A Sampling of Clips for
March 19 - 20, 2003
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UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing
the University
Communications Office
HIV's Ability
to Rapidly Evolve Occurs Quicker Than Thought
Wall Street Journal, Mar. 18 –
The virus that causes AIDS evolves more rapidly than previously
thought, according to a new finding that underscores challenges
to developing an effective vaccine. HIV has long outwitted both
scientists and the body's own defenses with its rapid ability
to adapt. According to a new study by researchers at the University
of California, San Diego, and ViroLogic Inc., the protective
envelope of the virus is a particular hotbed of variability.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB104792362954958400IFheoZhnKF6xJupZYCpeqaAdY,00.html
Economic Darwinism
Washington
Post, Mar. 19 – It's tempting to believe
that productivity -- especially improved technology -- will
rescue the economy. The grounds for skepticism start with history.
In the Great Depression some industries experienced rapid productivity
gains, as economic historian Michael A. Bernstein,
a professor of the University of California, San Diego,
has pointed out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49825-2003Mar18.html
Company
Develops Anthrax Drug
New York Times, Mar. 18 – The
U.S. government believes a biological attack is likely and that
the threat will remain for years. A Maryland-based biotechnology
company said it has developed a new drug that it believes can
prevent anthrax infection, and treat someone already infected.
Smallpox is also considered a likely biological agent and a
team at the University of Alabama and the University
of California, San Diego said they developed a new
version of an existing vaccine in a form of a pill.
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No link available online.
Daschle
Under Fire by Lawmakers for Criticism of Bush's Diplomacy
Los Angeles, Mar. 19 – With
the nation on the brink of war, congressional Republicans on
Tuesday accused Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.)
of going too far in criticizing the commander in chief. They
were responding to comments by Daschle on Monday that President
Bush had failed "so miserably at diplomacy that we're now
forced to war." (Quotes Gary Jacobson,
a political scientist of University of California, San
Diego).
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No link available online.
For Los Angeles Times online subscribers:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/homefront/lawardaschle19mar19,1,7301297.story
Budget cuts
threaten poison control hot line
Oakland Tribune, Mar. 20 – Despite
heightened fears about bioterrorist attacks, the state poison
control hot line will shut down at the end of June due to budget
cuts, the hot line program director said Wednesday. Funding
for the hot line was cut as part of Gov. Gray Davis's budget
proposal last year. CPCS director of program development said
$3.6 million was allocated in next fiscal year's budget, but
the center will run out of funds before then. The hot line will
begin sending layoff notices in May to staff at the four call-in
locations including University of California, San Diego.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1726~1256935,00.html
Similar article appeared
in:
San
Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 20
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030320-9999_7m20poison.html
Security
increased at schools countywide
San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 20 –
School districts countywide are ratcheting up their emergency
plans, sending letters to anxious parents, conducting lockdown
drills and devising response instructions for security officers.
Representatives from the San Diego County schools office, the
FBI and other agencies briefed district officials yesterday
on how to protect students from terrorist attacks. (Quotes Chancellor
Robert Dynes of the University of California
San Diego).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030320-9999_6m20skuls.html
Surviving
bacteria
San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 19 –
Microbiology, the science of unseen organisms, is undergoing
a revolution. Propelled by modern technology, this revolution
is changing the way scientists think about their subjects –
bacteria in particular. (Quotes Kit Pogliano,
a biologist at the University of California, San Diego).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/currents/news_mz1c19bacter.html
With war, what happens
next to peace movement?
San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 19 –
Local organizations opposed to the war plan to respond to any
military action with a rally in downtown San Diego nearly instantaneously
if the war comes. Predicting the long-term strength and volatility
of what becomes of the peace movement after combat begins is
not easy. Although opposition to a conflict in Iraq has grown
quickly, the movement likely depends on how a war plays out.
(Quotes Sam Popkin, a professor of political
science at the University of California San Diego).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030319-9999_1m19future.html
Throwing
some cold water on next season's hopes
San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 19 –
Climate Prediction Center in Maryland has raised the specter
of the return of every Southern California weather lover's two
most dreaded words: La Niña. CPC wrote that the recent
cooling of the upper ocean (surface and subsurface) in the eastern
equatorial Pacific supports the possibility of the development
of La Niña later this year. (Quotes Dan Cayan,
director of the Climate Research Division of the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/currents/news_1c19weather.html
You can
count on him
San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 18 –
Ron Graham, the chief scientist at Cal-(IT)2
at the University of California, San Diego,
is profiled. Aside from teaching and publishing research (about
300 academic papers and five books so far), Graham
carries a top-heavy load of other professional commitments.
(Quotes Chancellor Robert C. Dynes of UCSD).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20030318-9999_mz1b18math.html
Shifting
Baselines: Registering the oceans' plight
San Diego Daily Transcript, Mar. 19
– Scripps Institution of Oceanography marine
ecologist Jeremy Jackson immerses his audience
in such perspective in a disturbing presentation he has given
several times recently. Jackson has used history
lessons to get the public to pay attention to an indisputable
fact: The oceans as we know them are dying. Now he, fellow scientists
and conservationists are getting help from Hollywood in the
form of a public awareness campaign called "Shifting Baselines."
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No link available online.
Colleges
have money for construction, but not for operations
San Diego Daily Transcript, Mar. 17
– While San Diego colleges and universities will feel
the pinch of at least $288 million in budget cuts in Sacramento,
multimillion-dollar bond measures are expected to keep capital
improvement projects afloat. University of California,
San Diego, which alone has nearly $800 million worth
of projects planned from now until 2008 and beyond, appears
to be all right in terms of its capital improvement plans, but
UCSD spokeswoman Sara Steinhoffer said
the university could be in trouble if the state's budget crisis
continues for a long time.
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No link available online.
Ecology:
Smaller size of California coastal marine snails linked to human
impact
Life Science Weekly, Mar. 17 –
The average size of marine snails and limpets along the Southern
California coast has declined significantly over the past century
and collection by humans appears to be the culprit, according
to a study led by biologists at the University of California,
San Diego. Their study sheds light on an ecological
problem linked to human population growth on the coast. (Quotes
Kaustuv Roy, an associate professor of biology
at UCSD and mentions Allen Collins
of UCSD's division of biological sciences and
Bonnie Becker of UCSD's Scripps
Institution of Oceanography).
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No link available online.
Cronkite,
Scotland's tourism chief charm us
San Diego Union-Tribune, Neil Morgan,
Mar. 19 – Irwin Jacobs pledged $110 million to University
of California, San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/morgan/200303199999_1m19morgan.html
