A Sampling of Clips for May 20-23, 2011

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

Study Sees Way to Win Spam Fight
The New York Times, May 19 -- For years, a team of computer scientists at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley, has been looking deeply into the nature of spam, the billions of unwanted e-mail messages generated by networks of zombie computers controlled by the rogue programs called botnets. They even coined a term, “spamalytics,” to describe their work. Now they have concluded an experiment that is not for the faint of heart: for three months they set out to receive all the spam they could (no quarantines or filters need apply), then systematically made purchases from the Web sites advertised in the messages. More

Similar story in
Scientific American
Contra Costa Times

Jack Wolf, Who Did the Math Behind Computers, Dies at 76
The New York Times, May 20 -- Jack Keil Wolf, an engineer and computer theorist whose mathematical reasoning about how best to transmit and store information helped shape the digital innards of computers and other devices that power modern society, died on May 12 at his home in the La Jolla section of San Diego. He was 76. He served as a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego since 1984. More

Similar story on
UPI

Mammals' Large Brains Evolved for Smell
BBC News, May 21 -- A highly developed sense of smell kick-started the development of mammals' big brains. Comparing the shape of their brain cases to those of slightly earlier animals, or "pre-mammals," revealed that the first brain areas to over-develop were those associated with the sense of smell. (Quotes Dr. R. Glenn Northcutt from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, who did not take part in the study) More

Similar stories in
Scientific American
MSNBC
FOX News
San Diego Union-Tribune

Audit Finds Widespread Use of Anti-Psychotic Drugs in Nursing Homes‎
PBS News Hour, May 23 --  The office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services issued a disturbing report that found one in seven nursing home patients were given anti-psychotic drugs that may have increased their risk of sudden death.  (Quotes Dr. Dilip Jeste, Director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at UC San Diego) More

Mummy Had Earliest Case of Heart Disease
Discovery News, May 20 -- An Egyptian princess who lived more than 3,500 years ago had the oldest known case of coronary artery disease, according to a new study which provides unique insights into the origins of atherosclerosis. The mummified remains of the princess, who lived in Thebes (Luxor) between 1580 and 1550 B.C., were investigated by a team of Egyptian and U.S. researchers, including physicians at UC San Diego. More

Anxiety Disorder May Precede Diabetes in Latinos, Study Finds
Los Angeles Times, May 20 -- Latinos have higher rates of diabetes than other ethnic groups. They also appear to have higher rates of having both diabetes and a mood disorder, such as anxiety or depression, according to a new study led by UC San Diego scientists and presented this week at the American Psychiatric Assn.'s annual meeting. More

Similar story in
The Baltimore Sun
Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach, Fla.

Dying for the Weekend
Daily Mail, U.K., May 21 -- Don't fall ill at the weekend! A new study shows that patients who are admitted to hospital on the weekend are 10 per cent more likely to die than those who check in during the week. (Mentions research at UC San Diego) More

Scientists Fight University of California to Study Rare Ancient Skeletons
Wired, May 20 -- Two ancient skeletons uncovered in 1976 on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, during construction at the home of the UC San Diego chancellor, may be among the most valuable for genetic analysis in the continental United States. Dated between 9,000 and 9,600 years old, the exceptionally preserved bones could potentially produce the oldest complete human genome from the continent. More

UCSD Softball Team Earns First Trip to Championship
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 21 -- Tess Granath wasn’t worried that her last hit came on April 16. Nor was she stewing about having only one RBI all season for the UC San Diego softball team. More

Scripps on Tornadoes: 'Welcome to Your Future'
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 23 -- Tim Barnett, a renowned climate expert at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, says the deadly tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri and other recent twisters in the Midwest "were probably not due to climate change. Everyone wants to pin it on an events like this. But it is very difficult to do that scientifically for any one event." But Barnett also said, "Welcome to our future" when asked about the severity of the tornadoes that have been hitting the country this spring. More

Gauguin Exhibit Sails Into San Diego
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 22 -- An exhibit opening Friday at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, “Cook, Melville and Gauguin: Three Voyages to Paradise,” invites viewers to contemplate the complexities of this earthly paradise through the works of three travelers to that region: explorer James Cook, writer Herman Melville and artist Paul Gauguin.  (Quotes John Welchman, a professor of 19th and 20th century art history at UC San Diego) More

UCSD Student Escapes Attempted Kidnapping: Police
NBC San Diego, May 22 -- An unknown man attempted to kidnap a UC San Diego student on campus Friday evening when he approached her from behind, placed a paper bag over her head and tried to drag her off a pathway, UCSD police said. More

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CBS News 8
Patch.com

Opening of UCSD's Cardiovascular Center Still Stalled
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 20 -- The opening of the $227 million UC San Diego Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center remains stalled while state and federal health officials wrap up their investigation of problems in the emergency departments at the university’s two hospitals. More

She’s Got the Devil by the Archives
Voice of San Diego, May 21 -- UC San Diego history professor Nancy Caciola spends her days studying the fine line between godly saints and demonic sinners. She's interested in how the people of the Middle Ages figured out which was which — or witch. More

Behind the Scene TV: San Ysidro to NYC and Back
Voice of San Diego, May 20 -- A community nonprofit in San Ysidro is renovating a historic church to use for art and culture. Thursday night, Casa Familiar opened that new art space, El Salon, with an exhibit that was previously on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Teddy Cruz, a visual arts faculty member at UC San Diego, is involved in the project. More

Similar story in
San Diego CityBEAT

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