A Sampling of Clips for July 28, 2011

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

Volunteering on Your Next Vacation
AARP, July 28 – According to a 2008 study by UC San Diego, 45 percent of Americans have considered a volunteer vacation. “More and more people in all stages of life are thinking of becoming ‘voluntourists’ [and] are looking to spend their vacations and retirement in meaningful ways that make contributions to others,” says Bob Benson, director of the Center for Global Volunteer Service at UC San Diego Extension. According to the study, Americans over the age of 65 showed the greatest interest in longer term service commitments lasting multiple weeks or even months. Although the over-65 age bracket was the most willing to commit to doing a little good while traveling, they tended to stay stateside whereas Generation Y (age 18-24) respondents preferred going overseas. More

Scripps Examines Declining Number of Ocean Predators
CBS News 8, July 27 – (Interview) The ocean's predators serve a very important role in keeping the ecosystem functioning the way it should. In this Earth 8 video report, Kimberly King talks to Stuart Sandlin, researcher  and  professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, about the role of sea predators. More

Redefining Hydrogen Bonds, the Givers of Life
New Scientist, July 28 -- Without them, life as we know it could not exist, yet the exact definition of the hydrogen bond -- credited with keeping water liquid and giving DNA its signature helical shape -- has always been fuzzy. Now these fundamental linkages have a new official definition that broadens the situations in which they can arise. (Quotes Charles Perrin, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego.) More

Going Hungry in North Korea
South China Morning News, July 28 -- North Korea's food shortage has reached a crisis point this year, aid workers say, largely because of shocks to the agricultural sector, including torrential rain and the coldest winter in 60 years. Six million North Koreans were living on a knife-edge and would go hungry without immediate food aid, the World Food Program (WFP) said in April, when it called for US$224 million in emergency aid. The European Union has pitched in US$14.5 million, only enough to feed one-tenth of the hungry until the October harvest. The US has not said whether it will provide aid. (Quotes Stephan Haggard, a professor at UC San Diego [IRPS], who studies the North Korean economy.) More

Diversity Fundraiser Sues UCSD Over Firing
San Diego Union Tribune, July 27 -- A former UC San Diego employee, hired to raise money for diversity programs, has sued the university alleging that she was fired for speaking up about discriminatory practices at the La Jolla campus. More

Loss of Large Predators Disrupts Ecosystems; Blood Cells Produced From Human Stem Cells
La Jolla Light, July 27 – (Compilation) The decline of large predators at the top of the food chain has disrupted ecosystems all over the planet, according to a review of recent findings conducted by an international team of scientists. Researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego contributed to the study with a focus on the importance of sharks in coral reef ecosystems…Salk Institute for Biological Studies researchers have developed an improved technique for generating large numbers of blood cells from a patient’s own cells. Salk researchers have been trying to find more efficient ways to turn pluripotential stem cells into blood-forming “hematopoietic” stem cells, which would be medically valuable for their ability to supply both oxygen-carrying red blood cells and also all the white blood cells of the immune system. More

Scientist Wins Award From Pitt
Pittsburg Times-Tribune, July 27 -- J. Craig Venter, the scientist who led efforts to map the first draft of the human genome has been named this year's recipient of the University of Pittsburgh's Dickson Prize in Medicine. A Vietnam veteran, Dr. Venter attended UC San Diego after he returned from the war. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1972 and a doctorate in pharmacology and physiology in 1975. He is founder and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute and founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc. More

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