UC Science Today

For several years, there’s been a big push to have alternatives to animal testing of drugs. Scientist Rashi Iyer of the Los Alamos National Laboratory says it’s a very slow and expensive process, so they’re developing the ATHENA system, which simulates human organs.

"It’s artificial human organs that is a bench top platform that you can use to screen drugs. There are two strengths. One is that you’re actually developing a system that simulates a human system. So we hope that our lung, for example, would breathe; liver that metabolizes; a heart that pumps. The other strength is you get very deep analysis and also in real-time. So, if you do a drug exposure you know exactly where your system is crashing."

The Los Alamos Lab, or LANL, is the lead institute in this collaborative effort.

"LANL is primarily responsible for the lung; Harvard is doing the heart system and LANL and Vanderbilt are engaged in the kidney development and all the integration. At the end of every organ completion it gets integrated at LANL."

Humans have been broadcasting radio and television signals into deep space for about a hundred years. And if anyone is listening, they might send something back. Dan Werthimer directs the University of California, Berkeley’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, and he says that our broadcasts have already gone past thousands of stars.

"The early radio shows and early television have gone past 10,000 stars. The nearby stars have seen the "Simpsons" and the distant stars have seen "I Love Lucy," and "Ed Sullivan." So we're sending off all of this radio and television, and radar, and maybe E.T. does something like that, or if we're very lucky, maybe they send us a deliberate signal."

Werthimer says that unlike radio and television signals, laser signals are for point-to-point communication, and receiving one could mean that E.T. knows where we are. His team has recently started looking for these signals in infrared.

"These are colors that you and I can’t see, but they’re very good for interstellar communication and we’re hoping E.T. might send us a laser signal."

For several years, there’s been a big push to have alternatives to animal testing of drugs. Scientist Rashi Iyer of the Los Alamos National Laboratory says it’s a very slow and expensive process, so they’re developing the ATHENA system, which simulates human organs.

"It’s artificial human organs that is a bench top platform that you can use to screen drugs. There are two strengths. One is that you’re actually developing a system that simulates a human system. So we hope that our lung, for example, would breathe; liver that metabolizes; a heart that pumps. The other strength is you get very deep analysis and also in real-time. So, if you do a drug exposure you know exactly where your system is crashing."

The Los Alamos Lab, or LANL, is the lead institute in this collaborative effort.

"LANL is primarily responsible for the lung; Harvard is doing the heart system and LANL and Vanderbilt are engaged in the kidney development and all the integration. At the end of every organ completion it gets integrated at LANL."

Humans have been broadcasting radio and television signals into deep space for about a hundred years. And if anyone is listening, they might send something back. Dan Werthimer directs the University of California, Berkeley’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, and he says that our broadcasts have already gone past thousands of stars.

"The early radio shows and early television have gone past 10,000 stars. The nearby stars have seen the "Simpsons" and the distant stars have seen "I Love Lucy," and "Ed Sullivan." So we're sending off all of this radio and television, and radar, and maybe E.T. does something like that, or if we're very lucky, maybe they send us a deliberate signal."

Werthimer says that unlike radio and television signals, laser signals are for point-to-point communication, and receiving one could mean that E.T. knows where we are. His team has recently started looking for these signals in infrared.

"These are colors that you and I can’t see, but they’re very good for interstellar communication and we’re hoping E.T. might send us a laser signal."

For several years, there’s been a big push to have alternatives to animal testing of drugs. Scientist Rashi Iyer of the Los Alamos National Laboratory says it’s a very slow and expensive process, so they’re developing the ATHENA system, which simulates human organs.

"It’s artificial human organs that is a bench top platform that you can use to screen drugs. There are two strengths. One is that you’re actually developing a system that simulates a human system. So we hope that our lung, for example, would breathe; liver that metabolizes; a heart that pumps. The other strength is you get very deep analysis and also in real-time. So, if you do a drug exposure you know exactly where your system is crashing."

The Los Alamos Lab, or LANL, is the lead institute in this collaborative effort.

"LANL is primarily responsible for the lung; Harvard is doing the heart system and LANL and Vanderbilt are engaged in the kidney development and all the integration. At the end of every organ completion it gets integrated at LANL."

Humans have been broadcasting radio and television signals into deep space for about a hundred years. And if anyone is listening, they might send something back. Dan Werthimer directs the University of California, Berkeley’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, and he says that our broadcasts have already gone past thousands of stars.

"The early radio shows and early television have gone past 10,000 stars. The nearby stars have seen the "Simpsons" and the distant stars have seen "I Love Lucy," and "Ed Sullivan." So we're sending off all of this radio and television, and radar, and maybe E.T. does something like that, or if we're very lucky, maybe they send us a deliberate signal."

Werthimer says that unlike radio and television signals, laser signals are for point-to-point communication, and receiving one could mean that E.T. knows where we are. His team has recently started looking for these signals in infrared.

"These are colors that you and I can’t see, but they’re very good for interstellar communication and we’re hoping E.T. might send us a laser signal."

For several years, there’s been a big push to have alternatives to animal testing of drugs. Scientist Rashi Iyer of the Los Alamos National Laboratory says it’s a very slow and expensive process, so they’re developing the ATHENA system, which simulates human organs.

"It’s artificial human organs that is a bench top platform that you can use to screen drugs. There are two strengths. One is that you’re actually developing a system that simulates a human system. So we hope that our lung, for example, would breathe; liver that metabolizes; a heart that pumps. The other strength is you get very deep analysis and also in real-time. So, if you do a drug exposure you know exactly where your system is crashing."

The Los Alamos Lab, or LANL, is the lead institute in this collaborative effort.

"LANL is primarily responsible for the lung; Harvard is doing the heart system and LANL and Vanderbilt are engaged in the kidney development and all the integration. At the end of every organ completion it gets integrated at LANL."

It’s been commonly assumed that electric vehicles are not as useful to daily commuters because of their battery’s limited energy storage capacity. But a new study led by research scientist Samveg Saxena of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that electric vehicles can still meet the daily travel needs of drivers even after they’ve lost substantial battery capacity.

"Even well beyond having lost 20 percent of a battery's energy storage capacity, the needs of so many drivers all across the country will still be met. And so as a result, these batteries will last a lot longer than just having lost 20 percent of their energy storage capacity."

Saxena’s team simulated different scenarios based on real data about people’s driving behaviors across the U.S. using a Nissan Leaf, a car with similar energy storage capacity to many other EVs on the market.

"We looked at so many "what would happen if" types of scenarios, to come to the conclusions that we ultimately came to, that EV's will meet the needs of so many more people than is commonly assumed."

It’s been commonly assumed that electric vehicles are not as useful to daily commuters because of their battery’s limited energy storage capacity. But a new study led by research scientist Samveg Saxena of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that electric vehicles can still meet the daily travel needs of drivers even after they’ve lost substantial battery capacity.

"Even well beyond having lost 20 percent of a battery's energy storage capacity, the needs of so many drivers all across the country will still be met. And so as a result, these batteries will last a lot longer than just having lost 20 percent of their energy storage capacity."

Saxena’s team simulated different scenarios based on real data about people’s driving behaviors across the U.S. using a Nissan Leaf, a car with similar energy storage capacity to many other EVs on the market.

"We looked at so many "what would happen if" types of scenarios, to come to the conclusions that we ultimately came to, that EV's will meet the needs of so many more people than is commonly assumed."

It’s been commonly assumed that electric vehicles are not as useful to daily commuters because of their battery’s limited energy storage capacity. But a new study led by research scientist Samveg Saxena of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that electric vehicles can still meet the daily travel needs of drivers even after they’ve lost substantial battery capacity.

"Even well beyond having lost 20 percent of a battery's energy storage capacity, the needs of so many drivers all across the country will still be met. And so as a result, these batteries will last a lot longer than just having lost 20 percent of their energy storage capacity."

Saxena’s team simulated different scenarios based on real data about people’s driving behaviors across the U.S. using a Nissan Leaf, a car with similar energy storage capacity to many other EVs on the market.

"We looked at so many "what would happen if" types of scenarios, to come to the conclusions that we ultimately came to, that EV's will meet the needs of so many more people than is commonly assumed."