Von Karman Lecture: "Monitoring Earth's Changing Land Surface"
Michael Abrams, group supervisor for JPL's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) project, will give a talk called "Monitoring Earth's Changing Land Surface" at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 3, in JPL's von Karman Auditorium, and again at 7 p.m. on December 4 in the Vosloh Forum (south of Colorado on Bonnie) at Pasadena City College. A joint project between Japan, which provides the instrument, and NASA, which provided the platform and the launch, ASTER is an imaging instrument that has been operating on NASA's Earth-orbiting Terra satellite since 1999.

Caltech Researchers Named among the World's Most Powerful People
Forbes magazine's special report on the world's most powerful people features two Caltech researchers. Jim Heath, Gilloon Professor and professor of chemistry, was named one of the seven most powerful innovators, and David Baltimore, Caltech president emeritus, Nobel laureate, and Millikan Professor of Biology, was included among the seven most powerful people in medicine.

Time Recognizes Importance of Levitating Mice
Time magazine's picks for the 50 best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year include JPL scientists' research on levitating mice. Yuanming Liu and his colleagues have worked out a way to use magnets to make mice float in midair. The effects could provide insight into how to prevent adverse health effects, such as bone loss, in astronauts who spend long periods of time in low gravity. According to the article, "A few very disoriented mice could hold the keys to safer space travel." To view the complete list, go to Time online.