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The structure and evolution of planets is determined by material behavior at high pressure. Such high pressures can only be achieved at High Energy Density (HED) facilities like Sandia’s Z machine and high-power laser facilities. Z stores 22MJ of energy that is released in pulses of up to 25MA peak current with 200-1000ns rise times. The large currents generate strong magnetic fields that can be used to create high pressures in dynamic material experiments. This capability enables evaluation of material equation-of-state and other properties in extreme conditions. I will present three examples using experimental results from the Z machine to answer long-standing questions in planetary science. First, solar system evolution models have been unable to consistently account for observations of Jupiter and Saturn. Recent Z observations of a first-order liquid-liquid insulator to metal transition in hydrogen may shed light on this discrepancy. Second, measurements of iron vaporization may address troubling differences between models of the Earth’s moon forming event and observations of the Earth and moon’s compositions. Finally, precise measurements of high-pressure water were used to validate DFT models which in turn informed planetary structure models suggesting an explanation of the multi-polar magnetic fields of Neptune and Uranus.
The Z Fundamental Science Program (ZFSP), which enables the academic community to take advantage of the facility enabling much of this work, will be described.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has increased our understanding of biological phenomena and human disease by enabling highly sensitive transcriptome analysis across a large dynamic range of RNA expression levels. As exciting new applications for NGS emerge, Clontech continues to develop powerful new tools for life science research by improving and building upon its core technologies. A common feature of Clontech® NGS kits is SMART® technology, which harnesses the template-switching activity of customized reverse transcriptases to enable researchers to analyze their most challenging samples, such as ultra-low input or single-cell RNA, noncoding RNA, and RNA from degraded samples. In particular, single-cell RNA-seq is one of the fastest-growing applications of NGS, and the SMARTer Ultra® Low mRNA-seq family of products, featuring a highly sensitive, dT-primed mechanism, has become the gold standard for this type of analysis. The newest generations of ultra-low input/single-cell mRNA-seq and picogram-input total RNA-seq kits have brought increased sensitivity to SMART technology by improving upon the SMART-Seq® method and incorporating locked nucleic acid (LNA) technology. Expanding applications for SMART technology have led to a ligation-free method for generating ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation) sequencing libraries. This seminar will take you on a tour of these new technologies and highlight ongoing research on a variety of NGS applications, including single-cell RNA-seq.

Abstract: Generations of scholars of different disciplines have struggled with the mystery of conscious awareness. How does it come about? And, no less importantly, what does it do? To meet the challenge of scientifically operationalizing this question, different experimental manipulations have been developed. With these methods researchers managed to demonstrate surprisingly high-level forms of unconscious processing, like semantic integration, executive control, emotional judgments, reading and arithmetic operations. Consequently, some have suggested that consciousness may not hold any unique functional role. In this talk, I will present experiments which employ such methods, and point out their implications and limitations. I will then introduce our search for new means to probe unconscious processes and examine consciousness' role in thought and behavior.