A Sampling of Clips for February 4, 2010

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

Obama Rescues Al Gore's Earth Satellite for Sun Duty ... and Maybe More
Science, Feb. 3 -- The long and winding story of DSCOVR, the satellite proposed in 1998 by then-Vice President Al Gore and killed by the George W. Bush Administration, has taken a new turn. This week, President Barack Obama proposed launching the controversial satellite, which would send a craft a million miles away to sit between the sun and Earth. (Quotes Francisco Valero of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the principal investigator for two Earth-sensing instruments that would presumably fly on DSCOVR) More

Heavy Backpacks Strain Kids' Spines
WebMD, Feb. 3 -- A backpack loaded with books may set your child up for spine strain rather than success. A new UCSD study shows heavy backpacks place significant strain on children's spines and may lead to back pain. More

Changing China tied to Rough Ride with U.S.
Reuters, Feb. 3 -- China's outrage over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama has shown that, in the wake of the global financial crisis, Beijing is growing pushier in public. (Quotes Susan Shirk, a professor specializing in Chinese foreign policy at UCSD) More

Athletes Beware, Scientists Hot on Gene Doping Trail
Wired, Feb. 2 -- After warning for years that athletes would try to dope their genes, scientists are finding ways to catch them. The tests are still being refined in animals, but will likely be run years from now on samples taken at the upcoming Winter Olympics and stored. (Quotes Theodore Friedmann, a UCSD geneticist) More

Lofty Aspiration: UCSD’s Performance Venue
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 31 -- The Loft at UCSD opened in late 2008 with an unusually lofty ideal for any multicultural arts venue on (or off) a campus of higher education. Namely, if you build it, they will come — even for performers they’ve never heard of — especially if you allow students to “pay as you can,” while keeping ticket prices at a reasonable level for the general public. More

The Big Migration: Thousands of Whales on the Move
San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 4 -- Every year, a migration of gigantic proportions takes place in San Diego’s own “backyard.” Unnoticed by many, the Pacific gray whale population, estimated by the American Cetacean Society at more than 20,000, swims silently and slowly through our coastal waters. (Mentions the Birch Aquarium) More

He’s on the Cutting Edge – and Beyond
San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 3 -- It’s been six years since the visionary composer, trombonist and electronic music maverick George Lewis left San Diego for New York, but his impact is still being felt in major ways across the county. Lewis, who returns for a Wednesday performance at UCSD’s plush Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, helped create that university’s innovative Critical Studies/Experimental Practices program in the mid-1990s. More

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