A Sampling of Clips for December 8^th, 2008

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

Is Happiness Contagious?
ABC News, Good Morning America, Dec. 5 – A new study on happiness co-authored by UCSD researcher James Fowler finds that happiness spreads through social networks. More

Similar story on
NPR, Science Friday 

Treasury's Plan for
Mortgage Rates Could Be Costly
TIME, Dec. 5 -- The Treasury Department's latest prescription for the ailing housing market could turn out to be more placebo than cure, and a costly placebo at that. Some economists question whether just lowering interest rates to a historically low 4.5% will be enough to boost housing sales or prices. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

Rock and Roil: Meteorites Hitting Early
Earth's Oceans May Have Helped Spawn Life
Scientific American, Dec. 7 -- Many theories about the origins of life on Earth posit that prebiotic compounds may have arrived from outer space on asteroids or comets. But a new study suggests that extreme chemical reactions fired up by meteorite impacts may have jump-started life in the early oceans, rather than delivering its building blocks preformed. (Mentions research by Jeffrey Bada of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Stoking Fear Everywhere You Look
The New York Times, Dec. 7 -- Every modern recession includes a media séance about how horrible things are and how much worse they will be, but there have never been so many ways for the fear to leak in. The same digital dynamics that drove the irrational exuberance — and marketed the loans to help it happen — are now driving the downside in unprecedented ways. (Quotes James H. Fowler, an associate professor at UCSD, who recently co-wrote a study looking at how happiness can be spread among friends.) More

Laboratories Breed Leaders
Financial Times, Dec. 7 -- With an MBA from the Rady School of Management at UCSD, Sergey Sikora has joined a niche group of scientists that can also fathom the intricacies of business. “Few business people connect with scientists, nor can many scientists relate to business. With this dual training, I get both.” More

Bring on the Bandwidth
BBC News, World Business, Dec. 2  -- The rapid advance of video on demand is causing a huge new demand for bandwidth. The telecoms suppliers seem complacently confident it can be provided, but I wonder if the new dearth of funds will cramp their plans. (Quotes Trish Stone, tour director, Calit2 and Calit2 Director Larry Smarr) More

Nano-Sensors
BBC, The Naked Scientists, November 2008 – The program features Steve Kay, UCSD dean of Biological Sciences and UCSD researcher Michael Sailor, who works on nano materials.
Click here to read the Kay interview.
Click here to read the Sailor interview.

Jonathan Yardley Picks the Best Books of 2008
The Washington Post, Dec. 7 -- In this tiny corner of the journalistic universe, the year now drawing to a close was quiet but, in hindsight, unusually satisfying. Five works of history make the list, covering a broad range of subjects. The widest net is cast by UCSD professor Kathryn Shevelow in “For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement,” which concentrates on England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. More

When Lower Mortgage Rates Don't Boost House Prices
Conde Nast Portfolio, Dec. 7 -- There's been some very good commentary in recent days about whether a reduction in mortgage interest rates might help boost house prices. Counterintuitively, the answer seems to be that there's a good chance it won't. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

Vying for a Soul Mate? Psych Out the Competition with Science
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 8 -- Too bad fashion writers don't read science journals. Instead of just lecturing on clothing, perfume and makeup, they could draw on research from human mating for their tips on boosting one's attractiveness at holiday parties -- ones that don't involve buying a thing. (Quotes Leif Nelson, a professor of marketing at UCSD) More

Admission Price Tops $1 Million for Most Winners in House Races
Bloomberg, Dec. 6 -- The price of admission to the U.S. House of Representatives keeps going up. More than half of the winning candidates in November -- 252 in all -- raised more than $1 million for their races, including each of those in the 50 most competitive contests, Federal Election Commission records show. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Gary Jacobson) More

Local Schools Get Top Grades in Nation
NBC San Diego, Dec. 8 -- Two local schools get the nod in the yearly U.S. News and World Reports rankings. The Preuss School of UCSD, which regularly listed among the top schools in the nation, was ranked eighth in the nation, a gain of two spots since last year. More

Brain of 'Most Studied' Amnesiac will be Evaluated Anew at UCSD
San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 6 -- Henry Gustav Molaison, who died Sunday at the age of 82, will be remembered as the man who could not remember. His brain, which was quickly removed after his death from respiratory failure at a Connecticut rest home, will be transported next month to The Brain Observatory at UCSD to be sliced, stained and preserved in approximately 3,000 oversized glass slides. The specimens also will be digitized and distributed online for future study. More

Take Time to Reflect on How Many People It Took
San Diego Union-Tribune, Letters to the Editor, Dec. 7 -- I read Will Bowen's article “UCSD Theatre & Dance Department deserves steady hand at the tiller” (Sunday Arts, Nov. 30), and while I am genuinely flattered to be attributed the status of the Theatre & Dance Department and the artistic success of its productions during my years as chair (and to be called “one sexy cowboy”), I have to set the record straight. (Written by Walton Jones, former chair of UCSD Theatre and Dance) More

Battle Ahead Over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Rule
San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 7 -- Still smarting from the unsuccessful same-sex marriage battle in California, some gay-rights activists are turning to another front: repealing the so-called “don't ask, don't tell” policy that prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Gary Jacobson) More

Let the Sun Shine In—Briefly—for Health
North County Times, Dec. 7 -- Take 5 to 10 minutes of sunshine daily ---- around noon, preferably, and without sunscreen ---- to significantly lower your risk of many kinds of cancers, Type I diabetes and heart disease. That's the prescription of about 160 renowned public health doctors, researchers and community leaders who gathered here Tuesday for a conference on what they labeled as an epidemic deficiency in vitamin D. (Quotes Cedric Garland, a professor in UCSD's department of family and preventive medicine, who has studied vitamin D for decades) More

Issa Climbing GOP Leadership Ladder
North County Times, Dec. 7 -- Later this week, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa is expected to be appointed the top Republican on the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the House's primary investigative panel, perhaps best known for its widely watched hearings on steroid use in baseball. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Gary Jacobson) More

Sweets and Treats Galore: Tips to Not Overeat this Holiday Season
La Prensa, Dec. 5 -- The holidays are a time where we get together with our family and friends to celebrate the season with great food. Many delicious foods are available during the holidays. It is so easy to gain weight during this season because these tasty foods are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Written by Ana Goins-Ramirez-Diaz, a Health Educator with UCSD Nutrition Link, an elementary school nutrition education program) More

For Now, Greenback Offers Silver Lining
The San Diego Daily Transcript, Dec. 4  -- The dollar has proven to be a bright spot for the United States, even as stock markets roil and the housing sector founders. (Quotes Sylvain Champonnois, a finance professor at UCSD) More

* Subscribe with In the News and receive our clips automatically