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Are the digits of pi random? A Berkeley Lab researcher may hold the key

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Pi, the ubiquitous number whose first few digits are 3.14159, is irrational, which means that its digits run on forever (by now they have been calculated to billions of places) and never repeat in a cyclical fashion. Numbers like pi are also thought to be "normal," which means that their digits are random in a certain statistical sense.

Are the digits of pi random? A Berkeley Lab researcher may hold the key

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

No natural constant has ever been proved "normal," a mathematical way of expressing randomness. Now, a Berkeley mathematician has made giant strides towards proving the normality of the familiar constant pi and other irrational constants.

Journal: Experimental Mathematics
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

NMR shakes off its coil: A new technique for high-resolution NMR spectroscopy outside the magnet

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley researchers have recovered high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy data from experimental samples in a grossly nonuniform field. The new "ex situ" technique could significantly extend the use of NMR spectroscopy as an analytical tool.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

With first comparative look at human and mouse DNA, joint genome institute team confirms gene estimate

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Earlier this year, researchers mapping the human genome estimated that human DNA contains about 30,000 genes. Now, based on the first-ever look at comparable sections of human and mouse DNA, a team of Walnut Creek-based Joint Genome Institute (JGI) scientists has confirmed that estimate as roughly accurate.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Researchers determine global warming during the 20th century may be slightly larger than earlier estimates

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Lawrence Lab have concluded that global warming during the 20th century may have been slightly larger than the previously estimated value of roughly 0.6 degrees Celsius. These findings contrast with claims by greenhouse skeptics who contend that the warming seen in the observational record is an error introduced by incomplete and changing geographical coverage of temperature measurements.

Lab physicist Mordy Rosen receives prestigious Edward Teller Medal for 2001

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Lawrence Livermore National Laboraotry laser and plasma physicist Mordy Rosen is one of two recipients of the prestigious Edward Teller Medal for 2001. The award was announced this week by the American Nuclear Society. The Edward Teller Medal recognizes pioneering research and leadership in inertial fusion sciences and applications.

New discoveries in the process of bone, shell growth

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research on the process biological organisms use to modify crystal shape and growth, forming such complex structures as bones, eggshells and seashells, is detailed in the most recent issue of the science journal, Nature. Christine Orme of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the lead author of the article, titled "Formation of Chiral Morphologies through Selective Binding of Amino Acids to Calcite Surface Steps."

New findings on breast cancer reported at the annual AAAS meeting

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

New experimental findings by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) cell biologist Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff show that exposure to ionizing radiation creates a microenvironment in the tissue surrounding breast cells that can cause even nonirradiated cells and their progeny to become cancerous. The discovery suggests new and possibly more effective means for preventing breast cancer.

Atomic scale tinker toys

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Nanotechnology offers a potential cornucopia of benefits, from palm-sized supercomputers to synthesized antibodies to molecular-scale robots. Such wonders will be constructed from the ground up using nano-sized building blocks.

MAXIMA unveils high resolution picture of the early universe

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

New evidence derived from measurements of minute variations in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have produced a new diagram of sound waves in the dense early universe. The graph, called a CMB "power spectrum," not only shows a primary resonance but is consistent with two more harmonics, or peaks.