A Sampling of Clips for
August 1, 2006
* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office
On the Roof of Peru, Omens in the Ice
Washington Post, July 29 -- In the thin, cold air here atop the Andes mountains, the blue ice that has claimed these peaks for thousands of years and loyally fed the streams below is now disappearing rapidly. Mountain glaciers such as this are in retreat around the Earth, taking with them vast stores of water that grow crops, generate electricity and sustain cities and rural areas. (Quotes Tim Barnett, a climate scientist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD) More
If You Thought Last Week Was Hot…
San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 1 -- California will become significantly hotter and drier by the end of the century, causing severe air pollution, a drop in the water supply, the melting of 90 percent of the Sierra snowpack and up to six times more heat-related deaths in major urban centers, according to a sweeping study compiled with help from respected scientists around the country. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC Berkeley are responsible for the core research, and about 75 scientists from universities, government agencies and nonprofit groups contributed to the study. More
Still Waters Run Warm
Los Angeles Times, July 29 -- Hawaiian-like ocean temperatures have surfers shedding their wetsuits and anglers reeling in exotic warm-water fish, such as mahi-mahi, along the Southern California coast. Anglers and surfers are thrilled. "It's a fisherman's paradise," said Bob Burhans, curator of fish at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. More
UCSD Professor Returns from Beirut
KPBS, July 31 -- Host Tom Fudge speaks to UCSD Professor Michael Provence about the violent clash between Israel and Hezbollah. Provence recently returned to San Diego from Lebanon, where he witnessed first-hand the destruction that happened in the initial days of the conflict. More
Grad Students in San Diego
Build Biometric Vending Machine
Contactless News, July 31 -- A group of grad students at UCSD are in the process of creating what one of the students calls the "most over-designed soda machine in the world." More
Make Mine a Zombie Vaccine
New Scientist, Aug. 1 -- Zombie bacteria have been created that could be used to make more stable vaccines. Sandip Datta and colleagues at UCSD irradiated live Listeria monocytogenes with gamma rays, breaking up their DNA so that they couldn't reproduce, but leaving enough residual metabolic activity to activate an immune response. More
Are we Really Burning up?
San Bernardino County Sun, July 30 -- Experts say three weeks of relentless heat and smothering humidity that punished livestock, pushed power systems to the brink and killed more than 100 people statewide are a harbinger of hotter days ahead. They say nature, pollution and overdevelopment joined forces to create a perfect storm of heat and humidity. (Quotes Alexander Gershunov, a project scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's climate research division) More
San Diegans Ink
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 29 -- A UCSD biologist was invited to the White House to receive the government's highest honor for promising researchers and educators. Tracy L. Johnson was one of 20 recipients of the 2006 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. More
Computing Genes
San Diego Business Journal, July 31 -- San Diego researchers are collaborating to make life simpler by looking first at its most complicated parts. Local scientists, including UCSD researchers, have formed the Joint Center for Molecular Modeling through a $2.1 million federal grant, announced July 21. More
Percussive Insights
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 31 -- Percussionist Steven Schick is one of contemporary music's leading virtuosos, who plays everything from marimba to flowerpots. Get insights into his mastery when the longtime UCSD faculty member leads Friday's free Coaching Workshop at La Jolla Music Society SummerFest. More
GlaxoSmithKline Sued
Over Paxil Birth Defects
Yuba.Net, July 31 -- A lawsuit was filed against GlaxoSmithKline on July 28, 2006, in Philadelphia on behalf of Adrian Vasquez, who was born on April 19, 2004, with birth defects as a result of his mother, having been prescribed Paxil during pregnancy. Paxil belongs to the class of antidepressant drugs known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSIRs). (Quotes Christina Chambers assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSD and lead author of a study that showed mothers who took SSRIs, in the second half of their pregnancies were six times more likely to give birth to infants with a lung disorder called persistent pulmonary hypertension) More
All Wear Bowlers
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 31 -- Two silent film clowns (à la Buster Keaton) take a wrong turn and end up on the La Jolla Playhouse stage. "all wear bowlers" is created and performed by Obie Award-winners Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford, who is also a UCSD alum. More
