The Pan-American Advanced Study Institute on the physics and astrophysics of rare nuclear isotopes was held from August 1-13, 2010 in Joao Pessoa, Brazil. It was open to scientists from all countries and at all levels (student to faculty) who are interested in further advancing their knowledge in rare isotope science, who are interested in scientific exchange in this area, and who are interested in contributing to the goals of the institute. Website

The ECT* Doctoral Training Programme on "Nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics with radioactive ion beams" was offered from April 12 to June 11, 2010 at ECT*, Villazzano, Italy. Details

JINA "Building Virtual Galaxie" Workshop hosted by the JINA and MSU took place from April 29 to May 1, 2010 in East Lansing, MI. Website

Praise for JINA Outreach from a 6th grade science teacher.

JINA Physicist Garnavich will play key role in largest Hubble project. The program, which brings together a large international team of collaborators, was awarded a record 902 orbits of observing time as one of three large-scale projects chosen for the Hubble Multi-Cycle Treasury Program. It takes Hubble 97 minutes to make one orbit, so observing time totals about two months but will be spread out over the next two to three years. Garnavich was on one of the two teams that first discovered the accelerating universe back in 1998. Details

Science Alive 2010 took place at St. Joseph County Public Library, South Bend on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Between five and six thousand people attended the event. JINA is recognized and deeply appreciated for the outstanding participation by the County Public Library. Find out how many bones you have in your body, learn about stars, or even put a snake around your neck. That’s what many did at the Science Alive! event Saturday at the St. Joseph County Public Library. The day featured hands-on interactive exhibits, feature presentations, and some special science activities. The fun part is all the kids who come through and realize that science is not just a bunch of books, it's not just a bunch of stale things, it's fun experiments, it's hands on. Award

Dr. Zach Constan, JINA's outreach coordinator at NSCL, MSU, published an article about the marble nuclei in The Physics Teacher. This paper serves as an introduction to nuclear science education through the use of a model built from magnetic marbles. It details the many ways such models have been employed to communicate the concepts of radioactive decay, nuclear reactions, and the goals and methods of nuclear science. It offers the reader suggestions on how to incorporate nuclear science into a middle- or high-school curriculum with the model, and invites teachers to make use of lessons and activities produced by JINA Outreach for that purpose. View paper

University of Notre Dame astronomer Peter Garnavich and a team of collaborators have discovered a distant star that exploded when its center became so hot that matter and anti-matter particle pairs were created. The discovery was announced at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C., with coauthors Peter Garnavich and the ESSENCE collaboration. Details