A Sampling of Clips for 
April 08, 2004

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

Obesity Blamed on Inactivity
United Press International, April 6-Scientists say the key contributor to adolescent obesity is lack of vigorous physical activity. The researchers from the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and San Diego State University followed 878 adolescents ages 11 to 15. The study, reported in the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, took note of the effects of diet, physical activity and sedentary behavior on obesity in adolescents.
* No link available online.

Similar article appeared in:
City News Service, April 5
* No link available online.

Viagra Finds Another Use, for Lung Disease
Reuters, April 7-Viagra can do more than help with erections. The drug is basically a blood-vessel dilator, and this has proven beneficial to people with pulmonary hypertension -- a condition in which pressure buildup in the lungs' circulation can ultimately cause the heart to fail. Viagra significantly improved exercise capacity, the pumping strength of the heart, and quality of life for patients with pulmonary hypertension, according to the results of the first strictly scientific study to examine the drug's effect on the condition. (Quote by Lewis J. Rubin M.D., from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=4777332

Marye Anne Fox Wanted in San Diego
Chemical & Engineering Times, April 8-Chemist Marye Anne Fox, 56, is the first choice of University of California, San Diego, President Robert C. Dynes to be the next chancellor of UCSD. The appointment of Fox, currently the chancellor of North Carolina State University, must still be ratified by the university's board of regents, which is scheduled to meet April 12 for this purpose.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8214/8214maryefox.html

UCSD Undergrads Being Recruited by Tech Firms
North County Times, April 7-Undergraduate UC San Diego students are being recruited to do research at leading technology laboratories in Japan, Taiwan and Australia this summer, the university announced today. The students will take part in a three-year, $156,000 program funded by the National Science Foundation to help prepare more U.S. engineers and scientists to work on international projects. (Quote by Gabriele Wienhausen, provost of UCSD's undergraduate Sixth College and principal investigator on the project.)
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/08/special_reports/
science_technology/4_7_0420_39_34.txt

La Jolla Playhouse Prepares for Season of Celebration
La Jolla Light, April 1-This season is going to be a watershed year for La Jolla Playhouse, and the rules are: There are no rules. Local theater-goers who have been lulled into a sense of security by the Playhouse's usual season of six productions and a "Page to Stage" workshop performed in the organization's two theaters will be pleased to learn that the spirit of the progressive is under way at the Playhouse. (Quote by artistic director of UCSD's La Jolla Playhouse, Des McAnuff.)
http://www.lajollalight.com/2004/04/01/a040401lajolla_playhouse.html

Students, Professors Protest Rising Textbook Costs
Contra Costa Times, April 7-More than 100 UC and California State University professors around the state signed an April 6 letter along with 400 others nationwide calling on Thomson Learning, a giant in the textbook industry, to lower prices and stop releasing new editions every few years. UC students shelled out an average of $898 in 2003-04 for textbooks, a survey by the California Student Public Interest Research Group found. The cost is increasingly onerous for students paying ever higher fees. (Quote by John Turk, bookstore director at UC San Diego.)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/8383325.htm

How We Choose: The Myth and Reality of Declining Voter Turnout
Associated Press, April 7-In the crowning rite of democracy, more than 100 million Americans will join together to make history this November - to elect a president. But a lot more won't. Some are under 18, and can't vote. But many others just don't. When the world's democracies are ranked according to their voting records, America is at the bottom, with Switzerland. (Quote by Zoltan L. Hajnal, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego.)
* No link available online.

Stanford Debunks Giant Ant Tunnel Theory
Silicon Valley Business Journal, April 7-Is there a 600-mile-long ant tunnel stretching from Mexico to San Francisco? Stanford University scientists say while there may be a lot of ants that look and act similarly, there's no single ant-made tunnel that long beneath the feet of Californians. The image of a giant tunnel teeming with ants gained notoriety in 2000 when scientists from the University of California, San Diego, proposed their theory that a single colony of pretty industrious Argentine ants had built a subterranean tunnel from Mexico to San Francisco. If so, it would have been one of the largest insect colonies on the planet, made up of billions of closely related workers - all direct descendants of a small group of Argentine ants that were accidentally introduced into California more than a century ago.
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2004/04/05/daily21.html?t=printable

Details Crucial in Nickel Creek's Musical Makeup
North County Times, April 8-When Nickel Creek received a Grammy Award for the CD "This Side" in February 2003, the honor was for best contemporary folk album. This was a telling detail, considering that since releasing its self-titled debut CD in 2000, Nickel Creek had been widely considered a bluegrass group, albeit one that had been highly praised for breathing life into a genre that had undergone little change or innovation in the six-plus decades since Bill Monroe first defined the style. The group plans to record their third CD this summer and is playing some of the new songs on the current tour, which arrives tonight at UC San Diego's RIMAC Arena.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/07/entertainment/music
/4_7_0411_43_27.txt