A Sampling of Clips for July 7^th, 2008

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

A Computer That Can Read Your Mind
ABC News, July 7 -- One of these days your computer will probably know what you are thinking before you know it yourself. The human face conveys emotions ranging from fear to confusion to lying, sometimes involuntarily, and scientists are figuring out how to make use of those expressions. At UCSD, for example, a graduate student has developed a program that will slow down or speed up a video based entirely on changes in his facial expressions, like a slight frown, or a smile. More

Tihanyi Twins on Quite a Ride with Surf Diva
Los Angeles Times, July 6 -- Izzy Tihanyi rubs wax onto her surfboard, a very girly-looking longboard adorned with flowers and koi fish. Then she tucks it under her arm and tromps off toward the ocean, pausing briefly to toss a Surf Diva Surf School slogan back over her shoulder: "The best surfer in the water is the one having the most fun." That would be either Izzy or her twin, Coco, co-owners of the La Jolla school and co-authors of the 2005 book "Surf Diva: A Girl's Guide to Getting Good Waves." The twins earned degrees in communication from UCSD and Izzy got a second degree in literature and writing. More

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False Victory at the Border
New York Times, July 5 – How secure is the border? The opinion of government optimists is that it is way secure. So secure you wouldn’t believe it — and not as secure as it will be. That is the least the country should expect after all it has given up to lock the border down. Billions of dollars since the 1980s in fencing, razor wire, electronic sensors and vehicle barriers. A major deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops in 2006, to bolster the Border Patrol. (Mentions the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UCSD) More

Outdoor Buffs Must Exercise Caution on Smoggy Days
Los Angeles Times, July 7 -- SMOG, shmog. Exercising outdoors is a way of life in Southern California, and die-hard runners, walkers, cyclists and skaters aren't going to let a brown layer of air stop them. But maybe they should. The Southland is heading into its roughest air quality season, when heat, sun, air pollution and smoke from wildfires can cause lung irritation and shortness of breath in even healthy people. (Quotes Richard Ford, director of respiratory services at the UCSD Medical Center) More 

Breaking Out of the Film-Curator Box
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 6 -- Understanding Rebecca Webb starts with the answer to a simple question:  “What is a film curator? That's a good question,” said Webb, the founding film curator for UCSD's presenting organization ArtPower! “A lot of people – when I'm here, anyway – say, 'Oh, do you work in a library or something?' ” More

Two Dozen New Drug Candidates to Combat 'Bird Flu' Identified
Daily India, July 3 -- Scientists at UCSD claim to have isolated more than two dozen promising and novel compounds from which new "designer drugs" might be developed to combat Avian flu.   The researchers say that they made this advancement using resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), also at UCSD. More

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Fed's Yellen says Policy Tilts Toward Higher Rates
Reuters, July 7 -- The risk of inflation is beginning to outweigh the risk of a deteriorating U.S. economy, a top Federal Reserve policy-maker said on Monday, indicating that the Fed could be leaning toward raising interest rates. Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Fed, said that with worst-case scenarios having been skirted and inflation risks on the rise, interest rate policy is tilting in a "slightly tighter" direction. "On a continuum I would say things are shifting to somewhat more inflation risk," Yellen told reporters after a speech at UCSD. More

Arts and Humanities Dean is Appointed at UCSD
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 4 -- New Dean of Arts and Humanities Has Been Named at UCSD. Seth Lerer, a professor of English and comparative literature at Stanford University who previously served as director of undergraduate students in English at Princeton, will begin in January. More

Climate Change Strategy Isolates US at Summit of Industrialized Nations
Yahoo India, July 7 -- A rift over climate change widened Monday as the head of the European Commission urged leaders of the world's wealthy nations to act first in setting targets for reducing greenhouse gases putting U.S. (Mentions UCSD) More

Children's Literature A Reader's History From Aesop to Harry Potter
San Francisco Chronicle, July 6 -- If you find yourself in the children's section at a bookstore and you happen to cross paths with a savvy third-grade boy who's asking a salesperson for "The Adventures of Captain Underpants," or a seventh-grade girl, cross-legged in the aisle, who's engrossed in "Cut," a first-person account of self-mutilating behavior, you might think to yourself (depending upon how old you are), what happened to the good old days? Where's "Charlotte's Web"? Where are "Aesop's Fables"?
(Written by Seth Lerer, Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at UCSD)  More

Take Superlatives with the Finest Grain of Salt
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 7 -- “Application Filed for World's Largest Solar Energy Generating Plant: 30,000 Solar Dishes in the Southern California Desert.” It's the world's brightest headline, you could say (but to be safe, you probably shouldn't). The Monday news release below the over-the-sun headline was followed by a sober story in Tuesday's San Diego Union-Tribune. In his lead, reporter Bruce V. Bigelow safely described the Imperial Valley energy project, a green linchpin of SDG&E's proposed Sunrise Powerlink transmission line, as merely “massive.” (Mentions UCSD) More

Nonsmoking Gamblers Push Casinos to Clear the Air
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 7 -- Hans Nansen of Carlsbad sometimes suggests to friends that they go out to a casino, but he gets an immediate objection. “We want to go out there, but 'Oh, God, the smoke,' ” he said. “I can only stand it so long.” (Quotes John Pierce of the Moores Cancer Center and co-author of study that found that smoke-free policies lead people to smoke less). More

Stem Cell Grant Review Upsets Some Applicants
San Diego Union Tribune, July 6 --  The state's stem cell institute, which so far has approved $554 million in taxpayer-funded research grants, is basing its funding decisions on recommendations from panels of scientists who sometimes make significant factual errors in their reviews of grant requests, some applicants say. Yet there is no way for applicants to point out or rebut the errors – at least not through a formal appeals process, such as the one used by the National Institutes of Health. (Quotes said Larry Goldstein, a UCSD stem cell researcher.) More

Wine Wise
The Hindu, July 5 -- Recent reports suggest that red wine is a potent force in increasing lifespan, and a new study offers still more good news for wine drinkers. A glass a day, whether white or red, may reduce the risk of developing the common liver disorder, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.  (Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, the senior author of the study and associate professor of gastroenterology at UCSD.) More

Advancement Goes Digital
University Business, July 2008 -- People without any connections to a higher education institution don't generally hand over large amounts of money unprompted. Even people who are proud of their alma mater often need to be wooed before they open their checkbook. "In the fundraising world they have always understood that no one is going to give money if you don't beat the bush," says Jim McGlothlin, vice president of higher education at Oracle. The difference is, now the bushes are housed in an electronic database rather than a Rolodex. (Quotes Marlene Shaver, chief financial officer of the UCSD Foundation) More

Schofield is on Board
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 6 – It was only a matter of time before Schofield jumped on her new T. Patterson tri-fin surfboard.  Schofield took advantage of a rare opportunity to hit her favorite surf spot by riding a handful of midsize waves. The UCSD and former Carlsbad High surfer's time is scarce. More

School Project Aimed at Smaller Student Groupings
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 5 -- In an effort to raise academic achievement and foster intimate classrooms, 30 San Diego elementary schools will trim class sizes and change the way they group their youngest students.  Drawing from a landmark Tennessee study, the San Diego Unified School District will randomly assign students to kindergarten and keep those classes of children intact through the second grade. Under the pilot program set to begin in September, the 30 elementary schools will cut class sizes from 20 to about 15 students per teacher in kindergarten, first and second grades. Another 30 elementary schools will participate in the study without reducing class sizes. UCSD professor and researcher Julian Betts will monitor the participating schools, which will be divided into two study groups. More

Permit System Changed Since '07
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 5 -- After the Sunroad scandal shook San Diego City Hall last year, the city's Office of Ethics and Integrity recommended sweeping changes in the way development permits are handed out. The city had allowed Sunroad Enterprises to build an office tower so tall that it violated Montgomery Field airspace, and the suggestions were meant to ensure something similar would not happen again. (Quotes Steve Erie, economics professor at UCSD). More

An Educational Journey: Questions for Tony Haymet
Voice of San Diego, July 4 -- In September 2006, Tony Haymet, an Australian chemist, was named the 10th director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD. He came to Scripps from Australia's national science research agency, where he served as science and policy director. In his two years at Scripps, four of the school's climate change researchers have won Nobel Peace prizes and the institution's global warming studies -- and its other academic research -- have continued receiving international attention. More