A Sampling of Clips for July 7, 2010

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

The Parking Lot as ‘Solar Grove’
The New York Times, July 6 -- In 2005, Robert Noble founded Envision Solar, now the country’s leading developer of solar carports. The company’s signature product is “solar groves,” 1,000-square-foot canopies that shade parking lots while generating clean power from an array of photovoltaic panels. (Mentions UC San Diego) More

Finding Holly Beck in Nica
ESPN, July 6  -- A few years ago, Holly Beck was a real darling of the surf media with a little love from mainstream culture as well. The photogenic girl from Palos Verdes was among the hottest NSSA competitors a decade ago. She went pro and took a crack at the Womens WQS. But she was always more than a surfer with a little modeling, a degree in Psychology from UC San Diego and an MBA in marketing. More

Blasting Your Message Through the Marketplace Clutter
MSN Money, July 7 -- Here’s a good reason to commit to sharper, more targeted, more emotionally compelling marketing messages: Your next ad is up against at least 3.6 zettabytes of competing information. That’s right: 3.6 zettabytes. That’s how much information U.S. households consumed in 2008, according to UC San Diego’s “2009 Report on American Consumers.” And the number was probably higher in 2009, considering the increase in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. More

Jewish Organizations Protest
UC President's Handling of Reports of Anti-Semitism
Los Angeles Times, July 7 -- The president of the University of California and leaders of a dozen prominent American Jewish organizations are in an unusual public dispute about the extent of anti-Semitism on UC campuses and the university's response to it. (Mentions UC San Diego) More

Similar story in
Sacramento Bee

English Teacher Treks with Antarctica Scientists, Journals About Discoveries
The Sacramento Bee, July 6 -- When the science gets tough, Tina Sander gets writing. The Cabrillo College and Santa Cruz Adult School teacher is going on a three-month expedition to Antarctica in October with the ICE AGED Project. The project is a group venture between 10 scientists from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The scientists will study how human activities affect the ocean climate, and Sander will be journaling about what they find. Principle researchers Paul Dayton from Scripps Oceanography and John Oliver from Moss Landing went to Antarctica 40 years ago to study the sea floor; the team will revisit the same location to see the changes 40 years later. More

The Car of the Future is Looking More Gadgetmobile Than KITT
Discover Magazine, July 6 -- The self-driving car was achieved–13 years ago. As part of the National Automated Highway Consortium, a team of engineers and scientists had a platoon of eight cars motor down a  stretch Interstate-15 in San Diego, driver free and safe. (Quotes Mohan Trivedi, a UC San Diego professor who specializes in intelligent cars) More

Alzheimer's Patient is Taking Her Chances in Clinical Trial
Sacramento Bee, July 6 -- The Alzheimer's Association recently estimated that cases of the neurological disease, now affecting about 5 million Americans, will more than double in the next 40 years - at enormous personal, social and economic costs. The report was the latest in a drumbeat of dismal news about Alzheimer's. (Quotes Dr. Paul Aisen, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study at UC San Diego) More

UCSD Scientists Keeping An Ear on Gulf Oil Spill
KPBS, July 6 -- UC San Diego researchers are using underwater acoustic equipment to listen in to the sounds of whales and other endangered marine life in the Gulf of Mexico. The goal is to study the oil spill's effects on the animals. More

UCSD Researchers Suppress Embryonic Stem Cell Tumors
North County Times, July 6 -- A UC San Diego research team says it has found a way to inhibit the distressing propensity of human embryonic stem cells to form tumors, or “teratomas”.  Writing in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that they have identified a signaling pathway necessary for stem cells to replicate endlessly. Small molecule compounds that inhibited this pathway dramatically reduced the tumor-forming potential of these human embryonic stem cells. The researchers experimented on immune-deficient mice like the one below, that received grafts of human embryonic stem cells. More

UCSD's Mouse Problem
Voice of San Diego, July 6 – UC San Diego received over $14.2 million in stimulus funding to construct one 12,000-square-foot building where mouse cages can be cleaned. This cleaning consolidation will free up lab space and save 8.5 million gallons of water, 24.2 million pounds of steam and 560,000 kilowatts of electricity, according to the school's grant proposal. More

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