'When Things Get Small' - Film on Nanoscience to be Shown at Brookhaven Lab, April 24

March 31, 2006

UPTON, NY - "When Things Get Small," an award-winning, 30-minute film about nanoscience, will be shown at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory on Monday, April 24, at 4 p.m. in Berkner Hall. Laura H. Lewis, Deputy Director of Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials, will give a brief overview of the Laboratory's nanoscience activities and introduce one of the film's producers and stars, Ivan Schuller, a world-renowned physicist who is a professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Schuller will talk about the film and, after its showing, answer questions from the audience. The event is open to the public free of charge. All visitors to the Laboratory age 16 and over must bring a photo ID.

Photo of Physicist Ivan Schuller and host Adam Smith

Physicist Ivan Schuller (left) and host Adam Smith with the tiniest of elephants in University of California Television's "When Things Get Small."

"When Things Get Small" portrays Schuller's real-life quest to create the world's smallest magnet. With a mix of special effects and humor, the film's host, actor Adam Smith, travels alongside Schuller, visiting locations ranging from a ballpark to a steaming hot tub to make sense of several important "nano" concepts.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and the UCSD Division of Physical Sciences, "When Things Get Small" was produced by UCSD-TV, a non-commercial, university-based television station and an affiliate of the University of California Television. The film is the first in the "When Things Get…" series from Schuller's and TV producer Rich Wargo's Not Too Serious Labs, a production company whose mission is to make science entertaining. "When Things Get Small" has already garnered two Bronze Telly Awards in an international competition honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs. More information about "When Things Get Small" is available here.

Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials is one of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. Construction on the Brookhaven facility began in September 2005, and research at the center is expected to begin in 2007. The center will provide researchers with advanced probes and the ability to use new fabrication techniques to study materials at nanoscale dimensions - typically, billionths of a meter, or 1,000 times smaller than a human hair. These materials have different chemical and physical properties from those of bulk materials and are anticipated to form the basis of new technologies.

Call 631 344-2345 for more information. The Laboratory is located on William Floyd Parkway (County Road 46), one-and-a-half miles north of Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway.

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