A Sampling of Clips for October 19^th, 2009

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

Fizzy Drinks Leave Sour Taste
ABC News, Oct. 19 -- Researchers in the U.S. have found that consuming carbonated drinks activates the sour-sensing cells on our tongue.  In an article published in the journal Science, the researchers speculate that the ability to taste carbonation may have evolved as a reaction to help humans avoid foods that are going off and have begun fermenting. They claim that sour and bitter tastes often indicate foods that should be avoided, while sweet, salty and the savoury taste sensation called umami, are those that can be beneficial. (Research led by Dr. Jayaram Chandrashekar, scientist at UCSD) More

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Why George Will Shouldn't be Mocking the Stimulus
Salon.com, Oct. 19 -- Liberal economist Dean Baker does a pretty good job of trashing a George Will column on the stimulus, but he also serves up at least one Will-like misstatement of his own. Baker says that Will "claims that the stimulus packages passed in 2008 and in February of this year did not work." But what Will actually says, specifically with respect to the Obama stimulus, is that it "has not been the success its advocates said it would be."(Quotes UCSD economist James Hamilton) More

Salk Scientists Map How Human Epigenome Works
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 19 -- Researchers at the Salk Institute in La Jolla say they have successfully mapped in detail the first elements of the human epigenome — the collection of molecules, chemicals and compounds that regulate gene function. The work, published Oct. 14 in the online edition of the journal Nature, is part of a five-year, $190 million national effort to better understand how the human genome is influenced by diet and environment, and how it can be therapeutically altered to improve human health. The Salk study is the first fruit of the recently created San Diego Epigenome Center, a collaborative venture that also includes researchers at UCSD. The study focused on two types of human cells: embryonic stem cells and connective cells called fibroblasts. More

Elizabeth 'Betty' Gealy; Scripps Scientist Broke Gender Barrier
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 17 -- When Elizabeth “Betty” Gealy sought her first professional job as a geologist in the 1940s, the prospective employer wanted to hire her as a secretary. The people in charge at what was then Humble Oil & Refining told her they had never hired women in any capacity other than secretary, but she was soon on staff as a geologist. She later settled in La Jolla when she became manager of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Deep Sea Drilling Project in the 1960s. Dr. Gealy died of cardiac arrhythmia Sept. 25 at her La Jolla home. She was 86. More

Algae Fuel Project in Line for $750,000 in Federal Funds
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 17 -- A San Diego-based project to develop fuel from algae is expected to get $750,000 in federal funds thanks to an earmark from Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad. “Algae fuel is the future of fuel and has its roots in San Diego,” Bilbray said. “If we really want to get away from foreign oil by building out our own resources, this is the way to go.” (The SD-CAB group is composed of UCSD, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, The Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute, San Diego State University and the local biotechnology industry) More

Café at UCSD Activity Center Ready to Open
San Diego Daily Transcript, Oct. 16 -- PCL Construction's special projects division has just completed work on the $1.6 million Thurgood Marshall Activity Center Ridgewalk Café & Market on the UCSD campus. The 20-week project involved the renovation of an existing two-story wood frame structure with plaster exterior. The work included converting the upper floor into a food service facility and the lower floor into a convenience market. More

Prince Albert II of Monaco to Accept Revelle Prize
San Diego Daily Transcript, Oct. 16 -- Scripps Institution of Oceanography will present the second Roger Revelle Prize to Prince Albert II of Monaco on Friday. Scripps Institution bestows the Revelle Prize on a person who has made “outstanding contributions (that) advance or promote research in ocean, climate, and earth sciences.” Prince Albert II is expected to be in San Diego to accept the award. He will give a lecture at UCSD followed by a dinner in his honor. More

'FutureGrid' in the Works
Del Mar Times, Oct. 15 -- The San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD is part of a team chosen by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build and run an experimental high-performance grid test-bed, allowing researchers to collaboratively develop and test new approaches to parallel, grid and cloud computing. Called "FutureGrid," the four-year project, led by Indiana University, will link nine computational resources at six partner sites across the country as well as transatlantic collaboration via a partnership with Grid'5000, a large-scale computer infrastructure project in France. More

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