A Sampling of Clips for August 8, 2011

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

China’s Premier Seeks Reforms and Relevance
New York Times, Aug. 7 ––China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, stood amid funerary wreaths in Wenzhou, near where a high-speed train accident claimed 40 lives late last month, and pledged an “open and transparent” government inquiry into the disaster. “The key,” he said, “is whether the people can get the truth.”  (Quotes Susan Shirk, a longtime China expert at UC San Diego) More

UCSD Exploring Why Robots Creep People Out
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 4 ––Perfection isn’t always a good thing to pursue. You can end up making children cry, as the producers of “Shrek” did when they screened the computer-animated movie for youngsters.
The early version of Princess Fiona looked too human, creeping kids out. The digitized actors in “Polar Express” and “Beowulf” also made some people feel uneasy, much in the way that robots and marionettes can be disturbing.
This sense of discomfort is called “uncanny valley,” a widely-felt but poorly-understood phenomenon that has been clearly measured for the first time by UC San Diego. More

Skin Damage Control from Neck to Knees
More Magazine, Aug. 5 ––an arsenal of tricks from anti-aging creams to eye-lifts — have figured out all the ways to keep time at bay on our faces. Problem (if we think it is a problem) nearly solved. Now dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons have rushed into the breach with an array of fixes for just about every other body part. How far will you go to repair the rest of you? The choice is yours, from simple, at-home fixes to more serious procedures performed by doctors. Your HandsTelltale signs: In your 40s, freckles and light splotches start darkening and spreading. (Quotes Mitchel Goldman, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at UC San Diego). More

Dark Chocolate May Improve Athletic Endurance
Topix, Aug. 5 ––A new study shows that consuming dark chocolate may help athletic endurance, the New York Times' Well blog reported August 3. Scientists at UC San Diego and other institutions gave middle-aged, sedentary male mice a purified form of cacao's primary nutritional ingredient, epicatechin, twice daily for 15 days. More

UCSD Cardiovascular Center Gets Clearance to Open
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 7 ––The $227 million UCSD Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center, whose planned opening this spring was snagged by regulatory problems, will accept its first outpatients this Monday. The state Department of Public Health had delayed the opening after deficiencies in the emergency departments at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and at UCSD Thornton Hospital in La Jolla. More

Fighting Deaths at an Early Age
Boston.com, Aug. 5 ­­––Scott and Danielle Hitchcock did everything they could to protect their daughters from illness and accidents. They worried about all the things careful parents of young children worry about.
Yet no amount of worry can prevent everything or explain the unexplained. On a Monday afternoon last year, when Scott went to wake 2-year-old Emerson from a nap, he found her dead, lying peacefully in her crib. (Mentions UC San Diego School of Medicine) More

Algae Visionary Imagines a Future that’s Green — Literally
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug 6 ––Research scientist B. Greg Mitchell blows a mean harmonica at the top of the La Jolla cliffs.
He’s swinging, fronting a band of musician buddies from Bird Rock, allowing the occasional talented marine biologist to sit in on drums and violin from time to time. It’s a full-blown, full moon grad student party, the surf crashing far below, with much talk of coral, satellite optics and Arctic expeditions.
Mitchell, 56, is a jack-of-all-disciplines who likes to keep the fun in science. His Pacific Blue Foundation sponsors the return of racing canoes in Fiji. He’s begun to use special underwater cameras to gauge the health of coral reefs, almost the way Google Street View catalogs the world above water. In his spare time, he’s been writing a musical theater extravaganza inspired by Irish politics. (Mitchell is director of the Photobiology Group at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography). More

Power Goes Out at UCSD
La Jolla Light, Aug. 5 ––A power outage at UCSD was affecting the entire campus early Friday evening, a campus police spokeswoman said.
At 5:30 p.m., firefighters were rescuing someone caught in an elevator at Pepper Canyon Hall, 44,418-square-foot office building on the Sixth College Campus, she said. The building also houses some classroom spaces.
The cause of the outage had not been determined and there was no estimated time for when power would be restored. More

Explorers Train in Crowd Control Tactics at UCSD
Encinitas Patch, Aug. 6 More than 200 young people are spending the week on the UC San Diego campus taking part in the 38th annual San Diego County Explorer Academy.
One of the week's activities involved senior members of the Explorers actually taking on a group simulating an unruly mob.
The trainees are in experienced hands, as officers from 23 agencies around the state assisted in the training and acting as the disorderly.
A graduation ceremony is scheduled for Saturday. More

UCSD’s Bardwell heads Oncology Group
La Jolla Light, Aug. 7 ­­––Wayne Bardwell, Ph.D., M.B.A, associate professor of psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, is the new president of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS). His three-year term began in February at the society’s annual conference.
Bardwell also serves as director of the Patient and Family Support Service and the Doris A. Howell Palliative Care Service at UCSD Moores Cancer Center. More

PARIS: Limbaugh Finds Roundabout Way to Take Shot at Chargers,
North County Times, Aug. 6 -- You know it's football season when the Chargers are a topic on Rush Limbaugh's radio show.
Limbaugh was getting animated when yapping that a senator said the Tea Party scored a moral victory during the debt-ceiling debate. Limbaugh, as he deftly does, blew a gasket.
How do the 1994 Chargers belong in that conversation? Limbaugh found a way: "So the Chargers end up going to the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers. And they got blown out. I mean, it wasn't even close. Jerry Rice set records. Steve Young set records. It was said that the Chargers made a game of it in the fourth, was a moral victory. It was not a moral victory. It wasn't a victory, period. There are no moral victories.'' (Mentions UC San Diego baseball  coach Dan O'Brien) More

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