A Sampling of Clips for January 15^th, 2009

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

We Don't Know Jack About the 'Net’
MSNBC, Jan. 14 -- That so much about the Internet is unknowable doesn't necessarily mean that it is in trouble. But it does mean that if it were in trouble, we might not know about it until it was too late. This is what really bothers two internet researchers at UCSD’s San Diego Supercomputer Center, the VoiceofSanDiego.org reported. More

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"Alien" Atmosphere Helped Unfreeze Early Earth
National Geographic, Jan. 13 -- Oxygen trapped in 635-million-year-old rocks from the Arctic has revealed that ancient Earth once had an otherworldly atmosphere that might have helped melt millions of years' worth of deep freeze. (Quotes UCSD Dean of Physical Sciences Mark Thiemens, who was not involved with the study) More

The Evidence on Tax Cuts vs. Spending is ... Confusing
TIME, Jan. 14 -- The Great Debate over whether we should cut taxes or increase government spending to stimulate the economy has sent many of us noneconomists digging into the evidence economists have gathered on the topic. (Mentions research by UCSD economist Valerie Ramey) More

Jobs’s Pancreas May Be Removed After Complications
Bloomberg, Jan. 15 -- Surgery that Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs may be having to remove his pancreas could be the result of painful side effects from a cancer procedure, or the return of tumors he said were removed five years ago, doctors say. (Quotes Andrew Lowy, head of the division of surgical oncology at Moores Cancer Center at UCSD) More

Newer Antipsychotic Drugs Draw Fresh Scrutiny
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 15 -- A widely-used class of antipsychotic drugs that includes best-sellers Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel is just as likely — perhaps even more likely — to cause a fatal heart attack as older antipsychotic drugs such as haloperidol, researchers reported today. (Quotes Dr. Dillip V. Jeste of UCSD) More

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Will NASA Lose Its Head?
Wired News, Jan. 14 -- Sources are reportedly saying that President-elect Obama has asked Air Force Major General Scott Gration to head NASA. Gration was an early campaign supporter and has been advising Obama on the military and foreign policy. Other candidates for the job might include Earth scientist Charles Kennel, former director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. More

UC Cuts Freshman Enrollment for Fall by 6 Percent
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 15 -- Saying they could not avoid a painful decision, University of California regents voted Wednesday to trim freshman enrollment for next fall by 2,300 students, or about 6%, as a response to reduced state funding during the worsening budget crisis. (Mentions UCSD) More

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Doubts Raised Over Brain Scan Findings
New Scientist, Jan. 14 -- Some of the hottest results in the nascent field of social neuroscience, in which emotions and behavioural traits are linked to activity in a particular region of the brain, may be inflated and in some cases entirely spurious. So say psychologist Hal Pashler at UCSD, and his colleagues, who examined more than 50 studies that relied on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans, many published in high-profile journals, and questioned the authors about their methods. More

Travolta Tragedy Report Helped Treat 8-Month-Old
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 14 – Although Jett Travolta didn't die of Kawasaki disease, publicity over his death from a seizure shined the media spotlight on the mysterious malady he had suffered as a 2-year-old. Channel 10 reporter Bob Lawrence was all ears. Knowing that UCSD is home to the Kawaski Disease Research Center. More

An Opportunity for Mexico's Poor
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 15– It can be hoped that President-elect Barack Obama's meeting this week with Mexico's head of state, Felipe Calderón, signals a deeper relationship between both countries for the years to come. (Written by Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, director of the UCSD Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies) More

Boring? Hardly, Says South County Marketer
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 14 – It didn't take long for someone to take a UCSD professor's advice about Chula Vista's ranking as one of the top 10 most boring U.S. cities and turn it into a positive. More

Up Front: Voice of America
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 15 – The Dixie Chicks and Linda Ronstadt both became national pariahs in recent years for using their concerts to voice – however briefly – a political opinion some people found very controversial. But don't tell that to John Legend, who believes that being engaged in civic discourse and speaking one's mind is a right that shouldn't be shirked, on stage or off. Legend performs here tomorrow night at UCSD's RIMAC Arena with his 10-piece band. More

UCSD Researcher Gets $16.6M for Genomic Work
Voice of San Diego, Jan. 14 -- Bing Ren, head of the gene regulation lab at UCSD’s Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, is one of four researchers nationwide to have been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to study the human epigenome, a collection of modifications that alter the behavior of genes. More

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