A Sampling of Clips for 
November 24-28, 2005

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

Border Wars
US News & World Report, Nov. 28 -- For years, Americans have worried about the country's porous borders, but in the past year or so the concerns have grown significantly, polls show, and for good reason. Changes in law enforcement operations have forced smugglers of drugs and illegal aliens into ever more isolated areas, increasing the number of deaths and the level of violence to a point where even the most hardened enforcement officials are alarmed. (Quote by Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UCSD.) More

History Shows
Bush Has a Challenge Ahead of Him
USA Today, Nov. 24 -- When a president falls below 40% approval in public opinion polls - as President Bush has done twice in the past two months - it's usually a sign of serious political danger. (Quote by UCSD political scientist Gary Jacobson) More

US Border Agents
Play High-tech Cat and Mouse Game
Reuters, Nov. 23 -- The United States is fielding an array of high-tech equipment and a small army of highly trained agents along its border with Mexico to stop people from entering the United States illegally and to throttle the flow of drugs into the world's richest market. (Quote by Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UCSD.) More

Global Warming Rains Contradictions
CBC News, Canada, Column, Nov. 28 -- As Montreal prepares this week to welcome representatives of countries still struggling to find the best ways of dealing with global warming, let me welcome you to the vagaries of environmental reporting still struggling to understand the hydrological cycle. (Quote by Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.) More

Students Join Debate on Intelligent Design
Chicago Tribune, Nov. 25 -- Dappled with autumn leaves, the manicured campus of an Ivy League university in upstate New York may seem far from the cornfields of Kansas or the rural towns of central Pennsylvania, but it represents the newest of these battlefields in the growing culture war over the teaching of evolution. (Mentions UCSD) More

An Ethical Challenge
The Tribune, India, Nov. 27 -- Scientists have compiled one of the first comprehensive pictures of what the world might be like when climate change begins to dry up water supplies and teams of specialists have assessed the scale of dangers to human health when a future climate triggers weather extremes such as high temperatures, floods and drought. (Quote by Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) More

Study Links Low Level of Response (LR)
to Alcohol to an Area on Chromosome 10
Medical Study News, Nov. 28 -- How a person "feels" the effects of alcohol is, in part, genetically influenced and relates to their risk for developing alcoholism, according to a study, whose first author is Marc A. Schuckit, professor of psychiatry at UCSD. More

Staring into the Dark
Science News, Nov. 26 -- Since 2000, prescriptions for sleeping pills have increased in all age groups, nearly doubling for children and young adults. Last year, doctors across the country doled out millions of scripts for Ambien (zolpidem) and its relatives in the group known as hypnotic drugs. Doctors also prescribed unofficial sleep aids, including antidepressants and anti-epileptic drugs, to slumber-deprived patients. (Quote by UCSD psychologist Sonia Ancoli-Israel) More

Seeing the Art in Computer Games
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 27 -- Behold the glory of spam. Those noxious e-mail sales pitches that clog our computer in-boxes aren't normally noted for their elegance. But in the hands of UCSD's Alex Dragulescu, they prove capable of producing beauty. More

Thanksgiving Dinner Serves
as a Slice of Home in Trying Times
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 25 -- At the UCSD Bannister Family House, families sometimes stay for months to be near sick or recuperating relatives at UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. Yesterday, family members from Arizona, Los Angeles and El Centro were among those treated to traditional Thanksgiving fare that some said made them feel more at home despite the trying times. More

A Need for Fellowship
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 24 - UCSD Professor Emeritus and Director Floyd Gaffney and his Common Ground Theatre Troupe get a jump on the holiday season this weekend with a new staging of Langston Hughes' 1961 "Black Nativity," an accessible blend of folk musical and ritual theater. More

S.D. Gushing Water-supply Projects
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 26 -- Driven by a confluence of drought and growth, San Diego County water officials are on a $3.2 billion building binge to develop significant new supplies, bank vast reserves and assure that deliveries will still flow even in the event of a disaster. (Quote by UCSD political scientist Steve Erie) More

Joe College Wants to Talk Politics
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 28 - Many college students are ratcheting up their political involvement, and their elders are paying attention. (Mentions UCSD) More

Suit Claims UC System
Discriminated Against Christians
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 27 -- A lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, contends that officials with the University of California system discriminated against students from Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murietta when they decided that some of the school's religious-viewpoint courses - such as "Christianity's Influence on American History" - do not meet the UC system's admissions standards. The complaint, pushed by the Association of Christian Schools International, alleges the university's decision violates the First Amendment religious-practice rights of the students, including two who plan to attend UCSD. More

Similar story appeared in:

The Daily Breeze, Los Angeles

Ex-coach Files Suit vs. UCSD
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 24 -- A sports camp company operated by former UCSD men's basketball coach Greg Lanthier has filed suit in San Diego Superior Court, accusing UCSD officials of stealing his business and seeking damages. More