Science on Saturday starts tomorrow Science on Saturday starts tomorrow (February 04, 2005)

This year's lectures all being held at Amador Theater

The Livermore Lab's Science on Saturday series, for students in sixth grade through high school, begins tomorrow. The lectures and demonstrations will run through March 5, and all will take place at the Amador Theater, 1155 Santa Rita Road.

"Science on Saturday connects students with advances in science," said Richard Farnsworth, manager of the Science and Technology Education Program at the Lab. "But more importantly our scientists communicate their passion for science. It's the passion, I believe, that ignites a student's interest in science."

Tomorrow's program is "Juggling the Power of Light: How Lasers Work," presented by physicist Ed Moses, project manager of the National Ignition Facility at the Lab, and Los Gatos High School teacher Dan Burns.

The audience will participate in demonstrations using small lasers combined with the art of juggling. Topics will include energizing the laser; changing beam direction; synchronizing multiple beams, and changing the color of laser light. Students will receive a free color NIF poster.

Each presentation in the series is a collaboration between a Lab scientist and a science teacher. Other lectures in the series are: Feb. 12 - Inside Forensics: Behind CSI Feb. 19 - Decode This: Decoding Genomes Feb. 26 - Plasma Spectroscopy; Fingerprinting the Universe March 5 - From the Big Bang to California: Observations of the Universe

All the lectures are free, begin at 9:30 a.m. and end no later than 11:15 a.m.

Also featured this year is Science Chat, which invites students to stay after the lecture for an hour to talk with scientists. Space is limited to 40; preregister at http://educations.llnl.gov/sciencechat/. For more information, call Farnsworth at 422-5059. -Dolores Fox Ciardelli

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