A Sampling of Clips for 
March 28, 2006

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

In the Mind of the Brain
Frontline Magazine (India), March 28 -- The lady confined to her bed in the adjoining room is his daughter. I cannot see her, but I hear her calling for help every once in a while. Nursing and support staff flit in and out of the room in response. All activity in the house revolves around her. I have come to meet her son, the renowned explorer of the human brain, Dr. V.S. Ramachandran. Professor of psychology and neuroscience and Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognition at UCSD, he comes home to Chennai - at least twice a year, he says - to be with his mother. Our conversation is interspersed by her constant summons, "Rama, Rama" - and each time, he abruptly excuses himself to tend to her. This will keep happening, he apologizes. But I am as fascinated by the devoted son as the passionate scientist. (Also mentions Patricia Churchland, professor of philosophy at UCSD.) More

Improbable Research: What’s In a Name
The Guardian (U.K.), March 28 -- In 1999, a blockbuster report called “What's in a Name: Mortality and the Power of Symbols” gave people the willies. It said: "Individuals with 'positive' initials (for example, ACE, VIP) might live longer than those with "negative" initials (eg PIG, DIE)." Three psychologists at UCSD, discovered this by poring through death records, and gathering and crunching numbers. They then published a warning in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. (Nicholas Christenfeld, David Phillips and Laura Glynn wrote the report.) More

ADHD Treatment is Getting a Workout
USA Today, March 26 -- Homework used to be an ordeal for Kat Orlov. Kat, who has an attention disorder, once spent four hours a night on her assignments. These days, the 15-year-old can complete her work in about half that time.Her salvation, she says, came from exercise. (Quotes Martin Stein, a pediatrics professor at the UCSD School of Medicine.) More

Fenical’s Fascinating Finds
Chemical and Engineering News, March 27 -- At an award symposium for the American Chemical Society's Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products, held on March 26 in Atlanta, the 2006 winner, William Fenical of UCSD and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sounded eager as ever, decades after he embarked on his career-long fascination with natural products from the sea. (Also quotes Tadeusz F. Molinski, chemistry and biochemistry professor at UCSD and the symposium chair.) More