A Sampling of Clips for July 10^th, 2008

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

Fulbright Scholars Meet U.S. Officials at Gaza Border
USA Today, July 10 -- U.S. visa officials drove to the Gaza border Thursday to meet with three Fulbright scholars from Gaza — going to unusual lengths to work around an Israeli travel ban that jeopardized their prestigious U.S. government scholarships. Israel had denied entry to the three Palestinian university students, thus preventing them from traveling to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem to apply for their visas. Instead, U.S. officials, carrying fingerprinting equipment for the visa applications, drove to the Erez Crossing on the Israel-Gaza border Thursday and met with the Gaza students. (Mentions UCSD) More

4 out of 5 Sunscreens Inadequate, Study Finds
San Francisco Chronicle, July 10 -- When temperatures soar past the century mark around the Bay Area, people head for the beach with all of the usual gear in tow. Think towels, Frisbees, coolers, umbrellas. And sunscreen. Oceans of it. Americans will spend more than $1.1 billion on sun protection products this year, a market that's grown by an annual rate of 10 percent since 2004. (Quotes Edward Gorham, an assistant professor at Moores Cancer Center at UCSD) More

She Told Me My Arm Was Gone. We Argued
About That for Five Minutes. I Mean, I Could Feel It.
San Diego Reader, July 9 -- Most stories begin with a person or an event. This one begins with a book. Last summer I read The Brain That Changes Itself by research psychiatrist and psychologist Norman Doidge, M.D., which discusses developments in neuroscience, especially in the area of neuroplasticity. Now, if I were in a bar and the guy on the next stool leaned over and said to me what I’ve just written here, I’d give a wave to the bouncer. But hang on. (Quotes Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, who is director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and professor of psychology and neuroscience at UCSD) More

When Web Sites Post Test Answers Online, Professors Worry
Chronicle of Higher Education, July 10 -- Several Web sites have emerged in recent years that encourage students to upload old exams to build a bank of test questions and answers that can be consulted by other students. But some professors have objected, many of them demanding that their tests be removed. (Mentions UCSD) More

Thomas Nee; UCSD Professor,
Conductor Built La Jolla Symphony (Obituary)
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 10-- During his 31 seasons as music director of the La Jolla Symphony, conductor Thomas Nee transformed a minor ensemble into a major community orchestra with a wide-ranging repertoire and nearly 100 instrumentalists. Since 1967, when Mr. Nee joined UCSD's faculty, it has been allied with the university's innovative music department. And its semi-professional roster includes faculty and students as well as community members. “He made the orchestra what it is today,” said Steven Schick, the La Jolla Symphony's current music director and a UCSD faculty member. “He established it as a high-quality ensemble where contemporary music could live side by side with the classics.” Mr. Nee died on Monday July 7 in Encinitas after a brief illness. He was 87. More

'I Just Have to Cross'
Voice of San Diego, July 10 -- Violence creates refugees, millions of them. We see daily body counts from the war in Iraq, but rarely do we read about the 4.7 million refugees caused by the war, many of them now straining to get into Europe through Greece and Italy. The great refugee fluxes in the world today -- from Iraq, Colombia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, like those a few years ago from Kosovo and Rwanda -- are caused by wars and violence. (Mentions UCSD's Center for Comparative Immigration Studies) More

Controversial Student Center Proposed Again
La Jolla Light, July 9 -- Hillel of San Diego was back before the La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) last week with a slightly reworked development proposal for Site 653, a controversial plan to build a 12,000-square-foot Jewish student center on a small triangular parcel across from UCSD that neighbors want preserved as open space.
The Site 653 parcel abuts a single-family neighborhood surrounded by La Jolla Scenic Drive North, La Jolla Scenic Way and La Jolla Village Drive in the La Jolla Shores Planned District. More

Whales Changing Their Tune
San Diego Reader, July 10 -- Professor John Hildebrand, a blue whale expert at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, has studied recordings of whales “singing” since the 1960s. He says the whales’ rhythmic underwater moaning, which often sounds musical, is becoming lower and deeper. “This is giving us an insight into the culture of blue whales, as they are clearly listening to each other’s songs and changing them,” he told the UK’s Sunday Telegraph. “It takes a conscious decision to make the calls deeper, so it is a reflection of what is going on in the population.” More

Discovery Could Lower Cost of Semiconductor Chips
North County Times, July 9   -- A new manufacturing method can bring down the cost of the next generation of semiconductor chips, says a UCSD researcher whose team developed the technology. Cymer Inc., co-sponsored the research, said Mark Tillack, a mechanical and aerospace scientist at UCSD. Rancho Bernardo-based Cymer makes lasers used in manufacturing semiconductor chips, used in computers and memory storage for devices such as iPods. More