A Sampling of Clips for October 16^th, 2009

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

Wires Inserted Into Human Brain Reveal Speech Surprise
Wired, Oct. 16 -- A rare set of high-resolution readouts taken directly from the wired-in brains of epileptics has provided an unprecedented look at how the brain processes language. Though only a glimpse, it was enough to show that part of the brain’s language center handles multiple tasks, rather than one. “If the same part of the brain does different things at different times, that’s a thunderously complex level of organization,” said Ned Sahin, a cognitive scientist at UCSD. In a study published Thursday in Science, Sahin’s team studied a region known as Broca’s center, named for French anatomist Paul Pierre Broca who observed that two people with damage to a certain spot in the front of their brains had lost the ability to speak, but could still think. More

Similar story in Los Angeles Times

How Your Tongue Tastes the Bubbly: Sour Taste Buds
Associated Press, Oct. 15 -- Like the fizz of a soft drink? Thank your tongue's sour-sensing taste buds. Nope, it's not the popping bubbles that gives the "taste" of carbonation. Try a swallow inside a pressure chamber — where the bubbles don't burst — and the sensation's the same. So says a report in Friday's edition of the journal Science, where researchers tackled a bubbly puzzle: How do we taste the carbon dioxide that gives carbonated drinks their fizz? After all, the human tongue is supposed to sense just five flavors: bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami, sometimes called savory. It turns out that the taste buds that let us sense sourness have an enzyme on their surface that interacts with carbon dioxide, said researchers from UCSD, and the National Institutes of Health. More

Similar story in Huffington Post

Impoverishing Palestinian Farmers
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 16 -- Upon assuming office earlier this year, President Barack Obama insisted that as part of the peace process in the Middle East the Israeli government would have to cease construction of settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Such pressure on the Israeli leadership, delivered with unusual forthrightness, seemed to signal a departure from past practice. What is puzzling, however, is that the president, now the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has allowed his call for cessation to go unheeded. Instead of “change” — the supposed hallmark of the new administration — the status quo has quietly prevailed. (Written by Gary Fields, a professor in the Department of Communication at UCSD, who is writing a book about the politics of land in Palestine) More

UCSD Gets Stimulus Funds for Brain Study
XETV, Oct. 15 -- UCSD received an $8.9 million federal economic stimulus grant to fund a study of the brains of young people, it was announced Thursday. The "PING" study, short for pediatric imaging, neurocognition and genetics, will be conducted at 10 sites around the country. Researchers will study brain development in children by using gene-mapping tools and imaging technology, with the goal of determining why people have different personalities and mental qualities, according to UCSD. More

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San Diego News Network
La Jolla Light

Algebra's Long Journey from Abstract to Applied
The Irish Times, Oct. 16 -- The nineteenth century was a golden age for the advance of mathematical research. But it would take many years to demonstrate the value of what was discovered, a leading mathematician will argue in a lecture this evening. A key area of development, particularly during the early to mid-1800s, was in new kinds of algebra, says Prof. Efim Zelmanov, the Atkinson professor of mathematics at UCSD. Prof. Zelmanov will this evening deliver the annual Hamilton lecture, Noncommutative Algebra: from Hamilton to our Time. He will trace the development of novel “abstract algebras” during the 19th century, which at the time they were devised were suited to no particular application. More

Medical Report: Earthquake Preparedness
KUSI, Oct. 15 -- Each Wednesday during Good Morning San Diego, KUSI provides the latest research, advice, and health information. This week we're talking earthquake preparedness. Thursday, October 15, 2009 is the “California Shake Out,” a statewide drill testing communications and evacuations after an earthquake. Therese Rymer, from the UCSD Medical Center, was here with tips on how to be prepared for such an emergency. More

Professor Honored for Research
La Jolla Light, Oct. 14 -- Kumar Sharma, M.D., FAHA, professor of medicine, division of nephrology and director of the Center for Renal Transplant at UCSD School of Medicine, received the Outstanding Investigator Award from the Japanese Society of Diabetes Complications earlier this month in Okayama, Japan. The award recognizes Sharma's work in diabetic complications in kidney diseases. Kidney disease is the leading cause of renal failure worldwide and, once acquired, there are few treatments to change the course of kidney disease. Sharma joined UCSD in 2007 and is a resident of Del Mar. More

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