A Sampling of Clips for February 17^th, 2009

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

Good News on the Ocean Front for a Change
CBS News, Feb. 14 -- Some Pacific island countries are successfully protecting their reefs, haddock and scallops are recovering in New England waters and a few types of whales are even making a comeback. (Quotes Jeremy C.B. Jackson of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

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FOX News
MSNBC
Newsweek
The Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
Newsday
Boston Globe
Forbes
San Diego Union-Tribune

Use of Natural Openings
May Ease Weight-Loss Surgery
CNN, Feb. 17 –  A handful of surgeons are using natural orifices -- such as the mouth or the vagina -- to perform bariatric surgery, which reduces stomach size. (Quotes Dr. Santiago Horgan, director of the UCSD Center for the Future of Surgery and Center for the Treatment of Obesity) More

Healthy Habits: A Month of Living Perfectly
CNN, Feb. 16 -- What if, for a month, I embraced every health dictate we all know we should follow but blithely ignore? Would I feel rejuvenated, young? Or just like the butt of that old joke: "Eating healthy doesn't make you live longer...it just feels that way?" (Mentions research by UCSD) More

San Diegans Take Up
Challenge of Aiding Afghanistan
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16 -- It began with a visit by a San Diego businesswoman who volunteered at an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan after the Taliban was pushed from power in 2001. (Mentions UCSD) More

The Science of Smooching
Chicago Tribune, Feb. 14 -- If you kiss your sweetheart this Valentine's Day and find it especially appealing, credit the candlelight, the champagne—or maybe just excellent gene compatibility. (Mentions neurology research by Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran of UCSD) More

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Hartford Courant

Oh Behave! Business
Students Line Up for Etiquette Class
Contra Costa Times, Feb. 16 -- Nationwide, colleges are helping students step up by offering business and dining etiquette classes to seniors and grad students by experts such as Amoroso, who teaches not just the fork stuff, but the finer points of booze, small talk and the art of the 30-second elevator pitch. (Mentions UCSD’s “Passport to Leadership” program) More

Farber in the Oscars
San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 17 -- The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego received word that the Academy Awards will honor Manny Farber this month in its “In Memoriam” montage. The artist and film critic, whose critiques appeared in Time, The Nation, The New Republic, Artforum Film Culture and other magazines, died in August at his home in Leucadia. He was 91 and had been suffering from bone cancer. He had joined the UCSD faculty in 1969. More

When Are Cancer
Cases More Than Coincidence?
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 17 -- A “cancer cluster,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is “a greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a geographic area over a period of time.” Since 2000, eight professors and staff members have been diagnosed with breast cancer in the literature building at UCSD. More

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San Diego Union-Tribune

Give Stress a Rest
San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 17 -- You don't have to put your hectic life on hold to chill out. Local relaxation gurus offer quick stress-busters to help you tame your tension at home, in the office, on the road or while standing in line at the grocery store. (Quotes Dr. Tahir Bhatti, a clinical psychiatrist at the Wellness and Personal Growth Center at UCSD) More

Doctors Try to Make Sure
Breast Surgeries Are Complete
KPBS, Feb. 15 -- Doctors at UCSD are working on a way to make sure breast surgeries really remove all of the cancer cells. San Diego doctors are working on a way to test healthy tissue, while the patient is still asleep, to make sure no cancer cells remain. Dr. Sarah Blair, of UCSD, says tissue near the edge of the lump is placed on a slide and stained with markers for breast cancer. More

Inspiration for “ER”
San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 14 -- A San Diego physician named Dr. Horta was flown in to perform an innovative operation on the “ER” episode that aired last week. The fictional character was based on a UCSD Medical Center doctor with a similar name, Santiago Horgan, confirms hospital spokeswoman Jackie Carr. More

Wireless' Next Big Innovation
Voice of San Diego, Feb. 15 -- James Buckwalter, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering, has developed a new signal amplifier for the silicon chips imbedded in cell phones and other devices that will allow them to handle 10 to 100 times the bandwidth and signals on much higher frequencies. More

The Not-So-Sunny Side of Solar Panels
Voice of San Diego, Feb. 15 – Even though they're typically considered far cleaner than their fossil-fuel counterparts, solar panels themselves come with a list of potential environmental impacts -- some known, others still incompletely understood. (Quotes David Pellow, an associate professor of ethnic studies and sociologist at UCSD, is co-editor of a book entitled "Challenging the Chip" about the toxic legacy of high-tech electronics) More

Researchers Warn of Post-Rain Health Risks
10News, Feb. 16 -- The minute the sun comes out after a rainstorm San Diegans run on the beach, buckle in their rollerblades or hop on a bicycle. However, one thing most people know not to do is go into the water. Some UCSD grad students are trying to figure out just how harmful these pollutants area. They are also taking rain samples from around the country to see how air pollution affects rain levels. More

New Biofuels Effort
Focusing on a Lowly Desert Shrub
San Diego Business Journal, Feb. 16 -- Another robust, long-lived organism has potential to capture a piece of the renewable fuels market. SG Biofuels, a San Diego-based startup, is harnessing the power of the jatropha plant, a toxic, drought-resistant and tough-skinned shrub native to Central America. The company is comprised of plant geneticists from UCSD, entrepreneurs who left high-tech, agricultural business leaders and a former oil executive, among others. More

Employee Ownership Growing in Popularity
San Diego Business Journal, Feb. 16 -- The concept of employee ownership isn’t new, but is gaining more adherents as companies seek ways to motivate and retain workers. (Quotes Martin Staubus, director of consulting at the Beyster Institute, now part of the Rady School of Management at UCSD) More

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