A Sampling of Clips for November 13^th, 2008

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

Report Sees New Pollution Threat
The New York Times, Nov. 13 -- A noxious cocktail of soot, smog and toxic chemicals is blotting out the sun, fouling the lungs of millions of people and altering weather patterns in large parts of Asia, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations. “We used to think of this brown cloud as a regional problem, but now we realize its impact is much greater,” said Prof. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, of UCSD, who led the United Nations scientific panel. “When we see the smog one day and not the next, it just means it’s blown somewhere else.” More

Similar story in
Forbes
Contra Costa Times

Spam Plummets as Gang Leaves Net
BBC News, Nov. 13 -- The closure of a web hosting firm that is believed to have had spam gangs as clients has led to a drastic reduction in junk mail. (Mentions research by UCSD) More

Similar story in
Guardian, U.K.

Commercial Fishing Frenzy Criticized
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 13 -- It's known as the “race for fish” – the free-for-all at the start of each commercial season in which those who catch the most fish the fastest get the biggest payday. (Quotes George Sugihara, a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD) More

Quake Drill in San Diego
CW6, San Diego, Calif., Nov. 13 -- A simulation will show the impact of what a 7.8 temblor would do to Southern California.  The hypothetical quake will erupt just outside of Palm Springs, rumble through Riverside and then down into the Los Angeles county basin. At UCSD, structural engineers will simulate the 7.8 within a 3-story concrete frame. More

Similar story in
San Diego Union-Tribune

Cops Reveal Details on UCSD Rape Investigation
NBC San Diego, Nov. 13 -- UCSD police investigators meet privately with students and residents at a graduate housing complex to discuss case and campus safety. The private meeting with students and residents at the Mesa Graduate Housing Complex in University City was held Wednesday. Investigators answered questions about campus safety and the search for the rapist who terrorized a woman in her apartment on Friday. More

MacTrak Posts Laptop Thieves’ Photos, Locations to Flickr
xconomy, Nov. 12 -- Woe to the hoodie-wearing miscreant who steals a Mac laptop equipped with MacTrak. He’s likely to find his photo plastered all over the Internet—and the police at his door.  It’s similar in conception to Absolute Software’s LoJack for Laptops and to Adeona, a free open-source tracking system released this summer by computer-science researchers at the University of Washington and UCSD. More

Sapphire Energy, Backed by Bill Gates,
Tries to Tone Down the Hype as it Makes
xconomy, Nov. 13 -- Sapphire Energy has not provided many details about its technology since CEO Jason Pyle stepped into the limelight six months ago to announce the San Diego startup has developed a revolutionary process for turning pond scum into high-octane gasoline. Saphire’s product is based on research by Stephen Mayfield, an algae biologist at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, and Steven Briggs, a professor of cell and developmental biology at UCSD. More

UCSD School of Medicine: Novice to Powerhouse in 40 Years
La Jolla Light, Nov. 12 – The UCSD School of Medicine's rise to the top wasn't as surprising to school founder Dan Steinberg as the rapidity with which that happened. From those modest beginnings with a class of 44 students who started in Fall 1968, small faculty and limited facilities, the medical school's population has grown to 550 students today, including 70 doctors and Ph.Ds, as well as more than 900 medical faculty who rank second nationally in attracting federal research dollars. More

UCSD Leads Nationwide Tech Project in Pharmacogenomics
La Jolla Light, Nov. 12 – UCSD's Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences will collaborate with the American Pharmacists Association, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in a nationwide pharmacogenomics educational campaign to more than 100,000 pharmacy practitioners and students. The project is supported by more than $1 million in funding for three years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More

UCSD Student's Travels Give Meaning to Research Project
La Jolla Light, Nov. 12 -- Last year, I wrote an 80-page research paper as a UCSD undergraduate on Spanish history. I described how a rebellion in the Basque province of Vizcaya provoked a series of events that brought Spain and Britain to war. The paper won second prize for undergraduate research at UCSD in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. (Written by UCSD student and La Jolla Country Day graduate Michael Hirshman, who recently placed second in the university's 2008 Undergraduate Library Research Prize) More

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