A Sampling of Clips for May 27^th, 2008

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

The Tiananmen Effect
Newsweek, May 26 -- Susan Shirk, author of "China: Fragile Superpower" and a professor at UCSD, says the Sichuan quake is "going to be a memorable moment in their lives for many Chinese, like Tiananmen was, like the Cultural Revolution was." More

It’s the Genes, Stupid
The New York Times, May 27 -- Why do we bother to go to the polls when we know our individual vote has no chance of determining the result of a national election? With time to spare before the November election, molecular biology is coming to the rescue. Political scientists at UCSD have identified specific genes associated with voter participation and partisanship. More

Social Networks' Sway May Be Underestimated
The Washington Post, May 26 – A growing body of evidence is suggesting that traditional social networks play a surprisingly powerful and underrecognized role in influencing how people behave. The latest research comes from Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociologist at the Harvard Medical School, and James H. Fowler, a political scientist at UCSD. More

Similar story on
MSNBC

Rattlesnake Bite Victims Showing Extreme Symptoms
ABC News, May 26 -- The potentially deadly symptoms of a rattlesnake bite used to be fairly rare, but toxicologists in Arizona, Colorado and California say they're seeing some or all of them more than ever, and that they could be contributing to an increase in fatal rattlesnake bites in Arizona. (Quotes Richard Clark, director of the division of medical toxicology at UCSD) More

Similar story in
San Diego Union-Tribune

Breast Cancer Rates, Sun Exposure and Vitamin D
Los Angeles Times, May 26 -- Researchers at UCSD reported in the recent issue of the Breast Journal that in countries where people are exposed to high levels of ultraviolet B radiation from the sun, breast cancer rates are lower than in countries where UVB levels are low. That is, the more sunlight to which a population is exposed, the lower its breast cancer rates. More

Patching Up the Parties
Los Angeles Times, May 25 -- Pundits seem to be converging on a new conventional wisdom: that the drawn-out and extraordinarily competitive Democratic presidential primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton has cleaved the party in two. (Mentions research by UCSD political scientist Gary Jacobson) More

John McCain's Doctors Give Him Clean Bill of Health
Los Angeles Times, May 24 -- John McCain is in good health despite a 15-year history of skin cancers, including a minor case as recently as February, and bouts with precancerous polyps in his colon, cysts in his kidney and stones in his bladder, his doctors said Friday. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Samuel Popkin) More

The Preuss School as a Model
San Diego Union-Tribune, Opinion, May 27 -- UCSD's Preuss School, founded in 1998, is the first university-run public school set up with the goal of raising the academic achievement of disenfranchised low-income students rarely admitted to the premiere institutions. As the first such university-sponsored school in the nation, Preuss has proven to be a productive Petri dish for innovation and reform in public education. (Written by Cecil Lytle, a professor of music at UCSD and associate director of CREATE and chair of the board of directors of the Preuss School UCSD) More

Two City Schools Make Newsweek List
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 24 -- Newsweek's list of the top 100 American high schools includes two from the San Diego Unified School District. The survey rates 1,300 high schools based on college preparation. Ranked No.6 was the Preuss School at UCSD. More

Political Map Could Be Redrawn on Election Day
San Francisco Chronicle, May 26 -- This year's unusual presidential election may toss out one more assumption: the old red-blue map that shows Democrats owning the two coasts, Republicans dominating the South and interior West, and a few battleground states picking the winner. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Samuel Popkin) More

Pondering Oil, Again
Globe and Mail, Canada, May 26 -- There was no shortage of thoughts on the oil market on Monday, with bloggers and online newspapers weighing in on a topic that has been consuming the attention of more than oil-rich Canadians lately. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

Iraq Replaces Southern Oil Chiefs in Major Shake-Up
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 26 -- The Iraqi government has replaced some of the top officials in state-owned oil companies in southern Iraq, tightening its grip on an industry that fuels the economy but has been outside of its direct control. (Quotes Babak Rahimi, a professor at UCSD) More

Cancer 'Coaches' Help Patients, Survivors Get Through and Past the Ordeal
Arizona Republic, May 27 -- Cancer patients, overwhelmed by mere survival, may not tend to other needs, from relatively simple tasks (finding a wig) to having that objective person to talk through treatment options. Those needs are being met more readily by the addition of oncology counselors and resource navigators, who guide patients and families through the turbulent trials of a cancer diagnosis. (Quotes Wayne Bardwell, director of UCSD's Patient and Family Support Services) More

Study Links TB, Unsafe Cheeses
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 26 -- Between 1994 and 2005, the county's Tuberculosis Control Program reported 3,291 cases of active infection. About 8 percent of those patients – 264 people, half of them younger than 15 – were ill with a strain of bacteria called Mycobacterium bovis. Most of the M. bovis patients were Latinos born in Mexico, according to the study conducted by researchers at the UCSD Medical Center and county health officials. More

Action! They're Ready to Take the Helm
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 25 – On an overcast day, outdoors adjacent to their campus studios, five UCSD grad students earning Master of Fine Arts degrees next month and headed for careers in film and video, climbed aboard a trampoline. More

2 Guns Found With Bodies of San Clemente Family
NBC San Diego, May 27 -- Two handguns were found with the badly decomposed bodies of five family members discovered over the weekend in an upscale Orange County home, though it was unclear how they died, authorities said. Two of the victims were UCSD students expected to graduate this year, according to the Orange County Register. More

Similar story in
Orange County Register

Mother Dies Day After Attack
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 27 -- Rebecca D'Aoust died yesterday, a day after she was hit in the head with a hammer or some other blunt object in her home. (Mentions the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD, where D’Aoust husband works) More

Strike Could Affect UCSD Medical Center
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 24 – As many as 2,150 technical and service workers at UCSD Medical Center campuses in Hillcrest and La Jolla could join a two-day strike called by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Members of the union, which represents workers at 10 University of California hospital campuses, authorized the strike after negotiations for a new contract collapsed. More

Catholic Bishop at Odds with Church to Speak at UCSD Faculty Club
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 24 – A retired Catholic bishop from Australia, under fire for a book expressing “profound disillusionment” over the church's handling of its clergy sexual abuse crisis, said he will continue his U.S. speaking tour – including a stop in San Diego next month at the UCSD Faculty Club – despite requests from other bishops not to do so. More

Home-Work Assignment
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 24 – Almost everyone is feeling the strain of an ailing economy. However, if you're one of the more than 20 million American adults logging long hours at your home's work station, chances are you're feeling the pain in more than just your pocketbook. (Quotes Ron Sieckmann, ergonomics specialist at UCSD) More