A Sampling of Clips for July 13^th, 2009

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

George Shor Jr. Dies at 86; Scripps Geophysicist Studied the Ocean Floor
Los Angeles Times, July 11 -- George G. Shor Jr., the geophysicist whose studies of the ocean floor helped lay the foundation for the theory of tectonic plates and continental drift, died July 3 at his home in San Diego of complications following a series of strokes. He was 86. He spent most of his career at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. More

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Chicago Tribune
San Francisco Chronicle
Seattle Times
Philadelphia Inquirer
Boston Globe

Strep B Seems to Trick Immune System
U.S. News & World Report, July 13 -- A bacterial pathogen that causes sepsis and meningitis in newborns shuts down immune cell function to ensure its survival, a new study shows. The findings about Group B Streptococcus (GBS) may help lead to new drugs for infectious diseases that affect about 3,500 newborns in the United States each year, said the researchers at the UCSD School of Medicine. More

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Forbes
KTTC, Austin, Tex.

Study: Commercials Make TV More Fun
USA Today, July 13 -- Commercials make television more fun, says a study of consumer behavior. In six experiments with volunteer viewers, an August Journal of Consumer Behavior study finds that commercial breaks heighten the "hedonistic consequences", otherwise known as fun, of watching sitcoms." Consumers prefer to watch television programs without commercials," note the authors led by Leif Nelson of UCSD. More

Men from U.S., Mexico Report 'Risky'
Sex with Tijuana Prostitutes, Study Finds
Los Angeles Times, July 11 -- A large percentage of men who regularly have sex with prostitutes in Tijuana do not use condoms and have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, according to a binational study led by UCSD researchers and published Friday in the online journal AIDS. More

Obituary: Herbert Frank York (1921–2009)
Nature, July 9 -- Herb York, who died on 19 May at the age of 87, was present at the creation of the US postwar defense research and development establishment and, from a very early date, was one of its scientific leaders. York was the founding chancellor of UCSD. More

Americans' Debt Stress is Easing
The New York Times, July 13 -- Unemployment is rising. Nest eggs are in tatters. Home values have tanked. And yet surprisingly, Americans are feeling less stress from debt these days. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

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The Salt Lake Tribune
KMBC, Kansas City

The Devil is in the Retail
Financial Times, July 11 -- The recent phenomenon whereby every new development, from apartments and shopping centers to museums and stadiums, is described as “iconic” represents the zenith of the idea of the “city of seeing”. (Quotes Teddy Cruz, who is on the UCSD Visual Arts faculty) More

China's One-Child Rule Leaves Too Few Young to Support the Old
Chicago Tribune, July 12 — For three decades, China's one-child policy helped power this nation's economic rise. But a social experiment that worked well in some respects is now threatening the country's hard-won gains. China's working-age population -- the engine behind its growth -- will start shrinking within a few years. (Quotes Susan Shirk, a professor at UCSD and author of "China: Fragile Superpower.") More

Einstein Robot Teaches Itself to Smile
Popular Science, July 10 -- According to developmental psychologists, as infants, we learn to govern our bodies through a process of random experimentation and feedback. Now, computer scientists at UCSD are applying this same strategy to robotics research. Through the use of machine learning, they’ve made it possible for their robot–an Einstein lookalike–to teach itself to make realistic facial expressions. More

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KPBS

Mirrors on the Moon
New Scientist, July 12 -- Each clear night when the moon is high in the sky, a group of astronomers in New Mexico take aim at our celestial neighbour and blast it repeatedly with pulses of light from a powerful laser. They target suitcase-sized reflectors left on the lunar surface by the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 missions, as well as by two Russian landers. (Quotes Tom Murphy from UCSD, who heads the experiment at the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico) More

North Korea Wants US to Show Remorse
KCBS, San Francisco, Calif., July 11 -- The fact that the United States and North Korea have no diplomatic relations is complicating the plight of two American journalists detained in North Korea. (Quotes UCSD Professor of International Relations Stephen Haggard) More

The Hidden Cost of Obesity
Las Vegas Sun, July 12 -- The simplistic approach to weight problems is to tell people to stop eating junk and get off the couch. But experts say that’s not realistic for someone who is more than 100 pounds overweight.  (Quotes Michael Kalichman, director of UCSD’s research ethics program) More

Skeleton Keys
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 13 -- The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) at UCSD has begun digitizing dozens of skeletons of apes who once resided at the Primate Foundation of Arizona (PFA), a nonprofit organization in Mesa, Ariz., that took in, cared for and studied unwanted chimpanzees for more than 30 years. More

East County's Biotech Success
San Diego Union-Tribune, Opinion, July 11 — In a severe recession, it is easy to buy into the perception no one is hiring. That's not true. Take an East County biotech, one with 650 employees, that is expanding and hiring. Scantibodies Laboratory, based in Santee, is purchasing an El Cajon building that gained notoriety in a botched deal between the Heartland Foundation and the city of El Cajon. The company was started by UCSD alumnus Tom Cantor. More

UC Employees Face Furloughs to Bridge Deep Budget Divide
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 11 – Ending a week in which California's two public university systems laid out grim consequences of deep state funding cuts, University of California officials yesterday said they hope to close an $813 million gap without additional student fee increases or enrollment curbs. (Mentions UCSD) More

Professors' Plot on UC Merced Earns a Quick 'F'
The Fresno Bee, July 11 – In all, 23 professors from UCSD -- all of them department chairs -- floated a novel proposal for sparing their campus the inevitable pain that comes with an economy in tatters: shut down the new kid, UC Merced. More

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CBS5, San Francisco, Calif.
Modesto Bee
CBS 47, Fresno, Calif.
San Francisco Chronicle
San Diego 6

'These are the Great Stories of Our Time'
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 12 – It's said that every picture tells a story. So can words. So, too, can the art of dance be eloquent. Just ask choreographer Patricia Rincon, the Mexican-American dance-maker who teaches at UCSD and fronts the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective. More

If They Gave Mud to Gore, What'll Be Fit for a Prince?
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 11 – What do you give to a prince? That is the question haunting Tony Haymet, the director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Prince Albert II of Monaco will visit San Diego Oct. 23, his first official visit here, to accept Scripps' Roger Revelle Prize for his environmental advocacy. Former Vice President Al Gore received the first Revelle prize named for the late former director of Scripps, in March. More

Hemet Doctor's Memoir Details Harrowing
Childhood in Cambodia's 'Killing Fields'
North County Times, July 11 -- When Sopheap Ly was growing up in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in the 1970s, her father never gave up his hopes for his daughter's future. Encouraging her to pursue a career in medicine, he told her, "Never give up on your dream. It is never beyond your reach." Today she is a medical professor at UCSD and a physician for the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and also a married Hemet mother of infant twin daughters. And now Ly has chronicled her harrowing childhood experiences in her first novel, "No Dream Beyond My Reach." More

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