Latest news with #UniversityofCalifornia
New York Post
6 hours ago
- Health
- New York Post
University of California system pushed DEI training before Trump discrimination probe: ‘Equality isn't fair'
WASHINGTON — The University of California system forced students to undergo diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training that taught 'equality isn't actually fair' and implied it may be 'racist' to oppose the Black Lives Matter movement, according to internal records exclusively obtained by The Post. The training module, contracted from a vendor used by the UC system as recently as the 2024-25 school year, largely consists of interactive role-playing scenarios in which students are forced to imagine situations involving perceived 'microaggressions' against certain identities. The training module was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the advocacy group Do No Harm, which is focused on 'keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice.' 'This course is a clear example of the political indoctrination the University of California system forces its students to go through,' said Do No Harm medical director Dr. Kurt Miceli in a statement. 'Instead of spending precious time developing critical thinking and analytical skills, students in the UC System are subjected to learn progressive political dogma. The UC System and any other school using this training should refocus on the basics of academic excellence rather than DEI and critical theory.' 3 The training module was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request from the advocacy group Do No Harm, which is focused on 'keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice.' Vector Solutions It's unclear how widespread the training is in the UC system, but a UCLA student had been required to take the DEI module before graduating this spring, according to reps for Do No Harm. A rep for the University of California said in a statement that the vendor, Vector, no longer had a contract with any school in the 10-campus system. 'Like many large institutions of higher education across the country, for a time, Vector (formerly, EverFi) was a training vendor for the University of California system. The University no longer has a systemwide contract with Vector,' the spokesperson said. 'The University of California ended its systemwide contract with Vector for employee sexual harassment prevention training in May 2024. For student harassment training, the Vector contract was extended through the end of May 2025 to ensure a smooth transition to the new platform and is now ended,' the rep added. 'The University of California did not renew a systemwide contract with Vector for diversity training, and that offering is no longer in use. UC campuses require students, faculty, and staff to complete a variety of trainings based on legal and/or regulatory requirements, UC system requirements, and individual campus needs.' In one video module on 'power, privilege and oppression,' participants were asked to distinguish between 'equality' and 'equity.' '[S]ometimes, equality isn't actually fair,' the script states. 'Equity means fairness, which is about giving everyone what they need to be successful.' Another situation asks trainees to navigate how to respond when a fellow student expresses skepticism about the Black Lives Matter movement and suggests that rallying around the phrase 'All Lives Matter' might be a better way to 'bring people together.' The options for the trainee to pick from include educating the skeptic about why 'Black Lives Matter' is an important movement, telling the student that he's 'naïve' and his 'comments are racist,' or a final option, which is to 'engage in a discussion.' 3 The module details cut against several executive actions taken by the Trump administration — and raise questions about whether the UC system could be subjected to greater scrutiny. Pool/ABACA/Shutterstock The document also instructs students on what types of speech they should and should not use. It reminds trainees to use 'inclusive language' and avoid terms including 'lame' and 'insane,' which purportedly contribute to the 'stigma that disabled people face,' while affirming 'that transgender and intersex people are entitled to use facilities that reflect their gender identity.' If a student '[has] religious, political, or cultural objections to someone's gender identity or expression,' the document advises that they 'remember that our community values include treating everyone with dignity and respect.' The end of the document provides a list of resources for students to 'inspire further learning.' 3 A UCLA student was required to take the DEI module as recently as June, according to reps for Do No Harm. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Among the organizations to which students are referred is 'Showing Up for Racial Justice,' an initiative that aims to '[bring] hundreds of thousands of white people into fights for racial and economic justice.' The group has also accused white voters of casting their ballots for 'self-described Nazis, white supremacists, and those with strong ties to white nationalists,' and described the Republican Party's success among Southern white voters as a result of 'appealing to their racism.' The module details cut against several executive actions taken by the Trump administration — and raise questions about whether the UC system, which receives more than $17 billion in federal funding annually, could be subjected to greater scrutiny. On Thursday, the Trump administration launched an investigation into the UC system to determine whether it ran afoul of federal law by engaging in racial or sex-based discrimination when hiring faculty for certain fellowship programs. Earlier this year, the UC system was hit with a lawsuit by the group Students Against Racial Discrimination for allegedly continuing race-based admissions — even after a Supreme Court ruling outlawed the practice in 2023. Reps for UCLA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The Benefits of Chia Seeds—and How to Enjoy Them Every Day
Once you learn about the health benefits of chia seeds, you'll be inspired to eat more of them. These small seeds are packed with key nutrients, earning them superfood status. Fortunately, chia seeds are versatile, so you can eat them in many ways. For example, you can consume chia seeds as pudding or incorporate them into baked goods for a generous nutritional boost. If you're unfamiliar with chia, they're the seeds from Salvia hispanica. The plant is native to Central America and related to mint. Chia seeds can be white or black, though the latter is more common in the U.S. Typically, you can find them at the supermarket next to other seeds or nuts. The next time you see chia seeds at the grocery store, consider stocking up and enjoying their many benefits, as outlined below by the nutrition experts we spoke Novotny, DHSc, RDN, LD, CHES, registered dietitian and senior instructor at the School of Health Sciences at Missouri State University Ashley Koff, RD, registered dietitian and nutrition director at the University of California, Irvine's Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute's Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship Jessica Zinn, MS, RD, CDN, CDCES, registered dietitian at Northwell's Lenox Hill HospitalRelated: How to Eat Chia Seeds, Including the Right Way to Soak Them Though tiny, chia seeds have noteworthy benefits for the body. "Chia seeds are rich in both protein and soluble fiber, two nutrients that help keep you full," says Daniela Novotny, DHSc, RDN, LD, CHES, registered dietitian and senior instructor at the School of Health Sciences at Missouri State University. More specifically, protein reduces levels of ghrelin, a hormone that sends hunger signals to the brain, says Novotny. "Additionally, protein can help stabilize blood sugars, which prevents sudden spikes and crashes that can lead to cravings," she notes. As for soluble fiber? When it reaches the stomach, it absorbs water and forms a gel-like consistency. This slows digestion and helps you feel satisfied for longer, according to Novotny. As a source of fiber, chia seeds are one of the best foods for gut health. The fiber "feeds" beneficial bacteria in the gut, thereby promoting a healthy balance of microorganisms. Fiber also softens the stool, which helps digestive regularity, according to the experts at Harvard Health Publishing. Chia seeds can help lower the risk of chronic disease, and it's thanks to their rich content of antioxidants. Examples include caffeic, kaempferol, quercetin, and chlorogenic acid, according to Ashley Koff, RD, registered dietitian and nutrition director at the University of California, Irvine's Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute's Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship. Antioxidants protect cells from oxidative stress, a form of damage that can accelerate aging and increase the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, per Novotny. Additionally, chia seeds reduce inflammation, another driver of chronic disease. This is due to omega-3 fatty acids, or "good" fats. Omega-3 fatty acids work by preventing the inflammatory response from misfiring, per Koff. They also reduce proinflammatory molecules (and increase anti-inflammatory ones), according to Jessica Zinn, MS, RD, CDN, CDCES, registered dietitian at Northwell's Lenox Hill Hospital. Chia seeds are excellent for heart health. Their fiber content lowers LDL ("bad") cholesterol and triglycerides, according to Zinn. When present at high levels in the blood, these fats can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart disease, so managing them is important. What's more, fiber protects the heart by promoting healthy blood vessels and blood pressure, says Koff. The omega-3 fatty acids in chia seeds lend a hand, too. As mentioned, they lower inflammation, a process that can otherwise damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart disease. Chia seeds should always be soaked before eating. "When chia seeds come into contact with liquid, they absorb up to 10 to 12 times their weight in water and form a gel," explains Novotny. Eating them dry can pose safety issues as dry chia seeds can swell in the digestive tract, "which may cause discomfort or even a choking risk," she says, especially if consumed in large amounts. It's recommended to soak chia seeds for at least 15 minutes, says Zinn. Soaking also makes some nutrients in chia seeds easier to absorb, according to Novotny. Soaking chia seeds also improves their texture and makes them more versatile in recipes, she adds. Soaked chia seeds, or chia pudding, is the most popular way to eat the ingredient. You can also add chia seeds to smoothies, overnight oats, jam, and baked goods like banana bread. Read the original article on Martha Stewart
The Hill
13 hours ago
- Business
- The Hill
13 US schools top 2025 ranking of best global universities
More than a dozen of the U.S.'s higher education institutions ranked in the top 20 of global universities. The 2025-26 ranking from U.S. News & World Report included 2,250 top universities from more than 100 countries and considered factors like the school's international opportunities, student makeup and research opportunities. People walk on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Feb. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) Three American universities tied for 16th place in the ranking: Cornell University, Princeton University and the University of California, San Francisco. New York-based Cornell — one of the Ivy League schools under the Trump administration's microscope — earned its rank through its diverse student population and programs. On the other hand, Princeton and the University of California's wide variety of centers, programs and research opportunities were mentioned in their ranking. University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia May 15, 2019. (Getty Images) A Pennsylvania-based public school, the University of Pennsylvania has Penn Abroad, which allows students to take part in 'study abroad, service learning, summer internships and short-term programs each year.' A sign is seen in front of part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex, July 8, 2014, in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins University in Maryland partners with international universities to offer more than 400 study abroad programs in more than 50 countries, with opportunities at Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the School of Advanced International Studies. UCLA Campus (Getty Images) Though Los Angeles is known as a city of fun, its University of California chapter is all business. The university has 28 centers for multidisciplinary research, with more than 192 research, teaching and student exchange agreements worldwide. Students walk up to the entrance of the Columbia University library in New York City. (AP) Despite problems with the Trump administration over student protests and subsequent job cuts, Columbia capped off the Top 10 of the ranking for its 'study abroad programs, global internships and international service learning and research opportunities,' U.S. News & World Report said. The campus of Yale University is seen, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New Haven, Conn. (AP) Another university with a heightened international student population, the Connecticut college is home to the Yale Young African Scholars program, which helps African high school students to apply to U.S. universities. People walk past cherry blossoms on the first day of spring on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson/File) With more than 500 study abroad options and more than 8,000 international students, the University of Washington, Seattle offers a global approach to health and environmental studies. Sather Gate is the main entrance to the University of California Berkley campus. (AP) The final University of California campus to make the list, the 'International House at Berkeley is home to nearly 600 students and scholars from more than 70 countries,' according to U.S. News & World Report. Students walk on the Stanford University campus on March 14, 2019, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File) Stanford University's ranking is reliant on its summer opportunities like the Global Studies Internship Program, which sends students to more than 20 countries on six continents for a wide variety of disciplines. The Maclaurin Buildings on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus are seen in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 12, 2023. Known for its STEM focus and low acceptance rate, MIT is a thoroughly global school. 'More than 3,430 international students are currently enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and during academic year 2023-2024 the school hosted 2,247 international scholars from 100 countries,' U.S. News & World Report writes. Dunster House across the Charles River on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Perhaps the most well-known U.S. university, Harvard has faced challenges from the White House over its campus protests and policies, but it still tops the list of best global universities. Harvard offers courses in more than 100 languages, and international students made up 27.2% of the university population in the 2024-2025 academic year.
San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump administration announces yet another investigation into the UC system
Once again, the Trump administration is targeting California's renowned higher-education system with an investigation — this time, into whether the University of California is considering the race and sex of applicants for teaching positions. It's the latest of a series of attacks on states' policies that hamper President Donald Trump's war on diversity, equity and inclusion. Among other things, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that the university is ordering its campuses 'to hire 'diverse' faculty members to meet race- and sex-based employment quotas.' 'We have reason to believe the University of California's UC 2030 Capacity Plan precipitated unlawful action by the University,' Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department's chief civil rights lawyer, said in a letter to UC President Michael Drake. She was referring to the university's plan to add 23,000 students and 1,100 faculty members in the next five years. But UC hasn't used hiring or enrollment quotas since 1978, when they were outlawed by the Supreme Court in the case of Allan Bakke, a white student who sued UC Davis medical school for denying him admission. California voters banned affirmative action for racial minorities at public institutions in 1996, and the Supreme Court imposed the same ban for all schools and colleges in 2023. But in March, the Trump administration announced an investigation into whether UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine and Stanford University were complying with the court ruling. Also in March, UC said it would halt policies at some of its 10 campuses that have required applicants for teaching positions to describe how they would promote diversity in race and other categories. EdSource reported that Drake told members of the UC Academic Council that the university 'needed to show signs it was listening to the Trump administration.' In February, the Justice Department said it was investigating 'widespread antisemitic harassment' at UC Berkeley and four schools in other states, without providing specific details. In March, the department said it was expanding its investigation to cover all 10 UC campuses. As for the investigation announced Thursday, its conclusion seems inevitable: The university will be found in violation of the law, as interpreted by the Trump administration, and face financial penalties that will most likely be contested in court. That would be similar to the outcome of an investigation announced by the administration's Department of Education into California for allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' sports teams. After a brief inquiry, the department announced Wednesday that state schools and athletic officials had violated sex-discrimination laws and had 10 days to change their practices or face punishment. The Department of Education has also announced an investigation into San Jose State University for allowing a transgender player on its women's volleyball team, after Trump claimed — falsely — to have seen the player injure an opponent with a spike shot that traveled 80 mph. Federal education officials said in April that they would withdraw billions of dollars in funding for states whose schools had programs promoting racial and gender diversity, programs the administration describes as discriminatory. California and 18 other states have filed suit, saying the defunding would be both illegal and 'catastrophic.' Later in April, the Department of Education announced an investigation into UC Berkeley for allegedly failing to disclose funding from a foreign government, citing what the department called 'credible news media reports.' The university has denied receiving any such funding but says it will cooperate with the investigation. Thursday's announcement of an investigation into UC's hiring practices 'reads more as a policy announcement to further the federal government's reinterpretation of the Civil Rights Act to be inconsistent with minority protections and to require policies that favor privileged majorities,' said Ming Chen, a professor at UC College of the Law in San Francisco, where she directs its Race, Immigration, Citizenship and Equality Program. Legal commentator Ian Millheiser said a likely goal of the Trump administration is to persuade the Supreme Court to prohibit 'diversity-based hiring in universities and trans participation in sports,' after the court's recent rulings against affirmative action and medical care for transgender youths. He said the Justice Department's 'internal procedures require them to start with an 'investigation' before they file a lawsuit.' Catherine Fisk, a labor law professor at UC Berkeley, said it wasn't clear what evidence was the basis for the government's investigation. 'Under current law, employers are allowed to engage in outreach to ensure that they have a diverse pool' of applicants and consider them fairly, Fisk told the Chronicle. 'The law does not require complete blindness to race or gender. It just prohibits hiring based on race or gender.' The more often universities are targeted, she said, 'the more they are forced to hire lawyers rather than providing scholarships for students or hiring faculty.' In response to the announcement, UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the university 'aims to foster a campus environment where everyone is welcomed and supported. We will work in good faith with the Department of Justice as it conducts its investigation.' Asked about the purpose of the investigation, Justice Department spokesperson Pierson Furnish said, 'No comment.'
The Wire
20 hours ago
- Science
- The Wire
Watching the World, One Quintillionth of a Second at a Time
Just about anybody who played hide-and-seek as a kid remembers counting, with eyes (presumably) covered, in units of one-one-thousand. 'One-one-thousand. Two-one-thousand. Three-one-thousand.' It's one way to develop a feel for the duration of a second. If you live to be 80 years old, you will experience 2,522,880,000 seconds, not any one of which feels like a long time. When you think about time, it's usually in many-second durations, like minutes, days and years. Unless you become a world-class athlete where differences measured in tenths, hundredths and maybe even thousandths of seconds can mean winning or losing Olympic gold, you might not think intervals shorter than a second are worth a second thought. But what if you allow yourself to imagine what happens in the world at ever shorter time intervals? What if you had a temporal microscope for zooming in on time the way optical, electron and scanning tunneling microscopes let you zero in on ever finer spatial dimensions, even down to the atomic scale? Welcome to the world of a cadre of scientists, some of them Nobel Prize winners, who live in the fastest science lane possible right now — the realm of attoseconds. By leveraging the evolution of laser science and technology, they have trained their attention on molecular, atomic and electronic behavior of ever finer temporal durations — from millionths (micro) to billionths (nano) to trillionths (pico) to quadrillionths (femto) to quintillionths (atto) of seconds. It's in the attosecond-by-attosecond time frame that lots of the sausage of physics and chemistry is made and can be probed. It is where light and electrons do much of the blindingly fast negotiation by which the energy they have to give and take redistributes as they interact. These are temporal realms that set the stage for many chemistry antics: things like electrons shifting between excited higher-energy states and lower-energy states and molecules morphing from reactants into products. In these instants, a chemical ring might open, an electron might fly away leaving a positively charged ion behind, or a photon might beam outward carrying spectroscopic intel that helps scientists figure out what just happened. These are the hidden micromatters that contribute to everything from photosynthesis in leaves to the photophysical basis of vision and the bond-making-and-breaking that underlies the multi-trillion-dollar chemical industry. To those who wield state-of-the-art laser systems and light detectors to capture glimpses of the exquisitely fast happenings in these tiny contexts, even a microsecond or nanosecond can seem like an awfully long time. When you can watch molecules and reactions in attosecond time frames, 'there's this vast other space that is open to you,' says Stephen Leone, a physical chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, who recently chronicled his lifelong research adventure as an 'attosecond chemist' in an autobiographical essay in the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry. With short-enough pulses, he says, you can begin to observe the very movements of electrons that underlie the breaking or making of a chemical bond. Here is what one attosecond looks like when you write it out: 0.000000000000000001 s. That's a billionth of a billionth of a second. An oh-wow factoid that attosecond aficionados sometimes roll out is that there are as many attoseconds in one second as there have been seconds ticking since the Big Bang. One tick on your kitchen clock amounts to an eternity of attoseconds. Here's another head-shaking attosecond fact: In one attosecond, light — which moves at the incomprehensible sprint of 186,000 miles per second — travels the span of a single atom. Attoseconds are a natural time frame for atoms and their electrons, says John Gillaspy, a research physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and former program director of atomic, molecular and optical experimental physics at the National Science Foundation. 'When you think about an electron orbiting a nucleus like a little planet moving around the Sun,' he says, 'the time scale for the orbit is about 1 to 1,000 attoseconds.' (He concedes that he often defers to this early 20th century metaphor for atoms because, he says in a spirit of commiseration, 'if you try to envision them quantum mechanically, you're liable to get quite confused and disturbed.') To do attosecond science, you might start with a top-line femtosecond laser that produces millionths-of-billionths-of-a-second infrared pulses. Then, to produce even shorter-wavelength attosecond laser pulses, you likely will need a pulse-shortening technique, called high harmonic generation (HHG), which won some of its developers the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics. Leone has put such tools and techniques to use in what are called pump-probe studies. These have two main parts. First, he and his team might vent a gas of, say, krypton atoms or methane molecules into the pathway of laser pulses. These pulses carry the photons that will interact with electrons in the sample particles. Then the scientists direct attosecond laser pulses at the sample at different delay times after the initial pulse, taking pains to measure the electromagnetic signals or electrons that emerge. The attosecond-precise monitoring of these signals can amount to a stop-motion movie of electrons, atoms or molecules. In deep chemistry speak, Leone lists some of the attosecond- and femtosecond-fast shifts in electronic energy states and behavior that such techniques have opened to observations in unprecedented detail: chemical bond breaking, yes, but also more subtle yet influential energetic happenings that can thwart reactions or nudge molecules to change shape. These are phenomena in which theory has long outpaced experimental data. These subtler actions include 'curve crossings' and 'conical intersections,' which are terms reflective of the mathematical and geometric depictions of the energy-constrained behavioral 'choices' electrons have to make in atoms and molecules. Does this or that electron hold on to enough energy to cause a bond to break? Or does it vent that energy within the molecule or material more gently to elicit, say, a vibration between bonded atoms, or morph the molecule's shape from one isomer to another? These secret, on-the-fly choices made by electrons leave their traces all over in our biology and could have practical applications — such as repairing broken chromosomes, detecting diseases from chemical hints in the molecular brew of our blood, or engineering laser pulses to produce never-before-seen molecules. 'We didn't understand any of this detail previously and now, I think, it has come into much greater clarity,' Leone says. It suggests ways to elicit specific electronic motions that one needs to break this or that bond or to cause a desired reaction, he adds. The hushed, darkened labs of these laser-wielding experimentalists have an otherworldly feel. A typical centerpiece is a vibration-suppression table with surfaces as still as any place on Earth. Painstakingly aligned there are miniature Stonehenges of lenses and crystal elements that shift, split and recombine laser beams, compress or expand light pulses, and impart tiny delays into when pulses reach samples and detectors. Feeding into these optical pathways are the ultrashort laser pulses and, downstream, the sample atoms and molecules (supplied from nozzles attached to gas tanks or from heated crystals). Much of these setups must reside in steampunk-esque vacuum chambers so that air molecules don't sop up the precious data-bearing light or electron signals before they can make it to detectors and spectrometers. 'It's all a very complicated camera to produce some of the shortest events in time that humans can produce,' says theoretical chemist Daniel Keefer of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, coauthor of a 2023 article in the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry on the applications of ultrafast X-ray and HHG for probing molecules. Keefer's primary tasks include calculating for experimentalists the laser-pulse energies and other conditions most suitable for the studies they plan to do, or helping them infer the electronic behavior in molecules hidden in the spectroscopic data they collect in the lab. But as elementary as these studies can be, some of the phenomena he has studied are as relevant to everyone as keeping their genes intact and functioning. Consider that the combination of ultrafast laser pulses and spectroscopic observation empowered him and colleagues to better understand how some of the celebrity molecules of biology, RNA and DNA, manage to quickly dissipate enough of the energy of incoming ultraviolet photons to prevent that energy from wreaking gene-wrecking, photochemical damage. It comes down to the way electrons within the molecules can benignly vent the UV energy by going back to their lowest-energy orbitals. 'This is one mechanism by which potential photodamage is prevented in living organisms exposed to sunlight,' Keefer says. These genetic molecules 'absorb UV light all the time and we're not having a lot of photodamage because they can just get rid of the energy almost instantaneously, and that greatly reduces the risk of your DNA breaking.' Accelerating into the fastest lane To generate attosecond laser pulses, scientists first ping a gas of atoms with an infrared laser. The laser beam gives a kick to every atom it passes, shaking the electrons back and forth in lockstep with its infrared light waves. This forces the electrons to emit new light waves. But they do so with overtones, the way a guitar string vibrates at not only a fundamental frequency but also a range of higher-frequency harmonic vibrations, or acoustic overtones. In the case of infrared laser light, the overtones are at much higher frequencies in the attosecond range, which correspond to ultraviolet or even X-ray wavelengths. That's a huge bonus for attosecond scientists. When packed into supershort pulses, light of these wavelengths can carry sufficient energy to cause electrons to migrate within a molecule's framework. That influences how the molecule will react. Or the laser pulses can coerce electrons to leave the scene entirely, which is one of the ways atoms and molecules become ionized. Gillaspy says that when he thinks of attosecond pulses of light, and yet-shorter pulses in the future (which would be measured in zeptoseconds), his science dreams diverge from spying on the private lives of electrons and toward what becomes possible by packing more energy into ever shorter pulses. Do this, Gillaspy says, and the power confined in the pulse can amplify, albeit ever so briefly, to astronomical levels. It's akin to the way a magnifying glass can concentrate a dull, palm-sized patch of sunlight into a pinpoint of brilliant sunlight that can ignite a piece of paper. Concentrate enough laser power into a short-enough pulse, Gillaspy says, and you might gain access to the quantum vacuum, by which he means the lowest possible energy state that space can have. The quantum vacuum has only been indirectly measured and it sports a generous share of weirdness. Presumably, for example, the 'nothingness' of that vacuum actually seethes with 'virtual' matter-antimatter particle pairs that poof into and out of existence by the bazillions, in slices of time even faster than attoseconds. 'If you could get the laser intensity strong enough you might rip apart the virtual particles from each other in the quantum vacuum and make them real' — which is to say, observable, says Gillaspy. In other words, it could become possible to separate, detect and measure the members of those transient pairs of virtual particles before they annihilate each other and disappear back into the vacuum. 'This is where we could be ripe for fundamental discoveries,' Gillaspy says — although for now, he notes, the capability to produce the required laser intensities remains far off. Jun Ye, a physicist at JILA, a joint research center of the University of Colorado and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is deploying attosecond physics in pursuit of another believe-it-or-not goal. He intends to tap HHG to detect that mysterious cosmic stuff known as dark matter. Despite never having directly detected dark matter in everyday life or in a laboratory, scientists presume its existence to make sense of the distribution and motions of matter on galactic scales. Without the presence of dark matter — in far more abundance than ordinary matter — and its cosmic-scale gravitational influences, the universe would literally look and behave differently. If the theory is true, a tantalizing consequence is that dark matter — whatever it is — should be abundantly present all around us here on Earth and so should be, in principle, detectable in a lab. Ye is hoping to exploit HHG physics to develop a type of energy-measuring technique, called nuclear spectroscopy, that is especially suited to discern subtle energy shifts in the nuclei of atoms. In this context, it's the multitude of wavelengths of light that HHG naturally produces that make this spectroscopic technique so revealing. This, Ye says, could enable him to monitor minute variations in regular-matter atoms that might be caused by previously unknown interactions with dark matter. At the heart of his plan is a new type of clock, a nuclear clock, that he and colleagues at JILA and elsewhere have been developing. The ticks of these clocks are based on nuclear oscillations (in the bundle of neutrons and protons in thorium-229 nuclei) rather than the electronic oscillations atomic clocks have been based on. 'If the dark matter out there interacts with regular matter, then potentially it will interact with neutrons and protons in atomic nuclei differently than with electrons,' Ye says. And if that is so, comparisons of spectroscopy data from the two types of clocks stand a chance of finally unveiling a dark matter influence on normal matter that has been in operation all along. 'This is how a lot of things start,' says Gillaspy. 'Breakthroughs can start with physicists and chemists just getting fascinated by some new thing, like attosecond phenomena, and then . . . you never know. You don't even imagine what kind of capabilities are going to arise from that.'
