A Sampling of Clips for May 5^th, 2008

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

Moving Closer to a 'Matrix'-Style Virtual World
MSNBC, May 5 -- What if a computer could make you a picture-perfect glass of milk, let you feel the tension as it pulled an ant’s leg from another room, and chat you up with the charisma of Oprah Winfrey? No one machine can do all three — yet. But some sophisticated new projects are showing just how far we’ve come toward creating an “I can’t believe it’s not real” virtual world. (Profiles the work of Henrik Wann Jensen, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at UCSD) More

Fishing for Oxygen in Warming Oceans
Scientific American, May 2 -- Records stretching back to 1960 prove what climate models had predicted:  warmer oceans contain less oxygen. Oceanographer Lothar Stramma of the University of Kiel in Germany and his colleagues, including oceanographer Janet Sprintall of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, report in Science that an analysis of historical records and recent samples show that as the globe has warmed, waters with low oxygen content have expanded in the tropical Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans. More

Chinese President Visits Japan This Week
International Herald Tribune, May 5 -- Chinese President Hu Jintao makes China's highest-level visit to Japan in a decade this week to stabilize newly warming ties between the longtime rivals, in a trip likely to gloss over the knotty issues that bedeviled relations for years. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Susan Shirk) More

Similar story in
Mainichi Daily News, Japan

New Technology Shows People How Habits Will Impact Their Looks
WKBW, May 5 -- It's called a persuasive mirror and it's under development by Accenture Labs. But this is no toy. The lab sees the mirror as a tool for health providers in the future. That's why researchers at UCSD recently put it to the test. More

Similar story in
KTNV, Nev.

The Insurgent as Counterinsurgent
The Washington Independent, May 2 -- In early April, the tenuous security gains of 2007's surge by U.S. troops in Iraq were jeopardized by an Iraqi government assault against hard-line Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr. (Quotes UCSD researcher Babak Rahimi) More

Prospects for Surgery Through Mouth, Vagina are Uncertain
Orange County Register, May 5 -- In recent weeks, surgeons at the UCSD Medical Center removed the appendix from two patients without major incisions into the abdomen – once through the vagina, once through the mouth using an endoscopic surgical tool from USGI. These operations are the latest examples of Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery, or NOTES, an experimental procedure aimed at reducing pain and decreasing patients’ recovery time. More

April's Yo-yo Weather Had Region Going to Extremes
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 3 -- Forget May flowers. April brought zero showers. What it did bring locally was wild swings in temperature and humidity that wreaked havoc with sinuses and put an unseasonable strain on local farmers. (Quotes Dr. Janet Crow, a pediatrician and assistant clinical professor at the UCSD School of Medicine) More

Not Just Kids’ Stuff
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 3 -- Since part of the museum's mission is that it serves toddlers to teens, the staff at the New Children's Museum has come up with a couple of ways to get high school kids into art. For example, an art studio for teens is run by 7:1, a collective of artist Amy Adler's undergrad students at UCSD. More

County Fire Planes Emerged Out of the Blue
Voice of San Diego, May 5 -- When county Supervisor Ron Roberts stood in front of a podium last month and unveiled a proposal to lease three firefighting planes for the county, it came as a complete surprise to many of the county's top fire protection experts and local politicians. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Steve Erie) More

SoftWhere Event Seeks to Forge a Path for Digital Arts
San Diego Business Journal, May 5 -- On May 21 and 22, UCSD, will host a software studies workshop dubbed SoftWhere 2008, in partnership with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts. The first day of the event is open to business professionals and students with an interest in media and the digital arts. More