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In this issue:
Flat Johnny Visits ATLAS
Science Today: Biology—Now in 3-D!
New Hours for Linear Café Lunches
SLAC Run and Walk Today
Travel Reimbursement Deadline Dec 3

SLAC Today

Thursday - November 20, 2008

(Photo - Flat Johnny and the SLAC ATLAS group at CERN)
Flat Johnny and the SLAC ATLAS group at CERN: (from left) Sarah Demers, Paul Jackson, Charlie Young, Ignacio Aracena, Claus Horn, David Miller and Bart Butler. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Demers. Click for larger image.)

Flat Johnny Visits ATLAS

At the Large Hadron Collider's ATLAS control room in Geneva, Swizerland, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory postdoctoral researcher Sarah Demers meets travelers from all over the world. Her most recent visitor is made of paper and arrived by mail.

Hand-drawn by 8-year-old Johnny, a relative of Demers, "Flat Johnny" took a tour of ATLAS and the nearby town of Dresden with her. She chronicled their travels in a series of pictures.

The real Johnny mailed his paper namesake as part of a classroom activity inspired by the book Flat Stanley. In the story, a young boy named Stanley is flattened by a falling bulletin board, and realizes that he can now travel the world by mail. Flat Stanley has his picture taken in various exotic and beautiful locations, and with the people he meets there. The Flat Stanley Project has grown to include thousands of participants, and teaches children letter writing as they send their own "flat" selves to other students, people in locations they'd like to visit, or to famous figures. Clint Eastwood appeared with his daughter's "Flat Stanley" at the Academy Awards, and Arnold Schwarzenegger brought his son's "flat self" on The Tonight Show. Recipients take photos with the flat people and send them back to the students  Read more...

(Daily Column - Science Today)

Biology—Now in 3-D!


Physicists and astronomers are increasingly using 3-D renderings, like the PDF of the Steap3 protein linked above, to visualize their work. (PDF courtesy of Norman Graf. Click image to see the 3-D model.)

Consider the structure of a protein, solved by users at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. Some proteins have deep crevices or appendages that pivot and rotate. But scientific papers by necessity present these dynamic three-dimensional structures with flat and static two-dimensional pictures. Biologists can now share 3-D images of their proteins with simple Portable Document Format files.

"So much of what we do in science is 3-D information, especially at SSRL," said SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory physicist Norman Graf. "[SSRL scientists'] whole point is to find information in 3-D."

In his own work, Graf uses PDF files to share 3-D schematics of particle detector designs. But after he read about the structure of a protein called Steap3, which was solved using SSRL's Beamline 9-2, he was curious to see the protein in its true 3-D shape.  Read more...

New Hours for Linear Café Lunches

Starting today, the Linear Café has extended lunchtime service from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily. The café will continue to remain open for snacks and beverages until 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Along with the added lunch hours, the café has updated their menu to include alternating hot entrées and salads in the "Good Food for You" category.

SLAC Run and Walk Today

Grab your sneakers and head over to the north side of the Klystron Gallery before noon today to join in the 37th Annual SLAC Run and Walk. Sign-ups and T-shirt sales open at 11:45 a.m. The race starts on the south side at Sector 30 promptly at 12:05. See the race Web site for details.

Travel Reimbursement Deadline Dec 3

With the year-end shutdown looming, the Travel Reimbursement Office asks travelers to please turn in travel expense reports by December 3 for possible reimbursement before noon, December 17.

The Travel Office will clear as many reimbursements as possible this year, in the order received. Reports turned in after December 3 may be reimbursed in 2009. Please submit complete documentation with travel expense reports. Incomplete reports may be delayed. See the Travel Reimbursement Office Web site for details about travel expense reports.

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