A Sampling of Clips for Oct. 18, 2010

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

UCSD's Marye Anne Fox, Academic Giant
San Diego Union-Tribune, Editorial, Oct. 16 -- College leaders have a variety of duties – fundraising, budgeting, dealing with faculty, student and alumni concerns, being the public face of an institution. But many are also academic superstars in their fields. Friday, we were reminded that UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox absolutely falls into this category. The White House announced that Fox, a renowned organic chemist, had been chosen to receive the National Medal of Science, the highest honor given to scientists in the United States.
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First Comes Cancer, Then Come Children: The New World of Oncofertility
TIME Magazine, Oct. 16 -- Cancer used to be an old people's disease. No longer: we all have friends and colleagues — young people, in their 20s, 30s, 40s — who've been on the receiving end of a scary diagnosis. The good news is that a verdict of cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was. Survival rates are on the rise, accompanied by a wave of survivors of child-bearing age who want to have children. But can they? (Mentions UC San Diego ) More

Whooping Cough Still Epidemic in California
ABC News, Oct. 17 -- The pertussis epidemic continues in California, which has seen 5,658 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases as of this week. That is the most cases seen in the state since 1950, when there were 6,613, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). (Quotes Dr. Mark Sawyer, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego) More

A New Quandary for the Federal Reserve: Grappling With Low Inflation
The New York Times, Oct. 17 -- A situation the Federal Reserve  has long feared has come to pass: the central bank, after spending three decades taming inflation, now needs more of it. (Quotes UC San Diego economist James Hamilton) More

New Blood Test May Help Detect Schizophrenia
MSNBC, Oct. 16 -- In the 2001 movie, "A Beautiful  Mind," mathematician and Nobel Prizewinner John Nash struggled with the debilitating mental disorder schizophrenia for years before being properly diagnosed and treated. For many individuals and families coping with this disease, early intervention is critical. A new blood-based test may help with that effort. The test, called VeriPsych, looks for biomarkers of schizophrenia in a person's blood, and is the first such diagnostic test meant to assist psychiatrists in confirming the diagnosis of recent-onset schizophrenia, researchers say. (Quotes Dr. Gregory Light, an associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego) More

Spammers Use the Human Touch to Avoid CAPTCHA
NPR, Oct. 17 -- Try to buy some concert tickets or create a new e-mail account, and you're usually confronted with a puzzle of sorts. The puzzles are called CAPTCHAs, and a human can decipher them but a computer can't. Spammers and mass-ticket purchasers have outsourced CAPTCHA solving to teams of low-wage workers in places like Russia and Southeast Asia. Many of them don't even speak English. They don't have to, according to Stefan Savage, a professor in the department of computer science and engineering at UC San Diego . He recently co-wrote a paper on the economics of this underground CAPTCHA trade. More

Of Mad Men, Crusaders and Cigarettes
The Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 16 -- A cigarette dangles from every hand in the chain-smoking advertising agency in the smash television drama Mad Men, a symbol of tobacco's grip on American lives in the 1960s and its role as a Madison Avenue cash cow. At the time, Joe Califano, the real-life government official who would later launch a controversial anti-smoking campaign, was himself a four-pack-a-day smoker working as then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's chief-of-staff in the intense White House cauldron. This week he received a prestigious health award for his professional career as a crusader against tobacco, alcohol abuse and illicit drugs. (Mentions “Merchants of Doubt”, a recent book co-authored by historian Naomi Oreskes of UC San Diego ) More

Casting a Vote for Chaos
Los Angeles Times, Oct. 17 -- An analysis of voting in Bell and neighboring cities in southeast L.A. County with a largely Latino population reveals a pattern of turbulent elections, low voter turnout and charges of corruption. (Quotes UC San Diego political scientist Steve Erie) More

Chinese Genomics Giant Joins Mass. Lineup
Boston Globe, Oct. 18 -- A Chinese genomics giant has established a subsidiary in Massachusetts to offer its massive resources for sequencing and analyzing DNA to collaborators and clients in North and South America. (Mentions research by Jonathan Sebat, an assistant professor in psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego ) More

Fiorina Running Strong as Election Day Nears
Contra Costa Times, Oct. 16 -- Republican Carly Fiorina is making good on her promise to give longtime Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer the run of her life. In a remarkable sign of strength for the rookie candidate, Fiorina raised nearly as much campaign money as Boxer from July to September, according to records released by the candidates Friday -- and that's not counting the millions of dollars outside groups are pouring into the race on Fiorina's behalf. Polls show Boxer a whisker ahead of Fiorina less than three weeks before Election Day.  (Quotes UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser) More

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UCSD Snags Climate Award
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 18 -- UC San Diego officials won a national award for their ambitious plan to cut carbon emissions, trim water use and reduce waste during the next 10-15 years. The university received the climate-leadership award last week at an annual summit held by the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment, a group of higher-education presidents and chancellors who have pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. More

Foundation Seeks Students for Foreign Service
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 17 -- Three first-year graduate students at UC San Diego ’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies didn’t know the clash between Princeton University and the Robertson family over a $900 million endowment would somehow lead to them winning fellowships that will cover all their tuition and living expenses while in the two-year program. More

Artist Defies Stereotypes, Can't Be Categorized
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 16 -- Look up Kim MacConnel and you find his name inexorably associated with the pattern and decoration movement of the ’70s. “It’s like being Jimmy Carter, you know?” said MacConnel, during a break from installing his new exhibit, “Collection Applied Design,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. “It’s hard to escape other people’s opinions of a movement.” MacConnel has strong San Diego connections, having graduated from UC San Diego and taught there until last year. And he credits UCSD with launching the pattern and decoration movement, in part through the work of his colleague Robert Kushner and one of their teachers, critic Amy Goldin. More

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Colombian Kidnapping Victim Tells Harrowing Story in New Book
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 16 -- Ingrid Betancourt was running for president of Colombia in 2002 when she was kidnapped by guerrillas and held in the Amazon jungle for more than 6 years. “Even Silence Has An End,” published last month, is her harrowing memoir. She’ll be the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla Wednesday at 7 p.m. as part of UC San Diego’s Revelle Forum. Cost is $25 and advance registration is advised. More

Absentee Voters Change Election Dynamics
North County Times, Oct. 17 -- Fully one-half of voters in San Diego County vote by mail while the number is near 40 percent in Riverside County. The shift is reshaping how campaigns are waged. (Quotes UC San Diego political scientist Gary Jacobson) More

Birch Aquarium Revels in its Creepiness
North County Times, Oct. 15 -- Halloween takes on a nautical "air" at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps' 10th annual Haunted Birch Aquarium celebration Friday and Saturday. The event, running from 6 to 9 p.m., allows children to learn about the mysteries of the deep while enjoying fun ---- if a little icky ---- Halloween activities. More

Couple’s Online Food Game Wins White House Approval
La Jolla Light, Oct. 15 -- A game created by locals Aaron Coleman and Jesica Oratowski-Coleman recently won the Popular Vote in the Apps for Healthy Kids Challenge, a nationwide competition sponsored by First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign. Both are UC San Diego employees. More

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