Top Stories:

Math of Popping Bubbles in a Foam

Bubble baths, soapy dishwater and the refreshing head on a beer. All are foams, beautiful yet ephemeral as the bubbles pop one by one. Now, Berkeley Lab researchers have described mathematically the complex evolution and disappearance of foamy bubbles, a feat that could help in modeling industrial processes in which liquids mix or in the formation of solid foams such as those used to cushion bicycle helmets. More>

Bridging Gap to Exascale with a
Trillion Particle Simulation

An unprecedented trillion-particle simulation, which utilized more than 120,000 processors and generated about 350 terabytes of data, pushed the performance capability of NERSC’s Cray XE6 “Hopper” supercomputer to its limits. It also allowed Berkeley Lab researchers to glean valuable insights that will help thousands of scientists worldwide make the most of current petascale systems and future exascale machines. More>

Researchers Model Impact of Aerosols over California

For the first time ever, researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Colorado State University and the California Air Resources Board have characterized the relative, direct influence of different aerosol species on seasonal atmospheric warming and cooling over California using supercomputers at NERSC and at PNNL. The scientists found that aerosols have a net cooling effect on California’s atmosphere, but individual species contribute differently. While sulfates contributed the most to cooling, black carbon particles, or soot, were responsible for up to 95 percent of countervailing warming. More>

Career Awards:

James Sethian Elected to National Academy of Sciences

James Sethian, an applied mathematician at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and professor of mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley, was one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. At Berkeley Lab, Sethian leads the Mathematics Group in the Computational Research Division. More>

Aydin Buluç Wins 2013 DOE Early Career Award

Aydin Buluç of CRD has been honored with a 2013 Department of Energy Early Career Award for his work on energy-efficient parallel graph and data mining algorithms. With this award, Buluç will develop a new family of algorithms to drastically reduce the energy footprint and running time of graph and sparse matrix computations that form the basis of various data mining techniques. More>

Newsbytes:

New to Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences

Introducing: Jeffrey Donatelli, Lisa Gerhardt, Michael Pfannenstiel and Jason Zurawski. More>

A Brain Visualization Prototype

Researchers from Berkeley Lab, UCSF, and Oblong Industries presented a prototype of their brain simulation and innovative navigation interface at UCSF's OME Precision Medicine Summit. Experts believe that this technology holds promise for the field of precision medicine, which will allow future doctors to cross-reference an individual’s personal history and biology with patterns found worldwide and use that network of knowledge to deliver care that’s preventive, targeted, timely, and effective. More>

ESnet, University of Virginia Team Win Best Paper

Networking has several definitions, including making key connections and moving information from one point to another. And a paper co-authored by engineers at ESnet and the University of Virginia proves the value of both — it was named a Best Paper at the Sixth International Conference on Communication Theory, Reliability, and Quality of Service, held April 21–26 in Venice, Italy. The paper, “On How to Provision Quality of Service (QoS) for Large Dataset Transfers,” was written by Zhenzhen Yan, a Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia (UVA), UVA Professor Malathi Veeraraghavan, and Chris Tracy and Chin Guok of ESnet. More>

Berkeley Lab's Science at the Theater: Accelerating Science with (Very, Very) Big Data

At the Berkeley Lab's Science at the Theater event on May 13, 2013, seven Berkeley Lab scientists presented seven BIG ideas in eight minutes each. Greg Bell, head of the Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and Director of the Berkeley Lab's Scientific Networking Division, talked about how big data will transform scientific discovery. More>

In the News:

NBC News: Curse or Coincidence? Scientists Study Tornado Alley's Past and Future

Following the devastating tornado in Oklahoma, NBC News looked at the scientific questions behind apparent tornado patterns in “Curse or coincidence? Scientists study Tornado Alley's past and future.” For the question “Will climate change make tornadoes worse? More frequent?” they turned to Michael Wehner of the Computational Research Division, an expert on climate change and extreme weather. Wehner explains why those questions are difficult to answer now, but expresses optimism that improving supercomputer technology will make them answerable in the near future. Other media that picked up Wehner’s comments include The Independent (UK), National Geographic, Mother Nature Network, and the Huffington Post. More>

HPCWire: "No Exascale for You!" An Interview with Horst Simon

Twice during the week of May 6, Berkeley Lab Deputy Director Horst Simon gave presentations of a new talk on “Why We Need Exascale and Why We Won’t Get There by 2020.” Not only was the talk a hit with conference attendees, but it also made its way onto ExtremeTech and Slashdot. In an HPCwire exclusive, Simon talks about his presentation. More>

HPCWire: Computing the Physics of Bubbles

This HPCwire article tackles James Sethian and Robert Saye’s research on computing the physics of bubbles. The work drew attention for its coolness factor as well as its practical applications. It was also the topic of articles in The Atlantic, New Scientist, Scientific American, Live Science and Time Magazine, among others. More>

ASCR Discovery: Energy-Materials Research a Test Case for Big-Data Flood

Big data extends far beyond its literal interpretation. It’s more than large volumes of information. It’s also complexity, including new classes of data that stretch the capabilities of existing computers. In fact, analytical algorithms and computing infrastructures must rapidly evolve to keep pace with big data. This ASCR Discovery feature highlights a collaboration between Berkeley Lab's Computational Research Division and the Advanced Light Source to develop tools for analyzing X-ray scattering data. More>

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