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Saturday science a success in Tracy

Last month, scores of middle and high school students in Tracy gave up sleeping in for attending two morning sessions of "Science on Saturday" at Tracy's Grand Theatre.

This is the second year the Lab's popular lecture series has traveled to Tracy and been welcomed by hundreds of students, teachers, residents and local science aficionados at each session.

The first lecture on Nov. 8, "Protecting the Nation's Livestock: Corralling Foreign Diseases," was delivered by Pam Hullinger of the Lab and Erin McKay, a teacher at Tracy High School.

More than 390 attended this talk that outlined the Lab's work in developing tests and computer disease models to detect toxins and keep our national livestock safe from foreign diseases.

On Nov. 15, it was standing room only for the lecture "A Tale of a Comet's Tail: Clues to the Origin of our Solar System," presented by Hope Ishii of the Lab and Tom Shefler, a teacher at Livermore's Granada High School.

This lecture discussed how comets are formed, their role in the Earth's history and the clues about what happened more than 4 billion years ago.

Richard Farnsworth of the Lab's Science Education Program said the Science on Saturday program has been very well received in Tracy because of the support of the middle and high school science teachers and Tracy Unified School District Superintendent James Franco.

"The teachers encourage their students to attend, and the superintendent attends and introduces the presenters," Farnsworth said. "We plan on bringing the series to Tracy again next November."

Veterans group sponsors holiday project

The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Armed Forces Veterans Association (LLLAFVA) is sponsoring a holiday project. About 100 sets of knit gloves and scarves are needed, either handmade or purchased, to distribute to the residents of the Livermore Veterans Hospital Convalescent Facility. Most of the residents are male and many are in wheelchairs.

For more information, contact Chelle Clements at 925-423-8134 by Dec. 12.

East Indian dances to be performed in Tracy

The Kalaikoil Dance and Arts troupe will perform a variety of East Indian dances and musical arrangements at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 16, at the Tracy Branch Library, 20 E. Eaton Ave., Tracy.

This free program is provided through the Tracy Friends of the Library, the GWF Foundation Grant and Swetha Dixit of Kalaikoil. The Tracy Branch Library is a part of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library.

For more information, call 866-805-READ (7323) or contact Kathleen Buffleben at 209-937-8221, go to the Stockton Library Website.

Dec. 5, 2008