A Sampling of Clips for April 20, 2011

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

Highway Robbery: Car Computer Controls Could Be Vulnerable to Hackers
Scientific American, April 20 -- Researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Washington said they wirelessly broke into automobile networks to take control of brakes and steering as the automobile industry shores up defenses.
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Participatory Budgeting is Music to Medellin's Poor
NPR, April 20 -- Colombia's image is still tainted by its long and violent drug war, but its second largest city is practicing one of the most innovative forms of city democracy anywhere. (Quotes UC San Diego researcher Alberto Diaz-Cayeros) More

Science Center Grant to Aid Longliners, Sperm Whales
KCAW-FM, Alaska, April 19 -- Sperm whales in Alaska have learned how to seek out longline fishing gear as a source for easy meals. Now, a $350,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration given to the Sitka Sound Science Center will let scientists and commercial longliners work together to figure out how to discourage the behavior. In addition to the Sitka Sound Science Center, the program includes the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of Alaska Southeast, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, and the Auke Bay Laboratories Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute. More

Classical Academy Planning Science Festival in Kit Carson Park
North County Times, April 19 -- An annual science expo that attracts up to 20,000 people might have a North County branch sometime next year. The San Diego Science Festival began three years ago as a week-long event to promote science and engineering in schools throughout the county. Mary Jo Ball, the managing director of the festival at UC San Diego, said local life sciences entrepreneur Larry Bock approached the university with the idea of a festival as a to inspire young people to enter the science and engineering fields. More

Biomedical Research Building Breaks Ground at UCSD
The San Diego Daily Transcript, April 19, 2011 -- Construction has begun on the Health Sciences Biomedical Research Facility at UC San Diego. The builder, McCarthy Building Companies Inc., is aiming for LEED Platinum certification on the 196,000-square-foot, five-story building, which is part of an ongoing expansion at UCSD. Sited on 3.3 acres, the new research facility will serve a purpose similar to UC San Diego’s Leichtag Family Foundation for Biomedical Research building, which McCarthy also built back in 2004. More

UCSD Fencing Coach Accused of Sex Acts With Teen Student
CBS News 8, April 18 -- A coach in charge of youth fencing classes in the recreation department at UC San Diego is accused of sexually abusing a high school student starting when she was age 15. The student came forward just last month, five years after the alleged sex acts took place. More

Sialix, UCSD Researchers Announce
Blood Test, Treatment for Breast Cancer
The San Diego Daily Transcript, April 19, 2011 -- Vista-based Sialix Inc. announced the results of a study it participated in with researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine that could have significant impact in the prediction, early detection and treatment of cancer in humans. More

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