A Sampling of Clips for July 12-13, 2011

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

Marijuana Advocates Sue Feds After DEA Rejects Weed as Medicine
ABC News, July 12 -- Although 16 states recognize marijuana as a drug with important medicinal properties, the DEA has shot down a petition to reclassify marijuana as such, citing that it has "no accepted medical use." The result is that marijuana will remain within the strictest categorization of restricted substances, alongside heroin and LSD. "As a doctor and medical researcher, I find the DEA's decision unfortunate," said Dr. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego. "It looks like they underplayed what positive information there is in the literature about marijuana. This policy is guided more by certain kinds of beliefs in the dangers of marijuana, at the expense of advance of medical knowledge for patients." More

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Americans Use Spam for Cheaper Prescription Drugs
MIT Technology Review, July 11 -- New research shows that Americans are far more likely than buyers in other countries to turn to spam-advertised pharmacies to obtain pills to treat serious ailments—a trend that reflects differences in government health care and prescription drug policies. Researchers at UC San Diego have collected the first data showing which drugs consumers most often buy from spam advertisements, and how much they spend at shadowy online apothecaries. (Quotes Chris Kanich, a Ph.D. candidate at the computer science department and lead researcher of the study.) More

Ancient Lake Linked to San Andreas Earthquakes
International Business Times (UK), July 13 -- Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the University of Nevada, Reno, were able to discover new faults in the Salton Sea near the southern end of the San Andreas Fault by imaging beneath the Salton Sea. The researchers also found, by examining displacement indicators preserved in sedimentary deposits, that there is coincidental timing between flooding of the ancient Salton Sea and fault rupture in the region. More

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Miami Herald

West Coast Erosion: A Sign of Warming?
Orange County Register, July 12 -- The entire U.S. West Coast took a dramatic beating from the El Niño episode that ended last year, a new study reveals, as powerful waves gouged away chunks of shoreline at far higher levels than previously measured. Researchers from USGS, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Oregon State University, among others, supplied enough data for the 13-year period to profile the coast from San Diego to Seattle. More

Women With Asthma 'May Face Increased Risk of Premature Birth'
Net Doctor.com, July 13 -- Pregnant women with asthma appear to be more likely to have premature babies, a study has found. Researchers at the University of Newcastle in Australia and UC San Diego analyzed the results of 40 different research papers, all of which were published between 1975 and 2009. More

Turning the Tide
California Majority Report, July 11 -- Experts at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego warn that decreases in plankton, fishes, and seabirds along the coast linked to global warming could get worse in coming years. More dire yet, a recent report to the United Nations found that climate change, overfishing, and habitat loss have pushed ocean systems to the brink, concluding that: "Marine species are at risk of entering a phase of extinction unprecedented in human history." More

Tsunami Debris to Reach California by 2014
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 10 -- A tide of trash from tsunami-ravaged Japan is drifting across the Pacific Ocean and should reach California’s shores in three years or less, computer models show. (Quotes Bruce Cornuelle of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.) More         

How Much Plastic Do Fish Eat? Lots.
Tucson Citizen, July 11 -- How much plastic do fish eat? The short answer is a lot. With more than 250 million tons of plastic being produced a year, over seven million tons ends up in the world’s oceans. Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography estimated over nine percent of fish caught during their expedition in the North Pacific ocean gyre had small bits of plastic in their stomachs. This translated to up to 24,000 tons in this part of North Pacific alone. More

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Astronaut Reflects on Shuttle's Successes
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 11 – (Interview) Last Friday’s launch of Atlantis marks the ending of America’s space shuttle program, and NASA will cut its astronaut corps in half. Megan McArthur will be one of the roughly 60 astronauts remaining with the agency. She earned her doctorate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. More

Tap into Your Own Boundless Energy at Birch Aquarium's New Exhibit
La Jolla Patch, July 9 -- Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, opened its newest exhibit "Boundless Energy". The outdoor, interactive exhibit shows innovative ways to harness renewable energy from the sun, wind, and ocean. (Quotes Nigella Nillgarth, aquarium director.” More

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