A Sampling of Clips for September 28^th, 2009

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

'Flocking' Behavior Lands on Social Networking Sites
USA Today, Sept. 28 – The interconnected web of our friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances may dominate our lives more than we know. They've always been there, making up our social support systems. But now, largely thanks to the burgeoning popularity of online social networks like Facebook, researchers are discovering what a powerful influence our connections — both online and off — really have over our lives. (Quotes co-author of study James Fowler, a social scientist at UCSD) More

Similar story in
Boston Globe
NPR

Antidepressants in
Pregnancy up Heart Defect Risk
ABC News, Sept. 25 – If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study. However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants - known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - do not have such defects, the researchers are quick to note. (Quotes Dr. Christina Chambers, an associate professor of pediatrics at UCSD) More

Factbox: Nobel Predictions
Reuters Science, Sept. 25 – Researchers at Thomson Reuters' Healthcare and Science business have named 25 possible winners of the 2009 Nobel prizes in physiology or medicine, chemistry, physics and economics, to be named starting October 6. (Mentions Sheldon Schultz, professor of physics at UCSD) More

Veerabhadran Ramanathan: CO2 is Key Global Warmer, but We Need not Panic Yet
Sacramento Bee, Sept. 27 -- Politics is often described as the art of the possible. When it comes to global warming, politics repeatedly derails serious efforts to mitigating our effect --  this despite overwhelming scientific consensus that the current rate of emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate warming pollutants will warm our planet by 4 to 8 degrees during this century. (Veerabhadran Ramanathan is distinguished professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD) More

Fitzgerald, Hemingway
Fascinate after all These Years

San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 27 -- It might be F. Scott Fitzgerald's most repeated line: “There are no second acts in American life.” Happily, he was wrong, at least when it came to his books. His books were obscure at the time of his death and perennially popular now. “The Fitzgerald revival makes a remarkable chapter in the history of literary reputation,” writes Scott Donaldson. (Mentions Rae Armantrout professor of literature at UCSD) More

Making Noise about Jazz
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 27 -- Jazz has always relied on fresh, new ideas and bold, young artists to innovate and take the music forward. But is jazz itself attracting young, new audiences here and nationally? Or is the music long hailed as America's greatest artistic contribution to the world struggling to draw a new generation of listeners?
“Without question, a lot more young people listen to jazz now than 30 years ago,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, who plays two concerts Tuesday at UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium with his acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. More

Editorial: Blissfully Ignorant?
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 27 -- In a perfect world, we might expect educators — whether university professors or secondary school teachers — to have a particular awareness of the times we live in, so as to better impart knowledge and context to young learners. It's obviously not a perfect world. (Mentions UCSD) More

Quoting the J-Man on Pond Scum
Voice of San Diego, Sept. 28 -- A story in today's Los Angeles Times reports on San Diego's burgeoning algae industry, and quotes Mayor Jerry Sanders on the potential impact of algae-based biofuels on the local economy. The story treads over much of the same ground that we covered in January on breakthroughs local researchers and companies have made in converting algae to oil, and the hurdles they still have to overcome in order for it to become a commercially viable fuel. Here is what Sanders had to say: "It's a critical industry, and it's kind of exploded," San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said. "There's a long pattern of huge companies being spawned out of UCSD and our other research centers, and it's going to create a tremendous number of jobs." More

Stimulus Money for Scripps Buildings
Voice of San Diego, Sept. 28 -- I blogged about a plastic surgeon getting stimulus money. I blogged about beauty schools getting stimulus money. So it is only fair that I blog about a $112 million in stimulus money being spent to construct buildings that will house state-of-the-art marine life tanks and laboratories on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus in La Jolla. More

'Herd It' Goes Live
Voice of San Diego, Sept. 24 -- In April I wrote about "Herd It," a next-level music search engine developed by UCSD professor Gert Lanckriet and doctoral students Luke Barrington and Damien O'Malley. As a quick refresher, here is an excerpt: For years now, computer-based song aggregators like Pandora and Last.fm have allowed people to compile playlists based on song names or artists. But Barrington's computer at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology takes things to a new level. More

Scripps to Get Funds for Coastline Studies
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 26 -- Scripps Institution of Oceanography will enhance its monitoring of the Southern California coastline after the federal government yesterday pledged $1.7 million for the work. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would fund studies related to the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System because it's an important tool for monitoring severe weather, natural hazards and other issues. More

5 Things you Need to Know About: Higher Ed
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 26 -- With California's budget woes, state universities are looking for ways to make ends meet. The upshot? Getting into college just got harder and more expensive. Here is the 4-1-1 on what's happening: Fewer spots. Because fewer students means fewer faculty and staff members and therefore fewer costs, state universities are trimming their student bodies. At San Diego State, next year's fall enrollment will be cut by 2,750 after pruning enrollment by 1,850 this fall. UCSD will have 3,740 entering freshmen this fall, a 550-person drop from last year. Systemwide, the UC Regents cut enrollment by 2,300 spots and plan to cut another 2,300 next fall. More

Letters: Why No Budget Cuts for UC Brass?
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 26 -- On Thursday, the first day of classes at most University of California campuses, faculty, students and staff joined together in campus walkouts to protest the corporatization of UC. (Written by Jelger Kalmijn, UCSD employee and president of the University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119) More

Houston Named
Eleanor Roosevelt College Provost
San Diego Daily Transcript, Sept. 25 -- Alan Houston, a professor of political science and an internationally recognized scholar of early-modern British and American political thought, has been appointed provost of Eleanor Roosevelt College at UCSD. More

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