90 days of the ratification.
UPTE represents about 300 employees in the technical unit at Berkeley Lab. Total representation throughout the University of California system is about 4,000, including computer resource specialists, animal technicians, electronics technicians, computer operators, lab technicians and firefighters.
Technical employees other than the firefighters at the lab will be subject to the following adjustments under the agreement: a 4.5 percent merit pool, 1.12 percent across-the-board increase, up to 1 percent promotion-reclassification pool, and a 3.5 percent range adjustment for fiscal year 2001; and a 4 percent merit pool, up to 1 percent promotion-reclassification pool, and a 3.5 percent range adjustment for FY02.
A separate agreement was reached with the firefighters, based upon step restructuring.
One of R&D Magazine's prestigious R&D 100 awards has gone to the gas-filled panel technology developed by Berkeley Lab's Environmental Technologies Division. Winners of this year's awards were notified June 29, with Department of Energy national laboratories taking at least 21 of the 100, although the magazine will not publish the full list until September.
 AirLiner shipping container filled with CFP insulation. |
Gas-filled panels were developed as a spinoff of the Lab's research on multipaned superwindows in the 1980s. Since only products actually on the market are eligible for R&D 100 awards, the award came after the June, 2000, debut of the AirLiner bag marketed by CargoTech of San Diego, Calif.
By replacing bulky, cumbersome, friable polystyrene foam containers with AirLiners, the company hopes to make inroads on the $500 million annual market for nonrefrigerated perishables. AirLiners are flexible, collapsible honeycombs of multiple layers of thin aluminized plastic, which can be filled with air or an inert gas. Their insulation value can be tailored by varying the gas and the number of layers; even plain air-filled panels insulate better than fiberglass.
Other uses for gas-filled panel technology include insulating appliances, buildings, and vehicles. See http://gfp.lbl.gov/ and http://www.cargotech.com/ for further details. — Paul Preuss
By Allan Chen
With television cameras rolling and reporters and passers-by looking on, Philips Lighting Company held a press conference on May 6 at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Street in Berkeley to announce its free energy-efficient lighting retrofit of an entire city block. Joining them were scientists from the Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, who are verifying the energy savings for Philips and the city of Berkeley. Philips Lighting, part of Philips Electronics, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights.
Among those present to celebrate the program were Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, Philips Lighting CEO Larry Wilton, lighting scientist Francis Rubinstein of Berkeley Lab, Paul Johnson from the Seattle Office of the Department of Energy (DOE), California State Secretary Commerce Secretary Lon Hatamiya, and three Berkeley City Council members.
 Larry Wilon of Philips Lighting demonstrates the energy saving plan. |
Wilton introduced its "Energy Blueprint for the Nation," saying that Philips was providing this lighting retrofit to serve as a model for the rest of the nation, which could also face energy shortages in the coming years. "We found in a survey that two-thirds of the nation believed they could make a difference in the energy crisis by making changes at home," he said. "But more than one-third did not realize that compact fluorescent lamps are an energy-saving technology." The company hopes that consumers will adopt the technology in larger numbers when they see how much money it can save them on their energy bills.
The Telegraph Avenue block chosen for the program, between Channing and Durant, is home to some of Berkeley’s most colorful businesses, including new and used clothing, health food stores, restaurants, and a cookie store.
Rubinstein, Rick Diamond and others at Berkeley Lab have been working with Philips through DOE’s Rebuild America program to estimate the energy savings possible in the retrofit of 12 buildings and one apartment complex on that block and to assess the savings after the retrofit is complete.
"We estimate that this project will significantly reduce lighting system power use," said Rubinstein. "Power use should drop from 45 kilowatts to 25, a 45 percent reduction in electricity demand. The energy savings should be about 80,000 kilowatt-hours per year, an annual savings of about $9,000."
 The 20 kW of power saved just in this one portion of a city block will be enough to power 20-30 homes. |
Rubinstein said he believes that several stores in the program will reduce their energy use sufficiently to qualify for a 20 percent rebate this summer on the energy bill under California’s 20/20 program (see http://savepower.lbl.gov/).
Mayor Dean thanked Philips for choosing Berkeley as the site of the retrofit, and noted that the city would be making more announcements in the near future about its plans for energy efficiency. Wilton praised Berkeley’s leadership in environmental initiatives.
In addition to Philips and the Lab, Amtech Lighting and WESCO helped design and implement the retrofit, and Earth Protection Services is recycling old bulbs and fixtures removed from the stores and apartments.
Berkeley Lab’s 2001 Summer Lectures Series kicked off with a standing-room-only talk on the Human Genome Project, presented by Trevor Hawkins, director of the Joint Genome Institute. The lecture traced the history of the project and explored prospects for future applications. Hawkins also talked about social and ethical issues raised by readily-accessible genetic information.
The next two installments in the series will continue on the following two Wednesdays.
On July 18, Gerry McDermott of the Physical Biosciences Division and the Macromolecular Crystallography Facility (MCF) will discuss "More Is More: Macromolecular Crystallography at the Advanced Light Source." McDermott will address the process of determining the molecular structure of proteins by X-ray crystallography.
On July 26, Paul Alivisatos will talk about "Nanocrystals: From Scaling Laws to Biological Applications." A senior scientist in the Materials Science Division and the Chancellor’s Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science at UC Berkeley, his research concerns the structural, thermodynamic, optical, and electrical properties of nanocrystals.
The Summer Lecture Series is sponsored by the Public Information Department.
July 24-25, Berkeley Lab
Bldg. 70A-3377
You can help meet the growing demand for blood donations by participating in the two day Summer Blood Drive, conveniently scheduled onsite on July 24 and 25. The effort — part of an ongoing partnership between Berkeley Lab and the American Red Cross Blood Services — will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m on Tuesday and from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday in Bldg. 70A, Room 3377.
Donors are encouraged to schedule appointments by signing up online at the BeADonor web site (http://beadonor.com). Please use company/group code "LBL" on the web form.
To be eligible, donors must be in good health, at least 17 years of age, weigh at least 110 pounds, and not have donated blood in the last 56 days. Additional eligibility information can be found on the BeADonor website.
All participants in the Lab blood drive will receive a complimentary sports water bottle.
For more information contact Charlotte Bochra at X4268.
Tickets are still available for Family Days at Great America. Employees may choose to attend either on Aug. 25 or Aug. 26. Discounted tickets can be purchased every Tuesday and Thursday through Aug. 23 from 12 to 1 p.m. in the cafeteria lobby. Prices are $11 for ages 3-6 and $13.50 for ages 7 and higher. Purchase is limited to six tickets per employee, with a Lab ID required. For more information contact Lisa Cordova at X5521.
"Help Yourself" to Berkeley Lab's new employee self-service website at http://selfservice.lbl.gov. The site allows employees to change their personal information (home address, emergency contact), enroll in training courses, access their paycheck history, download payroll and benefit forms, change parking/automobile information, and more.
The PC is vulnerable to a wide range of security threats that can significantly disrupt work, both for the user and others. Employees can learn about these threats and what they can do about them in a free mini-course on "Securing Your Windows Desktop System," to be offered on Thursday, July 26, from 1:30-3 p.m. in the Bldg. 50 auditorium.
The course will be taught by Eugene Schultz, author of "Windows NT/2000 Network Security" and a member of the Lab’s Computer Protection Program.
Baby News
Sarah Elizabeth Blankespoor was born on June 20 to Cathy (Brion) Blankespoor of Life Sciences. Blackespoor conducts research in the Genome Sciences Department and has led the effort to introduce seventh graders to a hands-on genomics module.
Mom, dad Steve Blankespoor, and 8 lb-8 oz Sarah Elizabeth are all doing well.
Week 5
Pedal Pushers – Silver & Black,
10-0 (Forfeit)
Ballpark Estimates – Hard Drives, 16-1
SUDZ – Camshafts, 10-4
Pedal Pushers – Drosoftballa, 15-13
Rated X – Las Chupacabras, 11-4
One Time Password – Cupcakes, 11-5
Fully Loaded – Animals, 10-8
Current Standings
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1. Fully Loaded, 6-0 |
8. Drosoftballa, 2-3 |
Film Festival at the PFA
Some of the most beloved family movies ever made will be screened throughout the summer at the Pacific Film Archive. Sunday matinees will be presented at 3 p.m. Admission is $4. The theater is located in the Hearst Field Annex at 2575 Bancroft Way, near Bowditch Street.
For information, visit http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu or call 642-1412.
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July 15 |
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory |
| July 29 | A Boy Named Charlie Brown |
| Aug. 5 | The Yearling |
| Aug.12 | Charlotte's Web |
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Aug. 19 |
National Velvet |
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Aug. 26 |
Duck Soup |
Science of Playing at Hall of Science
The Lawrence Hall of Science is featuring a fun-filled exhibit with highly entertaining educational toys that shed light on scientific phenomena. Among them: dominoes, teeter-totters, swings and other hands-on activities that explain the laws of acceleration, gravity and kinetic energy.
Through Sept. 9, visitors of all ages can explore shapes and patterns while "constructing" a house using foam roof shingles and cardboard bricks; design wooden spinning tops to test the principles of inertia; and investigate how sails interact with the wind to propel boats.
South Asian Immigrants Through the Years at Brown Gallery
Photo exhibits on display in Doe Library's Brown Gallery illustrate the challenges and achievements of two generations of South Asian Immigrants. "Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California,1899-1965" documents the early struggle for Indian rights to citizenship and the struggle for an independent India. "Silicon Raj" captures modern scenes of urban Indians living in Santa Clara's high-tech community.
The works will be on display through Sept. 30. For more information call 643-0849.
ROBOLAB: Lego Robotics in YOUR lab/Home will be the topic of the next meeting of the Macintosh Users Group’s July meeting, to be held on Wednesday, July 18, form 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Building 70A-3377.
Richard Highberger of Pitsco LEGO Dacta will present new ways to integrate math, science and computer science to solve problems. Specific topics will include: creating the program using LabVIEW programming language, downloading the programming to the "Brick" within the robot, evaluating the robot’s performance, making construction changes and executing the revised program. Participants will also preview the beta version of ROBOLAB 2.5, expected to be released in August. Refreshments will be provided.
For more information see http://www.pitsco-legodacta.com.
The Facilities Department provides rush courier service with pick-up and delivery both on- and off-site. Transportation can deliver up to 2,000 pounds in the Bay Area or in central or northern California. Onsite materials will be delivered within one hour. For pick-up call X5404.
Courier service (two-hour, four-hour, same day, and rush) is also available from IDS Courier, which operates 24 hours a day and provides pick-up and delivery anywhere in the Bay Area and in parts of northern and central California. For information call 548-3263.
MACUSERS GROUP MEETING
11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Bldg.
70A-3377
SUMMER LECTURE SERIES
Noon, Bldg. 50 Auditorium
SHOEMOBILE
7:30 a.m - 3:30 p.m., cafeteria
parking lot
SUMMER BLOOD DRIVE
8 a.m - 1 p.m., Bldg.. 70A-3377
SUMMER BLOOD DRIVE
7 a.m - 1 p.m., Bldg.. 70A-3377
SUMMER LECTURE SERIES
Noon, Bldg. 50 Auditorium
COMPUTER SECURITY WORKSHOP FOR
PCS WITH WINDOW
1:30 – 3 p.m., Bldg.. 50
Auditorium
Send us your announcements
Announcements for the General Calendar and Bulletin Board page may be sent to MSFriedlander@lbl.gov. Seminar & Lectures items may be mailed to currents_ calendar@lbl.gov. You may also fax items to X6641 or mail them to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the July 27 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, July 23.
LIFE SCIENCES DIVISION SEMINAR
Proteins, Pathways and Phenotypes:
Learning from Data
Speaker: Saira Mian, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology
4 p.m., Bldg. 84, Room 318
PHYSICS DIVISON RESEARCH PROGRESS
MEETING
Searching for Extragalactic
Neutrinos
Speaker: François Vanucci, University of Paris
4 p.m., Bldg. 50A, Room 5132
ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
DIVISION SEMINAR
Building Design Advisor: An Integrated Design Decision-Making Environment
Speaker: Vineeta Pal, Building Technologies Department, EETD
Noon, Bldg. 90, Room 3148
On Monday evening, July 30, the International Nuclear Physics Conference, being held on the campus of UC Berkeley, will host a special tribute to the memory of Berkeley Lab founder Ernest Orlando Lawrence. The late particle accelerator pioneer and Berkeley’s first Nobel Prize winner would have been 100 years old on August 8. The Lawrence Centenary Lecture will be given by physicist and author Lawrence Krauss.
The Nuclear Physics Conference runs from July 30 through Aug. 3, with registration starting on July 29. For more on the conference, including registration information and preliminary schedules, see the INPC website at http://www.lbl.gov/~inpc2001/.
For more information on the Centenary Lecture and the Lab’s own celebration of the Lawrence centenary, see the July 27 issue of Currents.
|
Date |
Course |
Time |
Building |
|
|
7/16 |
EHS 280 |
Laser Safety |
1:00 – 4:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/17 |
EHS 348 |
Chemical Hygiene/Safety |
9:30 – 12:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/17 |
EHS 231 |
Compressed Gas Safety |
1:30 – 4:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/18 |
EHS 530 |
Fire Extinguisher |
10:00 – 11:30 |
48-109 |
|
7/20 |
EHS 400 |
Radiation Protection-Fundamentals |
9:00 – 12:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/23 |
EHS 432 |
Radiation Protection; Lab Safety |
1:00 – 4:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/24 |
EHS 604 |
Hazardous Waste Generators |
9:30 – 11:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/24 |
EHS 622 |
Radioactive/Mixed Waste Generators |
11:00 – 12:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/24 |
EHS 735/ |
Biosafety/Bloodborne Pathogen |
1:30 – 2:30 |
51-20 |
|
7/25 |
EHS 210 |
Hoist |
10:30 – 12:00 |
51-201 |
|
7/24 |
EHS 730 |
Medical Biohazardous Waste |
2:30 – 3:30 |
51-201 |
|
7/25 |
EHS 61 |
Ergonomics for Workstation Evaluator |
1:00 – 3:30 |
51-201 |
|
7/26 |
EHS 52 |
Back Safety |
9:00 – 10:30 |
51-201 |
|
7/26 |
EHS 260 |
Basic Electrical Hazard Awareness |
1:30 – 3:00 |
51-201 |
* Includes EHS 392/405, followed by the orientation. Please arrive at 8:15 for sign-in.
For more information or to enroll, contact Valarie Espinoza at VMEspinoza@lbl.gov or enroll via the web at http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/ehstraining/registration/. Preregistration is required for all courses except EHS 10 (Introduction to EH&S). Times and locations are subject to change. For a full, updated schedule of EH&S training sessions see http://www-ehs.lbl.gov/schedule/.
The following properties on the UC Berkeley campus adjacent to Berkeley Lab or possibly impacting traffic to the Hill are either undergoing construction now or are scheduled to start soon.
Barker Hall
The seismic retrofit and upgrade of Barker Hall is underway and will be completed by Spring 2002. For safety reasons, the crosswalk across Hearst Avenue east of the Hearst/Oxford intersection has been removed for the duration of the project, and the right-turn lane from Oxford onto Hearst will remain closed during construction. Bus and shuttle stops have been relocated.
Oxford Tract Insectary
A small insectary at the Oxford Tract, bordered by Hearst Avenue and Walnut Street, will be replaced with a new building. Construction of the new insectary will begin this summer. The insectary is the first phase of the Seismic Replacement Building 1 project, which will occupy the south end of the Oxford Tract along Hearst Avenue; it will house staff, faculty and students who are displaced while campus buildings are being seismically retrofitted.
All projects will adhere to strict regulations concerning safety, dust, dirt, exhaust fumes and stormwater runoff. For more information about campus construction, visit http://www.cp.berkeley.edu or call UC Berkeley Capital Projects at 643-4793.
‘00 HONDA CIVIC DX, 2dr, 29K mi, ac, at, CD player, $11,500, Rich, X5362
‘98 HONDA CIVIC LX, 4 dr, 28K mi, ac, auto pwr steering/doors, cruise, alarm, keyless entry syst, $12,500, Rich, X5362
‘96 FORD TAURUS GL, beige, 76K mi, recently fully serviced, smog tested, exc cond, $7,500/bo, Jon Petter, X7320, 527-2719
‘92 MAZDA 626, 4 dr, 69K mi, at, ps/pb, sunroof, am/fm/cass, exc cond, $3,900/bo, Karina , 526-7975
‘91 BOUNDER MOTOR HOME, 28’, 44 K mi, fully equipped, linens,.dishes, awning, ac, exc cond, $20,000, Everette, (925) 934-9537
‘88 TOYOTA COROLLA DX, gold, 134K mi, ac, am/fm/cass, new muffler & tires, all maint records, $3,200/bo, Shraddha, 724-9870
‘88 NISSAN SENTRA 2D sedan, red, 117K mi, auto, am/fm/cass, new battery/front brakes, $1,200/ bo, Emily, X5083, 520-1156
‘84 HONDA CIVIC WAGON, tan, 180K mi, at, am/fm/cass, recently replaced timing belt, water pump, & brake shoes/cylinders, incl snow chains, $1,900/bo, David, X7083, 658-3902
‘80 HONDA CIVIK, 5K on new timing belt, clutch, belts, hoses, starter, recent brakes, runs good, $600, Craig, (925) 699-3858 lv msg
‘68 FORD GALAXIE 500 fastback, XL int, 6K on rebuilt eng, brakes, many new parts, $3,200/ bo, Craig, (925) 699-3858 lv msg
‘99 SUZUKI SV650X V-twin, blue, showroom cond, 17K mi, street only, adult owned, new tires, $5,000/bo, Rich, X7031, (925) 689-1714 after 5 pm
BERKELEY HILLS, 1 room in beautiful split level 4 bdrm house, fully furn w/ priv entr, w/d, dw, full kitchen privil, bus stop to the Lab/downtown directly in front of house, $875/mo incl util, Arun, 524-3851
BERKELEY rooming house, very nice, quiet, clean, full kitchen & laundry access, walk to Euclid shuttle stop, 2 vacancies avail, $650/mo + util, Laura, X7493, 548-1287
EL SOBRANTE, shared housing, 1 bdrm, clean & quiet house, share kitchen, bath, & lvg rm, first & last months rent, $500 dep, $600/mo + 1/3 of PG&E & EBMUD, owner has an active border collie, Karen, X4012, KSEdwards@lbl.gov
KENSINGTON, furn rooms avail during summer term for visiting faculty & staff, quiet garden setting, $450/mo, Ruth, 526-6730
NORTH BERKELEY, B&B, close to shuttle, 1 garden cottage room & 1 lge room avail 7/1, 1 person per room, $850/mo or $300/wk, 2 weeks min, Hellen, 527-3252, Rachel, X6262
NORTH BERKELEY, lge furn sunny 1-bdrm apt, walk to stores, BART, public trans, & campus, many amenities, priv garden, gated carport, avail year-round by week/month, Denyse, 848-1830
NORTH BERKELEY, quiet furn room w/ in 7 min walk to shuttle, closets, shelves, desks, bed, util incl, avail now until end of Aug w/ possible ext, 2 of the housemates are Lab employees, $580/ mo, Shirley, cwho@lbl.gov
VISITING PROFESSOR on sabbatical from Univ of Maryland & spouse seek furn apt or house from 1/1/02-6/30/02, no children/pets/smoking, Miguel, mafurman@lbl.gov, X6443, or dragt@ physics.umd.edu
VISITING SCIENTIST & wife from Germany seek housing 8/15-09/09, hefeustel@tga-feustel. de, Helmut & Verena, 655 6594
VISITING SCIENTIST from China seeks small apt or room in Berkeley near campus for 8/1, pref furn, Teresa, ttucker@uclink. berkeley.edu
VISITING SCIENTIST seeks housing for July & Aug, Austrian, female, Chris, C_Marnay@lbl.gov, X7028, 848-2389 eves
COUCH/LOVESEAT, beige $300; cherrywood side tables, $100; cherrywood 6 pc dining room set, $600; beige/brown full size futon chair/bed $300, entertainment center, $200, all items in very good cond, Negest, 452-3141.
HONDA OUTBOARD, 7.5 hp 4 stroke standard shaft, low hours, always stored inside, $600/bo, Dave, X7598
ITALIAN LEATHER COUCH, tan, 7’ long, leather in very good cond, needs seam repair, $500/bo, Jack, 528-3053
MATTRESS & BOX SPRING, queen, very comfortable, good cond, original plastic covers, $100, Luís, X6241, 653-8510
ROAD BIKE, Bianchi, 12-spd, 18" frame, woman’s racing saddle, silver w/ red accents, used twice, $300, Chuck, 841-7885
SLIDING DOORS for closet, mirrored, unit of 3, each 37"x77.5", frame for all 3 is 80"x100", $75/ door or $200/unit, exc cond, Ruth, 526-6730
WHIRLPOOL REFRIGERATOR, 19 CF, ice maker, spill guard, slide & ez-vue shelves & draws, gal door, fed energy stan, new condition (2 yrs old), paid $700, asking $450, Tai, X5015
HOUSE SITTER, Berkeley, 8/2-8/21, walk to Lab shuttle & BART, 2 bdrm house, garden, 2 cats, no smoking, Tony, X7158
SEA KAYAKER, intermediate looking for paddling partners, morning/evening rentals at Berkeley Marina, or half-days on Tomales Bay. Also trying to learn a roll, for those interested in practicing at the Richmond Plunge, Jenn, 587-3227
PARIS, FRANCE, near Eiffel Tower, furn elegant sunny 2 bdrm apt, avail all year round by week/ month, Denyse, 848-1830
TAHOE KEYS at S. Lake Tahoe, 3 bdrm house, 2-1/2 bth, fenced yard, quiet, sunny, close to attractions, priv dock, great view, $175/night, 2 night min, Bob, (925) 376-2211
DOGHOUSE, suitable for dog up to 50 pounds, need 2 strong people to move it, Marlene, X2770, (925) 932-1289
USED REDWOOD PLANKS 2"x12"x16' & 12' long, approx 200’ total, good for gardening or fencing, Joe, X7571
Ads are accepted only from LBNL employees, retirees, and onsite DOE personnel. Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale.
Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home phone number. Ads must be submitted in writing via e-mail (fleamarket@lbl.gov), fax (X6641), or delivered/mailed to Bldg. 65B.
Ads run one week only unless resubmitted, and are repeated only as space permits. They may not be retracted once submitted for publication.
The deadline for the July 27 issue Thursday, July 19.