A Sampling of Clips for July 3^nd, 2008

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

Human Evolution: Details of Being Human
Nature, July 2 -- A physician and biochemist by training, UCSD researcher Ajit Varki had already embarked on a career in the relatively new field of glycobiology, the study of the sugar chains that decorate many proteins and lipids inside and outside the cell. More

Why People Vote: Is it in the Genes?
WebMD, July 2 --Candidates trying to drive up their poll numbers this election year might want to target more than voters' politics. They may also want to consider their genes. That's what a pair of UCSD studies suggest by claiming the first-ever link between voting behavior and genetic factors. More

Did Newborn Earth Harbor life?
New Scientist, July 2 -- Life on Earth might have emerged about 750 million years earlier than previously thought, new research suggests. (Quotes Jeffrey Bada, a chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

From Aesop to Harry Potter 
WBUR, Boston, Mass. July 2 --  Seth Lerer, the new dean of Arts and Humanities at UCSD and author of "Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter," talks about a new history of children's literature, and what it tells us about growing up. More

McCain is No Maverick
Boston Globe, Opinion, July 3 -- During the primaries, Barack Obama was said to be the darling of the news media. Not anymore. While the 2008 John McCain literally embraced W and courted the Religious Right, many in the news media believe he's secretly the 2000 McCain, who campaigned against W and the Religious Right. (Mentions research by Keith Poole, a political scientist at UCSD) More

Cleaning Up Cross-border Pollution is a Major Challenge for SD Region
KPBS, July 2 -- Every time it rains, the pollutants that are produced by Tijuana's growing population are swept into the watershed and they roll downhill into southern San Diego County and the Pacific Ocean. Tijuana has been a source of perennial water problems and beach closures on the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border. (Quotes Oscar Romo, UCSD professor, and the Coastal Training Program coordinator at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve) More

Web Site Lets Students Post Tests
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 3 -- A Del Mar resident's Web site encouraging students to post their midterm and final exams online is generating debate at UCSD and other schools about academic integrity, cheating and copyright violations. More

Quakes, Oil Don't Mix
North County Times, July 3 -- Neal Driscoll, a geology professor at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and an Escondido resident, said in an interview this week that perhaps the biggest threat is that a quake would set in motion a fast-moving landslide along the sea floor ---- essentially, an underwater avalanche ---- that would rip up wells and drilling equipment. More

In 'Mermaid's Hair,' a Search for a Cancer Cure
Voice of San Diego, July 3 -- In a breakthrough discovery, researchers at UCSD and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography identified a potent and stealthy compound in the bacteria, called "mermaid’s hair," that can kill tumors and be delivered without harming healthy tissue -- thereby avoiding a major drawback to traditional cancer therapies such as radiation treatments and chemotherapy drugs. More

NeuroVigil Wins UCSD $50K Innovation Award
The San Diego Daily Transcript, July 2 -- The UCSD $50K Competition announced that NeuroVigil Inc., a Salk Institute spin off, has won first prize of $30,000 for innovation in brain analysis. More