A Sampling of Clips for Sept. 8, 2010

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

Will We Ever Get Action on Climate Change?
Minnesota Public Radio, Opinion, Sept. 8 -- In 1993, Willett Kempton, a prominent social scientist at the University of Delaware, posed the question, "Will public environmental concern lead to action on global warming?" At the time, it seemed that it would.  (Co-authored by UC San Diego science historian Naomi Oreskes) More

Mapping Whale Brains for Sound Effects
Discovery Channel, Sept. 7 -- Can powerful noises affect whales? There's circumstantial evidence to suggest that they might. Now a team of researchers is attempting to find out for sure. (Mentions research by UC San Diego) More

Study Clarifies Obesity-Infertility Link
U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 7 -- Being obese has long been linked to infertility in females, but researchers may have been wrong about how the link was forged, a new study suggests. (Quotes Mark Lawson, a reproductive biologist at UC San Diego) More

Night Hunt
U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 7 -- Nearly 30 years ago, Randall Davis and three fellow seal researchers hunkered down for a winter at White Island near McMurdo Station. Their goal was to study the diving behavior of a group of Weddell seals during the long night of the Antarctic winter. Fast-forward to 2010. Davis and co-principal investigators Lee Fuiman and Terrie Williams, and their teams, will embark on their third field season in August. (Mentions research by physiologist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego named Gerry Kooyman, who was later a mentor to both Davis and Williams) More

Autistic Toddlers Prefer to Gaze at Geometric Patterns: Study
KVOA, Tuscon, Ariz., Sept. 7 -- When given the choice to gaze at geometric patterns or children dancing and playing, toddlers with autism spent more time looking at the patterns while typically developing toddlers preferred to look at other kids, a new UC San Diego study finds. More

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Donors to Call the Shots in U.S.-Israeli Science Initiative
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Sept. 8 – A joint American and Israeli foundation, and a California university are teaming for a program enabling donors to support their special scientific interests. The Multiplier Research Grants Fund will support a United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation project between a scientist from a local American university and an Israeli researcher. UC San Diego was chosen as the initial American participant. San Diego residents will be asked to supplement the foundation grant of a UC San Diego scientist and his or her Israeli partner in the area of the donor’s interest. More

The Doctors Behind the Doctors
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 7 -- A vocal debate, both inside and outside of the medical community, is taking place about the powers of advanced medical imaging technologies and more particularly, the pathologists who must interpret the biopsies done in response to imaging results and who frequently must make decisions that change the lives of patients. We asked Dr. Steven Gonias, a board-certified pathologist, physician-scientist and chairman of the Department of Pathology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, to offer his own diagnosis of the situation. More

East County Forum on Childhood Vaccines Set
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 7 -- A parent forum on childhood vaccines is scheduled for next week at the El Cajon Library. Among those scheduled to speak at the free event: Mark Sawyer, a professor of childhood pediatrics and an infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital and Eric Courchesne, a professor of neurosciences at UCSD and its Autism Center of Excellence. More

SDSC Puts Data at Center Stage
HPC Wire, Sept. 7 -- The naming of Michael Norman as director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center last week was long overdue. SDSC has been without an official director for more than 14 months, with Norman filling the spot as the interim head since last July. More

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