A Sampling of Clips for August 17, 2011

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

Are Spoilers Misnamed?
Smithsonian Magazine, August -- Do you hate it when someone tells you the ending of a book you haven’t read? Do you get angry at reviewers who give away too many plot points? Does the existence of “Spoiler alert” set your hackles up because you think spoilers shouldn’t even exist? Well, it seems you might be missing out—spoilers may enhance story enjoyment, according to a new study from Psychological Science by two researchers at the University of California, San Diego.  (Discusses research by psychology professor Nicholas Christenfeld and doctoral student Jonathan Leavitt) More

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NPR, Aug. 13
CTV, Canada, Aug. 15
TV Guide, Aug. 13
UK Guardian, Aug. 17
News.com.au, Australia, Aug. 16

Study Reveals Autism Has A High Rate of Recurrence In Families
KPBS News, Aug. 15 -- A new study finds children who grow up with an older sibling who has autism have a one in five chance of developing the disorder. The risk is much higher than was previously thought. Previous research had estimated the risk of autism recurrence within a family to be between three and 10 percent. (Discusses work by UC San Diego psychologists Leslie Carver and Karen Dobkins who are co-authors of the study) More

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"Midday Edition," Aug. 15 show
Web MD, Aug. 15

Mental Abacus Does Away With Words
American Scientist, September-October --Studies on a group of children trained to use a "mental abacus" suggest the technique frees mathematics from its usual dependence on language. In some parts of the world, particularly India, China and Japan, schoolchildren sign up for intense training programs that teach them how to perform complex calculations in their heads using a mental abacus. Intrigued, Michael Frank of Stanford University in California and David Barner at the University of California, San Diego, traveled to a school in Vadadora in Gujarat, India, where children learn mental abacus in a 3-year-long after-school programme. More

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New Scientist, August

Aloha Spirit Flows at Luau, Longboard
Event Where Dennis Carson will be Honored
La Jolla Light, Aug. 17 -- Sunday culminates a year of hard work by more than 100 volunteers who have been working to make the annual Luau & Longboard Invitational happen. It’s also the day that Dr. Dennis Carson, who this year went back to the lab after eight years as director of the UCSD Moores Cancer Center, will be honored at the event that has raised more than $5 million. He’s now working on finding drugs to treat breast and ovarian cancer and leukemia at the UCSD facility, one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation designated by the National Cancer Institute. More

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