UC Science Today

A team of computer scientists and engineers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a software-based tool called Network Mapping System, or NeMS, which improves network security. As computer scientist Domingo Colon explains, one of the limitations on current products is that they’re based on configuration.

"So, they want to validate that your configuration is as you think it is. And that’s fine – but what we found is that how something is configured is not necessarily the same thing as how it’s used. Meaning, you might have configured it within a given intent, but someone might be using it for a different type of intent."

And it’s not often nefarious. For instance, people may add products or devices to their computer that they think will be helpful to them. What NeMs does is allow network administrators and security personnel to keep a constant assessment of what that environment looks like.

"It provides them a pretty immediate feedback to figure out who’s doing what and is this a problem. Sometimes you need that immediacy and to determine from that information is it something that you need to take action on."

A team of computer scientists and engineers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a software-based tool called Network Mapping System, or NeMS, which improves network security. As computer scientist Domingo Colon explains, one of the limitations on current products is that they’re based on configuration.

"So, they want to validate that your configuration is as you think it is. And that’s fine – but what we found is that how something is configured is not necessarily the same thing as how it’s used. Meaning, you might have configured it within a given intent, but someone might be using it for a different type of intent."

And it’s not often nefarious. For instance, people may add products or devices to their computer that they think will be helpful to them. What NeMs does is allow network administrators and security personnel to keep a constant assessment of what that environment looks like.

"It provides them a pretty immediate feedback to figure out who’s doing what and is this a problem. Sometimes you need that immediacy and to determine from that information is it something that you need to take action on."

An older generation antibiotic currently used in animals to reduce bacterial infections was found to block contemporary strains of Zika virus in human tissue in the lab. Dr. Lenore Pereira of the University of California, San Francisco joined forces with UC Berkeley to make this discovery.

"What’s interesting about this drug, it’s called Duramycin, it’s a small molecule inhibitor. And it works directly against the virus envelope – it doesn’t work against the cell. So it’s very specific for Zika virus, Dengue, Ebola; I mean, we are thrilled about the finding."

The drug blocked the transmission of Zika virus from mother to fetus from the two routes of infection Pereira helped discover; the placenta in the first trimester and the amniotic sac in the second.

"Just this basic knowledge helps us now to ask other questions about what is the best way to reduce infection in a pregnant woman."

This week on Science Today. It’s been 20 years since two UC San Francisco physicians proposed a new kind of doctor – a hospitalist – which is basically a generalist who specializes in inpatient care. Dr. Steve Pantilat was hired at UCSF as a hospitalist in 1996. And while I may be dating myself, I first interviewed Pantilat not long after. Then, about three years after his hire, he founded one of the nation’s first hospital-based palliative care programs at UCSF. Recently, I asked what motivated him at the time.

"I had this longstanding interest in ethics and what I liked about palliative care is that it took the ethics and really brought it to the care of patients in a very real way."

Palliative care has been the focus of Pantilat’s career ever since. Meanwhile, at the Berkeley Lab, physical chemist Kevin Wilson has been focused on the clouds – his lab simulated the microphysics of how cloud droplets form.

"We hope that we can develop more accurate predictions that ultimately can go into models, climate models, that hopefully long term, will give us more accurate predictions of the kinds of climate change processing we might expect in the future."

And have you heard of the American Gut Project? This is a crowdcsourced, crowdfunded citizen science project co-founded by Rob Knight of UC San Diego. The project allows anyone to see what their microbiome looks like.

"At the moment, I should point out that the benefit is primarily in terms of scientific knowledge and just understanding what makes a difference to your microbiome and what doesn’t. But as an increasing number of diseases get linked to the microbiome, it’s possible that in the future, we’ll be able to develop tests for particular diseases that are based on the microbiome."

Don’t miss these and other episodes about University of California research – subscribe to UC Science Today on iTunes or follow us on Soundcloud. Thanks for listening. I’m Larissa Branin.

Subscribe to Science Today:

iTunes: apple.co/1TQBewD

Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/science-today

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ucsciencetoday

Stories mentioned in this roundup:

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/the_hospitalist

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/cloud_microphysics

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/american_gut

This week on Science Today. It’s been 20 years since two UC San Francisco physicians proposed a new kind of doctor – a hospitalist – which is basically a generalist who specializes in inpatient care. Dr. Steve Pantilat was hired at UCSF as a hospitalist in 1996. And while I may be dating myself, I first interviewed Pantilat not long after. Then, about three years after his hire, he founded one of the nation’s first hospital-based palliative care programs at UCSF. Recently, I asked what motivated him at the time.

"I had this longstanding interest in ethics and what I liked about palliative care is that it took the ethics and really brought it to the care of patients in a very real way."

Palliative care has been the focus of Pantilat’s career ever since. Meanwhile, at the Berkeley Lab, physical chemist Kevin Wilson has been focused on the clouds – his lab simulated the microphysics of how cloud droplets form.

"We hope that we can develop more accurate predictions that ultimately can go into models, climate models, that hopefully long term, will give us more accurate predictions of the kinds of climate change processing we might expect in the future."

And have you heard of the American Gut Project? This is a crowdcsourced, crowdfunded citizen science project co-founded by Rob Knight of UC San Diego. The project allows anyone to see what their microbiome looks like.

"At the moment, I should point out that the benefit is primarily in terms of scientific knowledge and just understanding what makes a difference to your microbiome and what doesn’t. But as an increasing number of diseases get linked to the microbiome, it’s possible that in the future, we’ll be able to develop tests for particular diseases that are based on the microbiome."

Don’t miss these and other episodes about University of California research – subscribe to UC Science Today on iTunes or follow us on Soundcloud. Thanks for listening. I’m Larissa Branin.

Subscribe to Science Today:

iTunes: apple.co/1TQBewD

Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/science-today

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ucsciencetoday

Stories mentioned in this roundup:

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/the_hospitalist

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/cloud_microphysics

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/american_gut

An older generation antibiotic currently used in animals to reduce bacterial infections was found to block contemporary strains of Zika virus in human tissue in the lab. Dr. Lenore Pereira of the University of California, San Francisco joined forces with UC Berkeley to make this discovery.

"What’s interesting about this drug, it’s called Duramycin, it’s a small molecule inhibitor. And it works directly against the virus envelope – it doesn’t work against the cell. So it’s very specific for Zika virus, Dengue, Ebola; I mean, we are thrilled about the finding."

The drug blocked the transmission of Zika virus from mother to fetus from the two routes of infection Pereira helped discover; the placenta in the first trimester and the amniotic sac in the second.

"Just this basic knowledge helps us now to ask other questions about what is the best way to reduce infection in a pregnant woman."

The meteorology of cloud formation is relatively well understood. Physical chemist Kevin Wilson of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explains that’s because it's pretty easy to predict when and where clouds will form in the atmosphere.

"Conditions have the right temperature, the right amount of water vapor, but what's more uncertain, has been a challenge for models, for example, is to understand what I would call the microphysics, which is how do individual cloud droplets form."

Wilson and his colleagues simulated the microphysics in the lab, using custom-built equipment to model cloud droplet formation. This gave them a much better understanding of what's going on at the microscopic level, which may improve the accuracy of climate change models.

"We hope that we can develop more accurate predictions that ultimately can go into models, climate models, that hopefully long term, will give us more accurate predictions of the kinds of climate change processing we might expect in the future."

The meteorology of cloud formation is relatively well understood. Physical chemist Kevin Wilson of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explains that’s because it's pretty easy to predict when and where clouds will form in the atmosphere.

"Conditions have the right temperature, the right amount of water vapor, but what's more uncertain, has been a challenge for models, for example, is to understand what I would call the microphysics, which is how do individual cloud droplets form."

Wilson and his colleagues simulated the microphysics in the lab, using custom-built equipment to model cloud droplet formation. This gave them a much better understanding of what's going on at the microscopic level, which may improve the accuracy of climate change models.

"We hope that we can develop more accurate predictions that ultimately can go into models, climate models, that hopefully long term, will give us more accurate predictions of the kinds of climate change processing we might expect in the future."

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men and women combined in the United States. And yet, only about 50 percent of individuals who are recommended to get screened, do so. Dr. Judy Yee of the University of California, San Francisco is a pioneer of the use of CT colonography, or virtual colonoscopy. This less-invasive technology recently scored high marks.

"On June 15, the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force released their final recommendation for colorectal screening and they included CT colonography under their A rating. That means that every insurance company in this country will have to cover CT colonography for screening. And this is great news for patients. I think it will really provide improved access to patients who have been hesitant to come in for colorectal cancer screening because they don't want an invasive technique."

This will hopefully lead to Medicare reimubursement, too.

A team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are bioinspired – that is, they’re finding inspiration from nature and biology to create synthetic materials for a range of problems. Bioengineer Phil Messersmith says while there’s particular interest in the medical field, it’s not exclusive. In fact, their work creating super-strong mollusk-inspired adhesives for fetal surgery, is also of interest to a group of battery technology scientists at the Berkeley Lab.

"For lithium ion batteries, they need better binders for the particles – there’s huge swelling/de-swelling that happens when you charge and discharge one of these batteries and you have to have effective adhesion between the binder and these particles, otherwise they form cracks and the electrical pathway is interrupted. So, some of the adhesion from our mussel research can be implemented into this battery technology, so we’re doing that as well."