A Sampling of Clips for March 12, 2010

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

State Regulators Approve $9 Million in
Solar Research Grants, PG&E Solar Contract
Los Angeles Times, March 11 -- The California Public Utilities Commission approved more than $9 million in solar research grants Thursday and also gave the go-ahead to a solar contract for the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. UCSD  got roughly $548,000 to study solar installation performance when clouds block the sun. More

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San Diego Daily Transcript

NIH Panel: Women Need Chance to Avoid Repeat C-section
USA Today, March 12 -- Too many pregnant women who want to avoid a repeat cesarean delivery are being denied the chance, concludes a government panel that urged doctors to rethink litigation-spurred policies that have swung the pendulum back toward the days of "once a C-section, always a C-section." (Quotes Dr. Emily Spencer Lukacz of UCSD) More

Rodent of the Week:
A New Understanding of How Prostate Cancer Treatment May Backfire
Los Angeles Times, March 12 -- The very therapy used to treat prostate cancer patients in the early stage of the disease actually promotes  the second, more deadly wave of the disease, according to a new study. The researchers – from UCSD, Scripps Research Institute-Florida and the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow – pieced this together by studying the progression of prostate cancer in a variety of genetically modified mice. More

Taking Liberties with Research Grants?
ScienceNOW, March 12 -- In part 3 of this series, our panel of audacious scientists shared their strategies for funding risky research. They had two main suggestions: First, maintain a balanced portfolio combining high-risk, high-reward projects with safer, more incremental work. Second, when proposing ambitious work, focus on the incremental next step, de-emphasize the risk in the proposal, and do the bolder parts on the side. (Quotes Vilayanur Ramachandran, a behavioral neurologist and director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UCSD) More

UCSD Develops Illegal Immigration App
The Washington Post, March 11 -- Researchers at UCSD and the University of Michigan created a cell phone application that helps illegal immigrants find water and key landmarks as they cross into the United States. Once loaded onto a GPS-enabled phone, the Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT) also alerts users to border patrol checkpoints and plays recorded poetry to make the trek less arduous, Fox News reports. More

People Report Loss of Sleep Affects Social Lives
ABC7, San Francisco, Calif., March 11 -- Americans of all races toss and turn in bed each night and sleeplessness is affecting their jobs and social lives. The UCSD survey of 1,000 adults found that people sleep almost two hours less than they did 40 years ago and it is taking a toll on daily living. More

State GOP Goes Into Convention 'On the Offense'
San Francisco Chronicle, March 12 -- More than a year after taking a beating at the ballot box, the California Republican Party is energized by "Tea Party" revivals and declining Democratic poll numbers as it heads into a three-day state party convention this weekend, charged up and "on the offense" for the statewide and mid-term elections. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Thad Kousser) More

UCSD to Study Ways to Reduce Stroke Damage
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 12 -- Researchers at UCSD are studying whether inserting a catheter to cool the bloodstream and brain can reduce damage from strokes caused by blood clots. The school received about $1 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to establish 18 study sites in the United States and Europe this spring, UCSD officials said yesterday. More

Amputees, Other Wounded Warriors Turn to S.D. Clinic
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 10 -- The Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care center at San Diego Naval Medical Center in Balboa Park, started treating patients in October 2007 and has grown into a West Coast alternative for troops recovering from amputations and other traumatic injuries. It’s where the latest in virtual-reality therapy, computer-assisted gait analysis, prosthetics and other technologies help them regain their balance. (Mentions research at UCSD) More

UCSD Draws Humboldt, Faces Big Hurdle
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 12 -- UCSD women’s basketball coach Charity Elliott ominously sensed before the brackets were revealed that the Tritons would receive the second seed in NCAA Division II West Regional, only to be matched against the team responsible for half of their four losses this season. More

Why So Few Blacks, Latinos at UCSD?
San Diego News Network, Opinion, March 11 --  Never mind that last month’s “Compton Cookout” was the handiwork of “Jigaboo Jones,” an African American once described as a criminal turned comedian, to promote his newest DVD. More

San Diego 'Ghetto' Party Leads to Race-Based Demands
Townhall.com, March 11 -- In the late 1960s, college students rioted and stormed administration buildings, protesting everything from the Vietnam War to freedom of speech violations to the paucity of black students, faculty and programs on campuses. If you were around then and thought some, most or all of those protests were over-the-top, you might want to add the brouhaha at UCSD to the list. More

Pay It Forward: Research Suggests Generosity is Contagious
Smart Planet, March 11 -- A new study by researchers at UCSD and Harvard University  suggests it is possible to spread generosity. Their work, published this week in an online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides laboratory evidence that cooperative behavior spreads between people. Those who benefit from kindness tend to find it contagious – and “pay it forward” by helping others. More

Musica Viva’s “Ocean Crossings”
Boston Musical Intelligencer, March 10 -- Rand Steiger, Visiting Professor of Composition at Harvard University last fall, was Chair of the Music Department at UCSD, and also a conductor of various new music groups; he was the founding artistic director of the California EAR Unit. We heard the world première of his Elliott’s Instruments (2010), commissioned by the Musica Viva with support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. More

Can Health Care Reform be Resuscitated?
San Diego Daily Transcript, March 11 -- The ongoing debate and public frustration over health care reform keep the ashes of a stalled joint congressional bill stirred up. President Obama is trying to break the stalemate created by failure of bi-partisanship action and the opposing pressure by lobbyists working overtime for their insurance company clients. (Mentions UCSD) More

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