A Sampling of Clips for October 21^st, 2008

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

Volcanoes May Be Original Womb of Life
MSNBC, Oct. 21 -- Fifty years ago, a chemist named Stanley Miller conducted a famous experiment to investigate how life could have started on Earth. Recently, scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography re-analyzed his results using modern technology and found a new implication: The original sparks for life on our planet could have come from volcanic eruptions. More

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Is Physics Better Than Biology?
Nature, Oct. 20, 2008 -- Is the physics department at your university performing better than the biology department? Answering such questions objectively has been hard, because citation statistics and other bibliometric indicators can't be directly compared across disciplines. One of the most popular bibliometric indices in current use is the h-index, devised in 2005 by physicist Jorge Hirsch of UCSD. More

How Snails Walk on Water Is a Small Miracle
National Geographic, Oct. 20 -- Walking on water may seem miraculous, but for tiny aquatic snails, it's an everyday activity. Now, scientists have puzzled out the snails' baffling method of propulsion. "How the snails were dragging themselves across a surface that they could not even grip was absolutely perplexing to us," said lead author Eric Lauga, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCSD. More

Opening the Screen Door
Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 21 -- So you think you're happy with your new high-definition 103-inch plasma television? The University of Melbourne has a massive high-resolution video wall made up of two dozen 30-inch LCD screens, called the OptIPortal. It’s connected to a similar wall at UCSD over a 1gigabit per second high-speed broadband optical-fibre connection supplied by AARNet, Australia's academic and research network. More

Worm Charming Mystery Solved
ABC Science, Australia, Oct. 21 -- Scientists in the US believe they've found the reason why worms can be charmed out of the ground. If you drive a wooden stake into the ground and draw a flat metal rod across the top to create a deep frog-like sound, hundreds of earthworms come to the surface. (Quotes Bill Kristan, a neurobiologist at UCSD) More

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Doctors Grapple With Question of Just
How Low Your LDL Cholesterol Should Be
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 21 -- People who conscientiously have watched their cholesterol know the goal line keeps moving. (Quotes Dr. Daniel Steinberg of UCSD) More

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