A Sampling of Clips for October 17^th, 2008

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

New Spark in Classic Experiments
BBC News, Oct. 17 -- Ageing vials of chemicals have been discovered in a Californian lab, surviving samples from the legendary experiments performed by chemist Stanley Miller. They hold evidence that life may have born violently, in erupting volcanoes in the midst of a thunderstorm. "We started going through some of the stuff that was piled up in the corner, and here were several little cardboard boxes, taped shut and all dusty, carefully labeled with all of these little vials with dried material from his experiments," Professor Jeffrey Bada, of UCSD, told the BBC. More

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Milestones
TIME Magazine, Oct. 16 -- George Palade, a pioneer in cell biology, passed away. He won the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in isolating and identifying cell structure. Having emigrated from Romania in 1946, Palade became chairman of the cell-biology department at Yale in 1973 and then the founding dean of scientific affairs at UCSD in 1990. He was 95. More

Man Who Helped Set the Stage for Nobel-Winning Work Has Left Science
The New York Times, Oct. 16 -- In a couple of months, UCSD researcher Roger Y. Tsien and Martin Chalfie from Colombia University will head to Stockholm to collect the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and $450,000 in prize money each in recognition of their development of a revolutionary technique that lights up the inner workings of living cells. Meanwhile, the scientist who provided the essential piece that made Dr. Tsien’s and Dr. Chalfie’s work possible — a jellyfish gene that produces a fluorescent protein — is out of science. More

A Green Supercomputer Center Opens at U. of California at San Diego
Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 17 -- The San Diego Supercomputer Center, which is part of UCSD, is opening an expanded “green” data center that will rely on a number of innovative technologies to reduce power use. More

Cholesterol Veers Off Script
Science Magazine, Oct. 11 -- High levels of cholesterol in the artery contribute to plaque accumulation, a precursor of heart disease. But assumed links between cholesterol-control drugs, plaques, and prevention of disease are being challenged. (Quotes Daniel Steinberg of UCSD) More

Home Builders Hidden Time Bombs
FOX News, Oct. 17 -- Housing starts in the US sank 6.3% in September to a seasonally adjusted rate of 817,000, the lowest level in 17 years. That’s worse than economists had expected, with a consensus forecast of a 1.7% drop in home construction. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

1919 Farm Crisis Shows Some Bailouts Hard to Undo
Forbes, Oct. 17 -- When the U.S. bailed out the agriculture sector in the early 1930s, it forever changed the business of farming. While today's banking industry interventions are different in many ways, economists say it is worth noting that "emergency" Depression-era measures meant to protect farming families from short-term market swings have become near-permanent support at taxpayer expense. (Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

Pioneering Exhibit Features Interactive Art
CNN, Oct. 17 -- Interactive art is still trying to gain the widespread respect of the art world, with some arguing true art is completely controlled and written by the artist. (Quotes Sheldon Brown, the director for the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts at UCSD) More

UCSD Gets New Round of NIH Funding
The San Diego Daily Transcript, Oct. 16 -- A division of the National Institutes of Health awarded the UCSD School of Medicine nearly $38 million in grants for the study of cellular fats and oils. More

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