A Sampling of Clips for June 22^th, 2009

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

Robot Babies
The Smithsonian Magazine, June 19 -- Einstein the robot has enchanting eyes, the color of honey in sunlight. David Hanson, Einstein's creator, is visiting from Texas to help scientists here at UCSD prepare the robot for an upcoming conference. The article also profiles UCSD researcher Javier Movellan and his robot RUBI. More

Google Tricycle Snaps
Views from Philly Campus
MSNBC, June 19 -- Coming soon to a campus near you - the Google tricycle. A pedicab-like vehicle mounted with an 8-foot-high camera has been rolling around the pedestrian walkways of the University of Pennsylvania to collect panoramic images of the campus for Google Maps' Street View feature, which gives users detailed, street-level views of map locations over the Internet. (Mentions UCSD, where the Google tricycle has been cruising around) More

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Exercisers Picking Up Good Vibrations
Reuters, June 22 -- Experts, celebrities and true believers say that squatting and pressing atop vibrating platforms can perk up tired bodies and ignite weary workouts. (Quotes Fabio Comana, an exercise physiologist and spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), who teaches at UCSD) More

Why Do We Rape, Kill and Sleep Around?
Newsweek, June 22 -- Founded in the late 1980s in the ashes of sociobiology, evolutionary psychology asserts that behaviors that conferred a fitness advantage during the era when modern humans were evolving are the result of hundreds of genetically based cognitive "modules" preprogrammed in the brain. (Quotes UCSD neuroscientist Roger Bingham) More

Iran-Born UCSD Prof Eyewitness in Tehran
San Diego Union-Tribune, June 20 -- When he was 7, Babak Rahimi had a front-row seat to history, watching, if not totally understanding, Iran's bloody revolution in 1979. Now he's back in the country of his birth, with his wife and infant son, watching new protests in Tehran over Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election. Rahimi sees the shattered glass and burned trash cans in Tehran with a new perspective, as an assistant professor of Iranian and Islamic Studies at UCSD, on research leave since March. More

Thriving Visions of Arts and
Music Computing in Focus at UCSD
San Diego Union-Tribune, June 21 -- Peter Otto, coordinator of interdisciplinary computing and the arts major at UCSD, has an unusual vision of the future. He thinks our all-consuming, sedentary passion for movies, TV and music concert viewing, at which we are the passive recipients of manufactured experience, will soon become a thing of the past. More

S.D. to Sell Sewage Facility's Excess Gas
San Diego Union-Tribune, June 21 -- A private company, in partnership with the city, is planning to capture the gas generated at the Point Loma sewage plant and use it to generate electricity elsewhere, making money for the city and reducing pollution. (Mentions UCSD) More

San Diego Faces Water Supply Challenges
KPBS, June 22 – Mandatory water restrictions could be the beginning of a new way of life in California. As we start a week-long examination of our water supply, KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce tells us how we got here, and what the future may bring as we begin our series "H2NO: San Diego Going Dry." (Quotes Tim Barnett, a research marine physicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Firefighters Impress Visitors at County Fair
North County Times, June 21 – Visitors to the San Diego County Fair got to see a new and exciting sight Saturday afternoon as nearly 100 fire engines from all over the county gathered for the Burn Institute's 19th annual Viejas Fire Expo and Firefighter Combat Challenge. The nonprofit Burn Institute's goal is to reduce the number of burn injuries and deaths in San Diego, Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It was founded in 1972 and helped establish the UCSD Regional Burn Center. More

Norman Steps in at Supercomputer Center
Xconomy, June 19 – The San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD today named UCSD astrophysicist Michael L. Norman as interim director. Norman replaces Fran Berman, a specialist in grid computing (and San Diego Xconomist), who has served as the center’s director since 2001. More

Green: the Universal Color of School Spirit
Multi Housing News, June 2009 – Today, green has become a universal benchmark for college and university building design and planning, campus-wide programs and student organizations. At UCSD, students are energized by the newly introduced Sustainability 2.0—a campus-wide initiative that employs the power of the UC system, community partnerships and individuals in the pursuit of sustainability goals. More

Family Pride Makes College a Good Fit
The Signal, Santa Clarita County, Calif., June 21 – Amanda Muir, a Valencia resident since the age of 16, earned her degree in international studies earlier this month from John Muir College, located at UCSD. Muir said she is proud of her great-great-great uncle, naturalist John Muir, because his independent spirit. More

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