A Sampling of Clips for August 27^th, 2008

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

Cloud-Sniffing Drones Soar Over Asia
Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 27 -- Guiding a small squadron of robotic aircraft and fielding a network of ground stations, scientists from the United States, including the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, China, and South Korea this summer are putting vast plumes of Asian air pollution under some of the most exhaustive scrutiny ever. More

Data Centers: Focusing on Sustainability
Dr. Dobbs Portal, Aug. 27 -- Dallas Thornton is the Division Director, Cyberinfrastructure Services for the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD. His division is responsible for delivering high-performance, stable, at-scale cyberinfrastructure services that support UCSD faculty, researchers, staff, students, and departments; UC system-wide collaborators; industry partners; and multiple federal agencies. More

What’s Really Making Your Back Hurt
WebMD, Aug. 26 -- According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, four out of five women will develop a back injury at some point in their lives. But with a few simple changes, you can prevent yourself from becoming a statistic. The trick, says Dr. Douglas Chang, chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the UCSD Medical Center, is separating the misconceptions from the facts. More

Quake Tests to Improve U.S. Building Codes
UPI, Aug. 25 -- U.S. researchers who conducted three months of earthquake simulations say their results will likely be used to revise building codes across the nation. The scientists from UCSD and the University of Arizona conducted the seismic tests on a half-scale, three-story, 1-million-pound concrete structure -- the largest footprint of any structure ever tested on a shake table in the United States. More

Nanosprings in Their Step
The Engineer Online, U.K., Aug. 27 -- A team of Clemson University researchers led by Apparao Rao, a professor of physics, has invented a way to make beds of tiny, shock-absorbing carbon springs that could be used to protect delicate objects from damaging impacts. With collaborators at UCSD, the team has shown that layers of these tiny coiled carbon nanotubes can act as extremely resilient shock absorbers. More

Incomes Dropping, Costs Rising
North County Times, Aug. 26 -- North County incomes have failed to keep pace with inflation in yet another indicator that the region has entered a recession. Rising gasoline prices along with an increased cost of food have pushed up the cost of living, while fewer jobs and weaker consumer spending mean local residents are not earning enough to keep up, according to a release Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

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