A Sampling of Clips for November 9^th, 2009

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

How Scientists are Trying to Solve the Carbon Riddle
Reuters, Nov. 9 -- For decades, scientists have been measuring carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to gauge annual increases as well as to better understand how mankind is changing the world's atmosphere. But scientists have struggled to build an accurate picture of how the gas is continuously shifted around by the atmosphere or precisely how much is soaked up by oceans and plants or emitted by rotting and burning vegetation and other natural processes. (Mentions UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps CO2 program, which started in 1956. Measurements are taken from sampling stations from the Arctic to Antarctic). More

Similar story in Yahoo! India

Pressed by Wars, Military Counselors Feeling the Strain
Boston Globe, Nov. 8 -- Many of the patients who fill the day are bereft, angry, broken. Their stories are gruesome, their distress lasting, and the process of recovery exhausting. In time the repeated stories of battle and loss can leave even the most professional therapist numb or angry. And hanging over it all, for psychiatrists and psychologists in today’s military, is the prospect of their own deployment - of working under fire with combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Quotes Dr. Martin Paulus, a psychiatrist at UCSD) More

Academic Registries of World Universities Names Best Colleges in the World
About.com, Nov. 7 -- The Academic Registries of World Universities just published their list of the best colleges in the world for 2009. While America dominated with 17 out of the top 20, I was a little taken back by some of the choices.
I'll admit that this is my first year taking a look at the list, but the following choices left me guessing when they outranked other Ivy League schools like Brown. (UCSD is ranked 14) More

Himalayan Glaciers Most Threatened by Global Warming
The Hindu, Nov. 9 -- Just before starting his lecture on ‘Atmospheric Brown Clouds,’ Prof V. Ramanathan admits that people think he has come to dismantle Indian progress. The Director of the Centre for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in a recent address to the International Federation of Environmental Journalists in New Delhi, said the world was already committed to a global warming of 2.5 degrees Celsius. “Think of greenhouse gases as covering the earth like a blanket,” he starts off. The blanket traps the heat, but there are also other particles such as sulphates and nitrates in the atmospheric brown clouds, which function as mirrors. The good news, he says, is global warming may be delayed and the bad news is that smoke particles or mirrors absorb the sunlight and heat the blanket directly. More

Hospital Profits Recover from Recession
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 9 -- After turning in a dismal financial performance in 2008, hospitals in California and around the country have largely returned to profitability, according to a pair of new reports. As a group, hospitals in California had an average operating profit margin of 3 percent in the second quarter, which ended June 30, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development said. That was better than the 1 percent average in the first quarter and negative margins of 1.6 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, in the third and fourth quarters of 2008. (Mentions the UCSD Medical Center) More

There's Some Bilingual Mingling Going On
Miami Herald, Nov. 8 -- Every year, Miami Book Fair International generates high expectations among Spanish-language readers who enthusiastically greet authors from throughout the Hispanic world. But the fair also gives writers from the United States, Canada and Miami the opportunity to present their books in Spanish and to mingle with their English-language colleagues. (Mentions UCSD literature professor Cristina Rivera Garza, author of The Most Distant Border and confirmed writer at the fair) More

What Changes Have Been Made Since Obama's Election?
KPBS, Nov. 4 -- Many Americans will remember the election of Barack Obama as one of the most historic moments in our nation's history. It was one year ago today that the United States elected its first African-American president. We'll spend the hour discussing what President Obama has accomplished in the last year, and the major challenges he's faced in trying to achieve his goals for the nation. (Features interview with Zoltan Hajnal, professor of political science at UCSD) More

Trying to Diagnose the Disappearing Bees
Voice of San Diego, Nov. 8 -- Witness the yellow- and black-striped swarm buzzing around Daren Eiri as he works, and you wouldn't think honeybees are in short supply. Dozens of fuzzy, winged insects blanket a grapefruit-sized glass dish in Eiri's hand one warm afternoon at UCSD's Biology Field Station. "I used to hate doing this," said Eiri, a UCSD graduate student, who at the moment is a perch for honeybees occasionally landing to lick sugar from his skin. "When they're feeding I'm pretty sure they're only concerned with food." Eiri puts a squat cup of sweet liquid on top of the plate and sets the feeder inside a wooden tunnel. More

Who's Fighting the Superbugs?
Voice of San Diego, Nov. 5 -- It is called Clostridium difficile, and it is a particularly devious bacteria that can turn a run-of-the-mill infection into a life-or-death struggle. C. diff, as it is known, can be just another bug among the plethora of bacteria engaged in a constant state of battle in a person's lower intestine. But if a person has C. diff in their system and needs an antibiotic -- it could be for something as innocuous as a urinary tract infection or an infected wound -- things can get much worse. (Quotes Joshua Fierer, a professor of medicine at UCSD) More

Algae Fuel Researchers, Coastal Communities to Benefit from H.R. 3138
San Diego Daily Transcript, Nov. 6 -- UCSD and local companies will benefit from recent national legislation that makes funding available for research on algae fuel and alternative vehicles. H.R. 3138, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, which was strongly supported by Congressman Brian Bilbray (R–San Diego) allocates $750,000 to the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) at UCSD and will allow manufacturers of non-traditional vehicles to apply for Department of Energy loans available to major U.S. automakers. More

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