A Sampling of Clips for 
March 30, 2006

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

Snow is Melting Earlier
in N. America, Study Finds
National Geographic, March 28 -- Is spring coming earlier these days? Maybe—at least in places where "spring" can be defined as the time when snowmelt floods the rivers, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study published March 21 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. (Quotes Iris Stewart-Frey, who led the study for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD.) More

Study Puts a Cork in Belief
That a Little Wine Helps the Heart
Los Angeles Times, March 30 -- If you think a glass of wine in the evening is good for your heart, think again. The long-held belief that moderate drinking reduces risk of a heart attack is based on flawed data and is most likely wrong, according to a new study released today. A couple of glasses of wine aren't going to hurt, the study found, but they aren't going to help much either. Heavy drinking, of course, is unquestionably bad. (Quotes UCSD’s Dr. Michael Criqui.) More

Polarization Across
Party Lines, or Politics as Contact Sport
Washington Post, March 29 -- The question of whether American politics is more or less polarized today than in eras past has in fact polarized scholars. There is agreement that politicians and political activists have polarized, with each party having a greater tendency to direct its appeals to voters with extreme, rather than middle-of-the-road preferences. But at the level of the public, some scholars believe that increasing polarization is an illusion, or perhaps an invention of the news media. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Gary Jacobson.) More

Guest Editorial:
Iran’s Migrating Birds and Pre-Emption Policy
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 29 -- The president's just-announced “National Security Strategy,” if taken literally, implies that the United States could strike Iranian facilities with tactical nuclear weapons in the coming days, before the bird migration season begins. This would have catastrophic consequences for America and the world. (Guest editorial by Jorge Hirsch, professor of physics at UCSD.) More

Guest Editorial: A New Airport?
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 30 -- Lindbergh Field can adequately serve San Diego needs well into the future if steps are taken to encourage the use of regular jets rather than smaller regional jets and turbo props to carry the projected increase in future passengers. (Guest editorial by Richard Carson, chair of the Dept. of Economics at UCSD.) More

Wells Fargo Creates
Environmental Advisory Board
Finanzen.Net (Germany), March 30 -- Eight nationally-known environmental experts from industry, academia and non-profits have been named to Wells Fargo & Company's new Environmental Advisory Board -- part of the Company's 10-point commitment to more effectively integrate environmental responsibility into its business practices and procedures. (One of the eight named to board is Dr. Charles Kennel, director, vice chancellor and dean of Marine Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD.) More