UCSD News

A Sampling of Clips for
November 19^th, 2007

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

Beating a Path Forward in New Music's Realm
The Washington Post, Nov. 18 -- Tonight at 6:30, the guards at the National Gallery of Art will close and lock the doors of the East Building, sealing it off from the outside world. And in the vaulting atrium -- where Alexander Calder's 76-foot-long mobile famously turns -- a strange and almost otherworldly ritual will start to unfold. It's like a scene out of a primitive past, but "Sanctuary" -- a new work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and UCSD music professor Roger Reynolds -- is about as cutting edge as it gets. More

Laid-Back Surfer Dude May Be Next Einstein
FOXNews, Nov. 16 -- A surfer dude with no fixed address may be this century's Einstein. A. Garrett Lisi, a physicist and UCSD alumnus who divides his time between surfing in Maui and teaching snowboarding in Lake Tahoe, has come up with what may be the Grand Unified Theory. More

Go On, Have Another Slice...
Financial Times, Nov. 17 -- New research by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that being about a stone too heavy appears to significantly reduce the risk of dying prematurely. This coincides with the views of obesity researchers at the University of South Carolina who say that people can be "fat and fit", and of academics at UCSD who conclude that "physical health is not the best indicator of successful ageing - attitude is". More

A Warning on 'Fakes' that Doesn't Add Up
International Herald Tribune, Nov. 16 -- one might think that one of China's biggest problems is the grave threat posed by something called false information. What is really under threat, though, is the absolute monopoly the Chinese state has long enjoyed - and still claims - over the right to control the news and most other forms of information, and hence its control over what citizens know of affairs in their own country and the world. (Quotes UCSD political scientist Susan Shirk) More

Could Failure Be Thy Name?
Boston Globe, Nov. 19 -- A study, published in the December issue of Psychological Science, and co-authored by UCSD’s Leif Nelson, found that people who like their names have an "unconscious fondness" for words that begin with the same letter. And that fondness can sabotage people's success. More

Meeting in Canada, Middle East
Scholars' Group Worries about Academic Freedom
Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 19 -- Concerns over academic freedom loomed large over the scholarly presentations here at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, a group whose members sometimes confess to feeling as besieged as they do blessed by the contemporary preoccupation with their region of study. (Quotes Gershon Shafir, a professor of sociology at UCSD and a member of the academic-freedom committee) More

Vitamin D Lowers Endometrial Cancer Risk
UPI, Nov. 16 -- U.S. researchers, using data on worldwide cancer incidence, linked vitamin D deficiency to increased risk of endometrial cancer. Cedric F. Garland of the Moores Cancer Center at UCSD, says the research team has shown associations between higher levels of vitamin D and lower risk of breast, colon, kidney and ovarian cancers. More

Biding Their Tongues
Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12 -- When to use inglés and when to speak Spanish? Not everyone is charmed by the budding bilingualism. Some Americans resent the widespread use of Spanish, particularly at government agencies and public schools. (Quotes Ana Celia Zentella, a UCSD ethnic studies professor and author of the 1997 book "Growing Up Bilingual") More

Similar story in
Seattle Times
Contra Costa Times

Tritons Not Pushovers
San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 18 -- In the spirit of good community relations, the San Diego State and UCSD men's basketball teams have played each other seven of the past eight years. More

Getting Patients to the Front of the Line
North County Times, Nov. 18 -- Making concierge medicine work has proved hard in practice. Many people find the prepaid fees too expensive, doctors say. Some of the most costly aspects of health care aren't covered. So while there's been a lot of talk about the concept, it has remained a niche. Yet the allure is so strong that doctors aren't giving up on it. (Quotes cardiologist Anthony N. DeMaria, director of the cardiovascular center at UCSD) More

Deep Sea Treatment for Superbug Holds Promise, Comes with Challenges
San Diego Business Journal, Nov. 19 -- Scientists have long suspected that the sea holds the potential to provide new medicines for a variety of human ailments and diseases. But few marine-derived natural products are currently on the market or in clinical trials. (Quotes William Fenical, a pioneer of marine microbiology at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and director of its research division, the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine) More