A Sampling of Clips for September 2^nd, 2009

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

'Pacific Garbage Patch' Expedition Finds Plastic, Plastic Everywhere
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 1 – Scientists, including researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, who returned to the Bay Area this week after an expedition to the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" brought piles of plastic debris they pulled out of the ocean — soda bottles, cracked patio chairs, Styrofoam chunks, old toys, discarded fishing floats and tangled nets. More

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Contra Costa Times

Mike Judge Returns to Work
Houston Chronicle, Sept. 1 -- If you rooted for the employees in Office Space, Mike Judge hopes you'll give the boss a break in Extract. Judge's latest film stars Jason Bateman as the owner of a flavor extract company who must deal with clueless employees and a listless marriage. Judge is a UCSD alumnus. More

Ajit Varki: On the Origin of Maladies

The Journal of Experimental Medicine, September 2009 -- Some say language makes us human, others say it's art or free will. Ajit Varki points out how our diseases set us apart from the apes. In India, Varki was a physician–scientist at the Christian Medical College in Vellore. He now codirects the Glycobiology Center at UCSD and the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (the study of human origins). More

Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Disrupts Sleep
UPI, Sept. 1 -- Repeated chemotherapy treatments can result in progressively worse and more enduring sleep-wake activity rhythms impairments, UCSD researchers said. More

Southwest Heat Waves Likely to Worsen
UPI, Sept. 1 -- U.S. scientists studying a mid-July to early August 2006 heat wave that struck the southwestern United States say such extremes are becoming more likely. An analysis of the 2006 heat wave by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD suggests such regional extremes are likely to become more frequent as climate change trends continue. More

$1.5 Million Goes to Recruit, Train New Math Teachers
KPBS, Sept. 1 — The National Science Foundation is giving $1.5 million to a San Diego-based program that's trying to get new math teachers into struggling schools. Math For America San Diego secured the grant. It is based at UCSD. The program's goal is to recruit and train college graduates and professionals so they become exceptional math teachers in San Diego County's lowest performing high schools. More

More Parents Exempting Children from Vaccinations
10News, Sept. 1 -- As more parents question vaccine safety, the number of exemptions for school immunizations goes up. "The problem we're beginning to see as more parents choose not to have their children immunized is we're starting to see disease as a result of that," said Dr. Mark Sawyer of Rady Children’s Hospital and professor of clinical pediatrics at UCSD. More

City Council Approves CCDC Appointment
San Diego News Network, Sept. 1 -- The San Diego City Council Tuesday approved the appointment of UCSD’s vice chancellor of business affairs to the seven- member Centre City Development Corp. board. Steven Relyea replaces Janice Brown, who recently resigned. More

Gardner Museum Launches Avant Gardner Contemporary Classical Series
Art Daily, Aug. 31 -- Home to the longest-running museum music program in the country, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum further expands its musical offerings this fall with the launch of Avant Gardner: a new contemporary classical series set to shake up Boston’s new music scene with an edgy slate of musical offerings from modern composers—including the world premieres of three new works. (Mentions Lei Liang, who is on the UCSD faculty) More

George Chamberlin's Money in the Morning
San Diego Daily Transcript, Sept. 2 -- Congratulations to UCSD. It came in number two in Washington Monthly's annual college rankings behind UC Berkeley. The list is based on three factors: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research, and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country). More

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