A Sampling of Clips for August 31, 2011

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

Heat Hacking: Criminals Can Steal Your ATM PIN Code Via the Heat Your Fingers Leave Behind
Popular Science, Aug. 30 -- The PIN digits you punch into an ATM’s keypad to authenticate your transactions are leaving traces of themselves behind in the form of heat, says a paper recently presented by a team of UC San Diego security researchers. Someone following immediately behind an ATM user can use a digital infrared camera to determine what keys were pushed with about 80 percent accuracy, their study shows. Even a full minute later the camera can pick up the correct digits about half the time. More

UC San Diego Voted Best College in America. Yale, Princeton Not Even in Top 30
Forbes, Opinion, Aug. 30 -- You read right. The righteous redistributionists at the Washington Monthly have announced their annual ranking of colleges and universities. And University of California, San Diego (UCSD) came out on top, followed by UCLA, the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford, the University of California-Riverside, Harvard, Case Western Reserve, the University of California-Davis, Jackson State University, and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Traditional academic stalwarts like the University of Chicago (25), Columbia (26), Princeton (31), Yale (39), and my alma mater of Northwestern (67) did not come remotely close to cracking the top ten. More

In Search of Hidden Treasure
Taipei Times, Aug. 31 -- For decades scholars have labored to find a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, believed by many to be hidden behind a fresco by Giorgio Vasari in the Palazzo Vecchio here. Now — thanks to an unusual marriage of art history and nuclear physics, partly arranged by an unassuming freelance photographer — the quest may soon be over. Better yet, it may end with a photographic image of the lost mural. Better yet, it may end with a photographic image of the lost mural. The complex tale begins in the 1970s, when the Florentine art historian Maurizio Seracini became convinced that the mural, The Battle of Anghiari, hailed by some in Leonardo’s era as his finest work, was lurking behind the wall-sized Vasari in the Hall of Five Hundred, for centuries the seat of Florence’s government. Seracini runs the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology at the University of California, San Diego, and is a professor at its school of engineering. More

CA Legislators Trying To Overhaul Initiative Process
KPBS, Aug. 31 -- Leaving a supermarket in San Diego can be a mad dash to avoid people with clipboards or makeshift desks asking for a moment of your time. Or maybe, you enjoy hearing the reasons that people are asking for your signature and your support on a political initiative. Either way, the number and frequency of state ballot initiatives is becoming a issue in Sacramento. And there are several initiative reforms being considered by state legislators. Here to talk about the measures being drafted is my guest Thad Kousser, UCSD political scientist. He specializes in California politics and state legislatures. More

UCSD Tabs Nebraska's Newman as Baseball Coach
La Jolla Patch, Aug. 30 -- UC San Diego introduced former Nebraska assistant Eric Newman as its new head baseball coach on Monday. The announcement was made by Director of Athletics Earl W. Edwards. Newman had been the pitching coach at Nebraska since 2007 and served as the head coach at Dallas Baptist from 2004 until 2007. A San Diego Padres draft pick, Newman played eight seasons of professional baseball. More

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