A Sampling of Clips for April 7^th, 2008

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

Tight Backpack Straps Cut Blood to Shoulders, Arms
The Washington Post, April 7 -- Wearing a heavy backpack can significantly decrease blood flow through your shoulder, down to your fingertips, and could result in the loss of some fine motor skills as well as increased fatigue, according to new research by UCSD’s department of orthopaedic surgery. More

Similar story in
Forbes
U.S. News & World Report

Scripps Offers Naming Rights
Los Angeles Times, April 7 -- If you've got $15,000, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego will name a new species of sea slug after you. For $50,000, you can attach your name to a hydrothermal vent worm. More

Similar story in
ABC 13, Las Vegas, Nev.
Fox 6 News
KGTV 10 News
Sacramento Bee
San Francisco Chronicle
San Diego Union-Tribune

UC San Diego Going "Green"
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 4 -- UCSD announced Thursday that it's trying to become the "greenest" university in the nation through efforts such as buying power generated by environmentally friendly means, using alternate-fuel vehicles and conducting research projects on global warming and related topics. More

Similar story in
NBC San Diego
San Diego Business Journal
Voice of San Diego

Reefs at Threat, Even When Protected
Discovery Channel, April 4 -- The decline of coral reefs bears an unmistakable signature -- human activity. Even efforts to preserve reef habitats through marine protected areas aren't doing anything to help corals. That is the depressing message of new work by Camilo Mora, now of UCSD, appearing in the April 7 issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B. More

The Departed
Boston Globe, April 7 -- Digital files, like any other media, decay over time. A typical low-cost hard drive lasts five years. While CD's and DVD's haven't been around long enough to know whether they will in fact last a century, some studies indicate they may last only 20 years. (Quotes Francine Berman, director of UCSD’s San Diego Supercomputer Center and head of a digital preservation task force formed this year) More

D-FW Needs Top-Tier University
Dallas Morning News, Opinion, April 6 -- The Dallas-Fort Worth area's economic vitality has been handicapped by the absence of a world-class research university. Following years of talk, the region's leadership must come to grips with this void and converge on a strategy to fill it. (Mentions UCSD) More

The Next Kyoto?
The Washington Times, Opinion, April 5 -- As 1,000 delegates gathered in Bangkok this week to discuss a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, news broke of an increase in European Union greenhouse-gas emissions last year. It was not unexpected. (Mentions UCSD research) More

UCSD, TargeGen Team-Up on Blood Disease Treatment
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 7 -- A one-year scientific collaboration that UCSD and the tiny local biotechnology company TargeGen has moved a treatment for a potentially fatal blood disease into human trials at record speed. More

In Russia, Volunteering Time with Kids
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 7 – This spring break, a group of UCSD students skipped Cabo and jetted off to Russia to volunteer with a camp for kids. And where they went, double-insulated puff jackets were more the fashion than zebra print-bikinis. Yaroslavl, a town five hours away from Moscow with an average winter temperature of 12°F, held the various sites where the students were to devote their time. More

Brain of a Scientist, Brain of a Doctor
Voice of San Diego, April 5 -- While UCSD’s Dr. Ajit Varki concentrates his research on the tiniest fragments of life imaginable, he applies the results of his labor to much larger questions, like how, why, and when people became susceptible to certain diseases over the course of human evolution. More

Outside Review Under Way at Preuss
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 7 -- Representatives from MGT of America have been visiting the Preuss School the past few weeks to explore the charter's policies and procedures, record keeping and staffing. More

Similar story in
10News
FOX6 News

Water Specialist: Dwindling Supply Means Lifestyle Changes Ahead
KPBS, April 4 -- Research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography shows the Colorado River system is on the verge of being unstable. Another key supply source for San Diego -- the Sacramento River Delta -- is also in trouble. More

Local Colleges Alerted to Vague Shooting Threats
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 4 -- A safety alert is circulating among local colleges after a Sacramento man allegedly made vague threats against an unspecified San Diego campus. (Mentions UCSD) More

Similar story on
NBC San Diego

UCSD Professor to Speak at Scholarship Gala
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 5 -- UCSD professor Naomi Oreskes, whose work on climate science was featured in the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” will be the keynote speaker April 19 at the 2008 Scholarship Gala held by the San Diego chapter of the Association for Women in Science. More