A Sampling of Clips for March 26^th, 2009

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

How Does the Brain Form Sentences?
Scientific American, March 25 -- A recent study suggests that our ability to construct sentences may arise from procedural memory—the same simple memory system that lets our dogs learn to sit on command. To find out which system is at work when we form sentences, Victor S. Ferreira of UCSD and his team exploited a phenomenon called syntactic persistence—speakers tend to use the same grammatical pattern they have used or heard in previous sentences. More

Head Lines: I Know That Nose
Scientific American, March 2009 -- When you’re trying to recognize a face, the first thing you look at is the nose—whether you know it or not. Researchers at UCSD showed subjects faces on a computer screen and tracked their eye movements. They found that most people look first just to the left of the nose, then to the center of the nose, then to the eyes. More

Japan’s Small Exporters Are Hit Hardest
The New York Times, March 25 – The finance ministry announced Wednesday that exports from Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, fell by a record 49 percent in February compared with a year earlier. It was the fifth consecutive month that exports have fallen. Shipments to the United States fell 58 percent. Japan’s trade surplus was down 91 percent, to 82.4 billion yen, or about $840 million. (Quotes Ulrike Schaede, a professor at UCSD) More

Salton Sea is Swarming with Earthquake Data
Los Angeles Times, March 25 – It's one of the great mysteries of Southern California seismology: Every couple of years, the remote desert area around the Salton Sea is shaken by swarms of small to moderate earthquakes that often last several days. (Quotes UCSD geophysicist Duncan Agnew and seismologist Debi Kilb) More

The Dirt on Clean Coal
The Nation, March 26 -- The coal industry presents itself as committed to environmental sustainability--but is it? (Quotes Naomi Oreskes, a professor of history and science studies at UCSD) More

Berkeley Rep. Announces Slate
Variety, March 24 -- New plays by Lisa Kron and UCSD theater faculty Naomi Iizuka and a new tuner using the music of Matthew Sweet are among the offerings on the 2009-10 slate at Berkeley Rep. More

Similar story in
San Jose Mercury News

Gompers Charter Success
San Diego 6, March 26 -- Four years after a hesitant school board responded to public pressure and unanimously approved a petition to convert Gompers Middle School into Gompers Charter Middle School, the board approved of a second Gompers charter: Gompers Preparatory Academy, a ninth- through 12th-grade high school that will open this fall to current eighth- and ninth-grade students. (Mentions UCSD, to which Gompers is connected) More

Out of Jeopardy
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 25 -- A UCSD graduate student in economics is going to the bank – again. Aaron Schroeder, 26, won $50,000 in the 2009 “Jeopardy!” quiz show Tournament of Champions that aired Tuesday. Schroeder would have won more but for President Chester A. Arthur – the last U.S. president, unbeknown to Schroeder to serve a term without a vice president. Last summer, Schroeder became “Jeopardy's” 11th-highest-grossing regular show contestant, accumulating $127,902 before being defeated. More

Ms. Hempel Chronicles
The Reader, March 25 -- UCSD literature professor Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s first novel, Madeleine Is Sleeping, was nominated for a National Book Award. Her second, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. More

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