A Sampling of Clips for July 26, 2011

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

What Is the July Effect – And Can It Kill You?
Forbes, July 26 -- Every July, a little-noticed phenomenon occurs in hospitals around the country. Immediately upon graduation, newly minted doctors arrive, diplomas in hand, ready to take up their resident duties. Except maybe they’re not. Because according to some pretty convincing research out of UC San Diego, the July influx brings with it a 10 percent surge in fatal medication errors. Dubbed the “July Effect” by researchers David Phillips and Gwendolyn Barker of UC San Diego, the spike in deaths by medication error has occurred every July for the past seven years. More

California “Dream Act” Approved for Illegal Immigrants
Reuters, July 25 -- California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill allowing illegal immigrants to receive privately funded scholarships to attend the state's public colleges and universities. The bill, dubbed the California Dream Act, aims at helping illegal immigrants who have earned a diploma after attending at least three years of high school in the state. State law already allows illegal immigrants who qualify for admission to a four-year state university to pay in-state tuition rather than the more expensive out-of-state tuition rate. Passage of legislation in California and Maryland to extend private scholarships to illegal immigrants comes as a number of states, led by Arizona, have taken steps to crack down on the undocumented. “You're going to see the red states go more the Arizona approach and blue states the California Dream Act approach," said John Skrentny, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego. More

New Method to Detect Autism in Kids
Times of India, July 26 -- For the first time, scientists have found a method that can accurately identify a biological sign of autism in very young toddlers. By scanning the brain activity of sleeping children, the scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Carnegie Mellon University and UC San Diego discovered that the autistic brains exhibited significantly weaker synchronization between brain areas tied to language and communication, compared to that of non-autistic children. More

Solar Panels Cool Buildings
Reuters, July 25 -- Researchers at UC San Diego, have discovered an added benefit to solar panels: In summer, they cool the buildings on which they are installed. Using thermal imaging, the scientists found that solar photovoltaic panels act like giant sun shades and that building ceilings under the panels were five degrees F cooler than top-floor ceilings of buildings with exposed roofs. More

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Key to Ending Piracy Rests Ashore
The Epoch Times, July 26 -- Current efforts to end piracy are failing and the realization is beginning to dawn that to be effective, strategies will eventually need to move from the sea onto land. Maritime piracy cannot exist without a land base supporting it. It was through the combined effort of naval pressure and eliminating this support on land that piracy all but ended in the 1800s. “You can never understand high sea piracy unless you understand the land. Historically speaking, no one has ever been very successful attacking pirates 500 miles off the coast,” said Mark Hanna, professor of history at UC San Diego. More

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