A Sampling of Clips for Sept. 13, 2010

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

Fixing on Patterns: A Sign of Autism?
ABC News, Sept. 11 -- A toddler's fixation on geometric patterns may be an early warning sign of autism, researchers found. Children ages 14 to 42 months with autism spectrum disorder spent significantly more time watching repetitive moving geometric images when given the option to look at either those images or at kids dancing and doing other activities, reported Karen Pierce, of UC San Diego, and colleagues. More

Unneeded Hospital Transfers
Add to U.S. Health-Cost Burden, Study Says
U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 10 -- Reducing the unnecessary transfer of patients between hospitals (secondary over-triage) may be a way to decrease U.S. health-care system costs, a new UC San Diego study suggests. More

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Business Week
KVOE, Tucson, Ariz.
UPI
KPBS

Dispatches From the Edge of the Sonic Frontier
The New York Times, Sept. 10 -- The history of Western classical music is rife with forgotten side roads, populated by composers and styles overlooked, marginalized or otherwise neglected. The Propensity of Sound, a five-concert series that the Issue Project Room in Gowanus, Brooklyn, will mount in late September, follows one such unfamiliar path. Presented in collaboration with the British experimental-music magazine The Wire, the series will focus on three groundbreaking composers: Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue and Laurie Spiegel. Oliveros helped to found the influential San Francisco Tape Music Center and taught at UC San Diego. More

The 'Contagion' of Social Networks
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 13 -- The old folk concept that our personal health behaviors rub off on those around us has received a staggering amount of scientific support of late. Many public health leaders now believe this growing science of social networks can be used to improve health and well-being on a broad, population-sized scale. (Quotes Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School, co-author with James Fowler of UC San Diego of the 2009 book "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.") More

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Chicago Tribune
The Baltimore Sun

Tests to Detect Risky Gene Doping in Athletes
Discovery Channel, Sept. 10 -- This month, scientists in Europe and the U.S. took a step closer to exposing genetically modified athletes by developing a new test that they expect will be ready by the 2012 Olympic Games in London.  (Quotes Thomas Friedmann, a professor at UC San Diego and chairman of the World Anti-Doping Association's gene doping committee) More

Humanitarian Design Rises
in MoMA's Upcoming 'Small Scale, Big Change'
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 12 -- Has architecture rediscovered its conscience? Or is it just critics and curators who have had a reawakening, suddenly paying attention to design work that has been going on steadily, and right under our noses, for years? Those are among the compelling questions hovering around "Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement," which opens Oct. 3 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. (Mentions Teddy Cruz, a 47-year-old architect who often works along the U.S.-Mexico border, who is on the UC San Diego faculty) More

Penguins Facing Extinction, Warn Scientists
The Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 13 -- If the harrowing plight of emperor penguins portrayed in the film "March of the Penguins" looked bad, it's nothing compared with the dire straits faced by many other penguin species. Of the 18 penguin species on Earth, 13 are considered either threatened or endangered, with some species on the brink of extinction. (Quotes Gerry Kooyman, a biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, who studies emperor penguins) More

Cheaters Do Prosper
But are They Psychologically Ill?
The Globe and Mail, Canada, Sept. 13 -- Now that the school year is under way, high-school and university students are staring down their first essay assignments and exams of the semester. Many will try to game the system by plagiarizing, copying multiple-choice answers or memorizing previous test questions. While this puts them in an increasingly comfortable majority of students, it also slides them into another category, according to new research: psychopathy. (Quotes UC San Diego academic integrity co-ordinator Tricia Bertram Gallant) More

God and Philosophy in Stephen Hawking’s Universe
The Vancouver Sun, Sept. 11 -- Upon reading The Grand Design, one gets the impression that Stephen Hawking has come a little late to the party. Sure, he manages to pronounce philosophy dead on page one of his new book, but philosophers have been heralding the death of philosophy for centuries. (Quotes UC San Diego philosopher of physics Craig Callender) More

Illegal Immigration Drops
San Bernardino County Sun, Sept. 12 -- The annual number of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. was nearly two-thirds smaller from March 2007 to March 2009, than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005, according to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center. (Mentions research by the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego) More

Does New Law Defeat Going Green?
NBC Los Angeles, Sept. 10 -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a new law (SB 535) that basically allows 40,000 electric cars to use HOV lanes beginning next January. But what I think tens of thousands of current hybrid car owners don't know is, is that they'll be prohibited from using High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in July 2011. I asked UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser  to make sense of this and he pointed out that there is a scientific argument to this. More

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NBC San Diego

40 Under 40 Awards — The Class of 2010
San Diego Metropolitan, Sept. 10 – San Diego Metropolitan Magazine selected young business and civic leaders in whose hands lie our region’s future. The list includes Aaron Byzak is the director of government and community affairs for UC San Diego Health Sciences; Jacqueline Carr, associate director of communications for surgery at UCSD Health Sciences; Dr. Bobby Korn, assistant professor of ophthalmology at UCSD Shiley Eye Center; Kelly Kovacic, California’s 2010 Teacher of the Year, who teaches at The Preuss School UCSD; and Scripps Institution of Oceanography assistant professor Jennifer Smith. More

The Mystery of Vanishing Honey Bees
KPBS, Sept. 10 -- Imagine a world without apples, almonds and broccoli. It takes honey bees to pollinate most of our favorite fruits, nuts and vegetables. But the bees are mysteriously disappearing. Some commercial beekeepers in San Diego have already been affected by this phenomenon. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce tells us beekeepers are keeping a close eye on the research, some of it at UC San Diego. More

The Debate About Islam's Identity in America
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 11 -- The debate about Islam’s place in America has been reignited by a threatened Koran-burning protest in Florida, tensions over the proposed mosque in lower Manhattan and milestones in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.(Quotes  John Evans, a sociology professor at UC San Diego) More

Hoover Dam Could Stop Generating
Electricity as Soon as 2013, Officials Fear
North County Times, Sept. 11 -- After 75 years of steadily cranking out electricity for California, Arizona and Nevada, the mighty turbines of the Hoover Dam could cease turning as soon as 2013, if water levels in the lake that feeds the dam don't start to recover, say water and dam experts. (Mentions research by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

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