Daily News Briefs

Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis, is developing new fluorescent systems that could reduce lighting energy requirements by 50 percent. . . . The diagnostic imaging center at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, in Newport, Ore., became part research lab recently when three preserved specimens from the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center -- a dolphin, a mother porpoise and a week-old porpoise -- underwent imaging in the facility's computed tomography (CT) machine. The images were done as part of a paleontology study to determine the range of vertebral movement in ancient plesiosaurs, Mesozoic sea creatures that are often linked to the Loch Ness monster. One diagnostic imaging worker told the Newport News newspaper that the marine mammals were among its most popular patients. "Everyone's been down to see them," she said.