Josh Braun

January 6, 2003

Energy Dept. To Review UC Lab

By Josh Braun

Los Alamos is one of the nation's three nuclear laboratories run by the Dept. of Energy and managed by the University of California. The resignations, which follow a number of scandals at the laboratory, may be a harbing...

December 5, 2002

UCSB Receives Grant to Research Fiber Optics

By Josh Braun

Five UCSB researchers were recently awarded $3.5 million by DARPA to create advanced routing devices for optical computer networks over the next four years. The project is part of a field of research known as photonics.

November 25, 2002

The Lab Rat: How You Can Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Fission

By Josh Braun

Shape charges are specialized explosives molded into special shapes that control the direction of their explosion. The directional force of these explosions results in incredible precision.

November 18, 2002

Lab Rat: Fly Me to the Moon, Just Don’t Incinerate Me Along the Way

By Josh Braun

By bouncing laser light off of mirrors on the lunar surface and recording the amount of time it takes to make the trip, scientists can determine the distance to the moon.

November 14, 2002

Lab Rat: Don’t Make Light of Photons

By Josh Braun

The theory of continental drift had to wait decades before it could be tested through actual tracking of plate movements. The techniques necessary for tracking them with precision did not exist when the theory was first...

November 12, 2002

First UC Vice President of Lab Management Quits

By Josh Braun

John McTague, the first vice president of laboratory management for the University of California's national labs, announced plans to resign the position last Friday.

November 5, 2002

Lab Rat: You Could Be Anywhere

By Josh Braun

Since the stations know their true position, they can tell how accurate the satellites' information is and send it to GPS receivers to help correct them.

November 5, 2002

Software Error Lists Voters as Absentees

By Josh Braun

An anomaly in the county clerk office's voter registration software was responsible for many late-registered voters being erroneously marked as absentee voters at the county's polling locations

October 29, 2002

Lab Rat: Take a Voyage Through the Relatively Wonderful World of Time and Space

By Josh Braun

If you're driving at 60 miles per hour and spit out the window of your truck - not something I'd recommend - you might see your spit fly forward at 10 miles per hour (in the split second before the wind catches it and th...

October 17, 2002

Minimalism to the Max

By Josh Braun

Philip Glass will change your life. He's been called a minimalist and the new Stravinsky, but it's not as easy as all that. His style is about as difficult to pin as a wrestler on a Teflon mat.

October 15, 2002

Pentagon Thrusts Missile into Pacific Sky

By Josh Braun

The strange lights in the Santa Barbara sky last night were not indicative of the second coming. They were, however, the latest in a series of missile defense tests held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in north Santa Barbar...

October 10, 2002

Researcher Lectures on Resistant Bacteria

By Josh Braun

People around the world are dying of bacterial infections that were once entirely treatable with conventional antibiotics and as modern medicine advances, the situation stands to get worse, not better.

October 1, 2002

The Red Tape: Buzz Off

By Josh Braun

The West Nile virus is spreading, the death tolls in America are reaching the hundreds this year and there have been thousands of reported cases of infection.

September 27, 2002

Research Links Ecstasy Use to Parkinson’s

By Josh Braun

Love it or leave it, the drug Ecstasy has been known to have side effects, including problems with sleep, mood, anxiety, impulsive behavior, inattention and memory.

September 26, 2002

UCSB Researchers Produce New DNA Test

By Josh Braun

For those still concerned about anthrax: Soon you can be paranoid for half the price! The new one-step method is also cheaper and faster than traditional DNA testing.

September 20, 2002

Red Tape: New School Year Brings New School Year Resolutions

By Josh Braun

I was all set to write an informative column this week, when at the last minute someone stole my idea for the staff editorial (See upper left). Bastards.