A Sampling of Clips for December 16^th, 2009

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

Engineering Water-Efficient Plants
U.S. News and World Report, Dec. 15 -- Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising greenhouse gases. Plants take in the carbon dioxide they need for photosynthesis through microscopic breathing pores in the surface of leaves. But for each molecule of the gas gained, they lose hundreds of water molecules through these same openings. The pores can tighten to save water when CO2 is abundant, but scientists didn't know how that worked until now. (Quotes Julian Schroeder, professor of biology at UCSD) More

Obama Notifies Congress of Asia-Pacific Trade Pact Intentions
The New York Times, Dec. 15 -- Could a legacy of the Copenhagen climate conference turn out to be higher tariffs? With little prospect of an agreement at the talks this week bringing immediate and binding emissions limits on the developing world, pressures are mounting in Europe and the United States to impose restrictions, called border adjustments, on imports from low-cost producers like China and India that are resisting cutting greenhouse gases. “The shadow of border adjustments hangs over these talks,” said David G. Victor, a professor of international relations and an expert in environmental issues at UCSD. “Unions and heavy industry are deeply worried about climate policies that could make them less competitive, especially with the Chinese, and nothing in Copenhagen will change that fact.” More

Too Small to Fail
Yahoo! India, Dec. 16 -- The Telangana announcement and the subsequent proliferation of additional statehood demands is a good time to consider some of the broader theoretical issues in determining the optimal size of states.  The work of Alberto Alesina (Harvard) and Enrico Spolaore (Tufts), on the optimal size of nations (The Size of Nations, MIT Press, 2005) provides some useful principles for thinking about the optimal size of states in the Indian context. (Written by Karthik Muralidharan an economics professor at UCSD) More

What If It Fails?
Slate, Opinion, Dec. 15 -- The White House is so determined to pass anything—and I mean anything—it can call health reform that I'm not yet prepared to believe that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's sweat-drenched labors will fail. But the bill as currently configured is in sufficient peril that President Obama called a meeting of the entire 60-person Democratic caucus (including two independents, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the much-loathed Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut). The public option is dead, and so is its understudy, the Medicare buy-in. The abortion issue remains unresolved. A self-imposed Christmas deadline almost certainly won't be met. Public support for health reform is dropping in the polls. Though still unlikely, failure is becoming easier to imagine. (Mentions research by Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at UCSD) More

Ocean of Robots
KNSD, Dec. 15 -- A new tool for searching underwater could help determine the size of oil spills, study red tides and discover black boxes from plane crashes and now local researchers have the money to build it. Oceanographers from UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) in La Jolla, have been awarded nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) division of ocean sciences to develop a new breed of ocean-probing robots. More

H1N1 Rebound Feared in January
San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 16 -- Even with swine-flu cases leveling off, medical experts from San Diego to Atlanta are bracing for a new wave of infections that could hit a month from now — driven by cold weather, holiday travel and crowded seasonal gatherings. “We don’t want people to become complacent,” said Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s public health officer. “We want people to consider getting vaccinated.” Hoping to take advantage of the current lull, Wooten and other local health officials also are considering whether to make vaccine for the H1N1 influenza virus available to a wider range of residents early next month. (Quotes Dr. Robert “Chip” Schooley, chief of infectious diseases at the UCSD Medical Center) More

Aviation: The 787 Can Fly
North County Times, Dec. 15 -- Boeing's new 787 jetliner finally got airborne Tuesday, the long-delayed inaugural flight of the world's first commercial plane constructed with half its components made from lightweight composite materials. (Quotes Hyonny Kim, a professor of structural engineering at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering) More

Tchaikovsky’s Enduring Holiday Ballet plays through December 27th
San Francisco Sentinel, Review, Dec. 12 -- San Francisco Ballet’s production of Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s The Nutcracker is spectacularly beautiful. It is the perfect treat for the Holiday Season and a San Francisco dream come true. The story begins on Christmas Eve 1915 amidst the glittering wonderland that was the Pan Pacific Exhibition. While The City is shimmering in a flood of jeweled lights and the world is flocking to the newly-constructed Palace of Fine Arts – the Stahlbaum Family is enchanted by the latest creation from Uncle Drosselmeyer’s upscale toy shop. (Mentions lighting design by James F. Ingalls professor in UCSD’s theater and dance department) More

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