Welcome to Brookhaven Bits & Bytes

Where can scientists collide gold ions at close to the speed of light; take photos of some of the smallest materials known to humans; decipher the structure of proteins vital to everyday life; illuminate the brains of drug and food addicts; and test materials developed for fuel cells and other clean energy technologies - all on one campus?

These things happen every day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a (very) multidisciplinary, government-funded institution located on Long Island, about 60 miles east of New York City.

Every year, more than 5,000 researchers from around the world join the scientific staff at Brookhaven's unique, state-of-the-art facilities for studies that take anywhere from a few hours to a few months - and can lead (and have led) to Nobel Prize-worthy advances.

This blog is here to tell you about as much of that as possible. We also hope to give you a look at Brookhaven itself, where some of the world's brightest scientists collaborate, socialize (yes, we have a bar on site), swim (and a pool), dance (and a ballroom-dancing club), interact with wildlife (groundhogs, and turkeys, and deer, oh my!), and basically live like normal human beings - well, outside of that colliding gold ions stuff.

Our posts will come from members of Brookhaven's Media & Communications staff, primarily yours truly, Kendra Snyder (science writer and public affairs representative), and Pete Genzer (manager). We're both eager to join this amazing blogging community, and we can't wait to share the latest and greatest - or just really cool - stories, videos, and other goodies about our science-filled world with you.

Welcome to Brookhaven Bits & Bytes!