A Sampling of Clips for August 7^th, 2009

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

Extinction 'Gene': Some
Species Are More at Risk
TIME Magazine, Aug. 7 - According to a new study published in the August 7 issue of Science, vulnerability to extinction runs in families, meaning that some groups of species have a higher likelihood of becoming extinct than others. "It turns out that some branches of the tree of life are more extinction-prone than others," says Kaustuv Roy, a biology professor at UCSD. "Those traits aren't just a part of extinctions that human beings cause, but a general feature of extinction itself." More

AP: Doc Gave Jackson Multiple Sedatives
CBS News, Aug. 7 -- Hours before Michael Jackson's death, his doctor administered multiple sedatives along with a powerful anesthetic the pop star used to sleep, according to a law enforcement official. It's a safe combination if done properly; potentially lethal if not. (Quotes Dr. Richard Clark, director of the division of medical toxicology at UCSD) More

Similar stories in
Houston Chronicle
KVUE, Austin, Tex.
Sacramento Bee

Happiness Barometers?
Science, Aug. 6 -- Day in, day out, bloggers pour their feelings onto the Web. Now researchers are mining those outpourings to track society's mood swings. (Quotes UCSD social scientist James Fowler) More

Obituary:
Professor Ronald Mason: Geophysicist
Times Online, U.K., Aug 6. -- Professor Ronald Mason was a geophysicist whose work in the Pacific Ocean contributed to the understanding of the Earth’s magnetic fields. He also studied movements in the Earth’s crust, notably around Iceland and the San Andreas fault, California. Mason, though holding a lectureship at Imperial College London, worked extensively in the United States with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. More

Questions Raised;
U Investigating Stem Cell Study
Star-Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 7 -- A prestigious University of Minnesota research center is under scrutiny again following a magazine report about the possible manipulation of data in several studies on stem cell technology. (Quotes Larry Goldstein, an embryonic stem cell researcher at UCSD) More

UCSD Praised for Environmental Work
San Diego 6, Aug. 6 -- The Arbor Day Foundation named UC San Diego as a "Tree Campus USA University" for the second consecutive year, it was announced today. More

Big Iron on the Rise
Genome Web, Aug. 6 -- It looks like bioinformaticists at UC San Diego are going to have considerably more computing power at their fingertips. Yesterday the San Diego Supercomputer Center there announced the official launch of the Triton Resource, a large-scale integrated supercomputing system that will be available to all on campus and beyond. More

Genes to Protect Against Genetic
Alterations and Diseases Identified
Britain News.Net, Aug. 7 -- In a study on the DNA of tiny yeast, UCSD scientists have pinpointed a large number of genes that can prevent a type of genetic rearrangement that may lead to cancer and other diseases. More

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