A Week In Oblivion

Brookhaven is the place in the middle of nowhere, nestled somewhere in the middle of Long Island, in between extensive interstates connecting the entire stretch of this eastern part of the United States with New York City and New Jersey. Queens and Brooklyn form part of Long Island which extends about 190 miles and true to its name, is much longer than its wider. This place is extemely popular for its vineyards, beaches and of course the Hamptons.

Getting to Long Island from Boston is dicey as driving would mean getting to New York and then entering Long Island, which is like a detour through hell to a lot of people. The alternate route we employ is to use the Cross Sound Ferry which connects New London, Connecticut to Orient Point, NY which is the furthermost on the northeast tip of Long Island. That little waterbody between these two ports is the Long Island Sound. The ride's an hour and a half long, and on a nice warm and sunny day, being on the ship's deck gives you extended views of the big colonial houses that the Hamptons are famous for.

Brookhaven National Labs. This is where a bunch of us drive down from the urban locales of Boston to the extended greenlands of Upton, NY. BNL as it is known, is part of the US department of Energy and predominantly works in the areas of nuclear physics. Its home to the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), employed by scientists to study the origin of matter and the structure of protons. NASA has its own labs at the BNL facilities called the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) and thats where we do most of our work. This lab simulates conditions in outer space where astronauts are exposed to ionizing radiation. Radiation in general consists of particles like Alpha, Beta along with heavy ions such as Fe, C etc. Any radiation, which penetrates body tissue causing loss or gain of electrons is called ionizing radiation. People on the earth are protected from such radiation, thanks to our environment and the magnetic fields. DNA damage by these radiations lead to mutations manifesting themselves in the form of various genetic defects. Beams of heavy ions are obtained from a booster reactor at the desired energy levels and dosages. Biological specimans like animal models, cells and DNA are irradiated with these particles and their effects analyzed.


Taking into account the high health risk involved in working with radiation of this magnitude, the security levels undertaken are of the intense order. Sample this, the beam is located atleast 200 feet from the lab premises. In order to get to the location of the beam, one must be identified by an iris scanner and then be cleared for entry by visual confirmation from a team of engineers sitting half way around the campus. That is Step 1. Step 2 involves taking a key from the switch board, once when the signs light up indicating that the beam area is secure and safe for human invasion. Once you enter the beam area, the area is shielded by a lead labyrinth, to prevent the linear progression of leakage in case if something happens. Once the samples are housed, you need to make your way out, repeat your iris scan and return the key to the EXACT SAME location for the doors to close. If this isnt done in the sequential order, the beam will not be delivered. Once the coast is cleared, the signal is given for the beam to build up and then the appropriate dosage is delivered to the samples.

Its been a nice long week doing stuff like these in Brookhaven and we get back to Boston tomorrow. I come back again in April, June and July for 10 days each to continue our work. However monotonous, laborious and tedious the entire process is, its an opportunity that not all get to be a part of-A bright speck on my professional curve.

Hooray for Oblivion!!

P.S: Long Island is extremely famous for family owned business especially breakfast houses and cake shops. I am really looking forward to visiting the East end Breakfast house tomorrow morning on our way back. They make the best egg sandwiches in this part of the world.