science wire

Mathematicians Analyze Social Divisions Using Cell Phone Data
Differences divide us. Human society fractures along lines defined by politics, religion, ethnicity, and perhaps most fundamentally, language. Although these differences contribute to the great variety of human lives, the partitions they create can lead to conflict and strife, impeding efforts toward social justice and economic development.

Cuatro Corridos: New Chamber Opera Takes Look at Issue of Sex Trafficking Along Border
"Cuatro Corridos," the new chamber opera by UC San Diego soprano Susan Narucki and Mexican author Jorge Volpi, earned rave reviews for its May 8 premiere on campus.

UC San Diego Creates Center for Brain Activity Mapping
Responding to President Barack Obama's "grand challenge" to chart the function of the human brain in unprecedented detail, the University of California, San Diego has established the Center for Brain Activity Mapping (CBAM).

Socrates Fellow Brings Coral Research to Local High School
Coral reef health is the scientific specialty of Aaron Hartmann, a sixth year Ph.D. student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Lights, Action, Camera, Roll-em: the Silent Films of the La Jolla Cinema League
San Diego-with its spectacular coastal vistas, wide sandy beaches, and perpetually balmy weather-has long been a draw as a filming location for Hollywood motion picture studios.

Alexander Vardy Named First Jack Keil Wolf Chair in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering Professor Alexander Vardy, a renowned researcher in information and coding theory, has been appointed as the first Jack Keil Wolf Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

Survivor Beach to ’SUP-port’ Quest to Conquer Cancer June 2
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center will host the 7th annual Survivor Beach on Sunday, June 2. The event, which has become a La Jolla tradition, will feature a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) competition, beach festival with food trucks and more.

Tumor-Activated Protein Promotes Cancer Spread
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center report that cancers physically alter cells in the lymphatic system - a network of vesse

Higher Child Marriage Rates Associated with Higher Maternal and Infant Mortality
Countries in which girls are commonly married before the age of 18 have significantly higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, report researchers in the current online issue of the journal Violence Against Women. The study, by Anita Raj, PhD, a professor in the Department of Medicine in the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Ulrike Boehmer, PhD, an associate professor in the Boston University School of Public Health, is the first published ecological analysis of child marriage and maternal mortality.

UC San Diego Named Grand Champion at 8th Annual SDG&E Energy Showcase
The University of California, San Diego was named Grand Champion during the recent San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) 8th Annual Energy Showcase.

DARPA awards $6 million to develop nanotech therapies for traumatic brain injuries
Led by Professor Michael J. Sailor, Ph.D., from the University of California San Diego, the award brings together a multi-disciplinary team of renowned experts in laboratory research, translati

XSEDE13 Conference to Devote Full Day to Biosciences
San Diego, SoCal Biotech Companies Invited to Attend July 24 Event A panel of distinguished experts will discuss the role of computation and data analytics in supporting discovery throughout the b

UC San Diego’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination Lifts Off with Public Events
When he wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey" 45 years ago, Arthur C. Clarke offered extraordinary visions of the future-including HAL, the artificially intelligent computer-that continue to provide insight into the human condition.

Building the Future for Big Data
Campus expanding network uplink capacity by adding 100 Gbps research connection What does it mean to have 100G connectivity? Just how much data is a 100G connection capable of transmitting? The answer, it turns out, is quite a bit.

CDC-Recommended Non-Profit Launches "MotherToBaby CA" In Time for Mother’s Day
As Mother's Day approaches, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine announces MotherToBaby CA, the new name of its free, statewide counseling service that connects experts in the field of birth defects research with moms-to-be and the general public.

Seahorse’s Armor Gives Engineers Insight Into Robotics Designs
The tail of a seahorse can be compressed to about half its size before permanent damage occurs, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found.

Brain Research at UC San Diego Brings Excitement to Celebration of Former Engineering Dean
Within days of each other, Robert W. Conn recently made two trips to Washington, D.C. to meet President Barack Obama at the White House.

UC San Diego Surgeon Part of Global Initiative to Improve Trauma Care
Raul Coimbra, MD, PhD, FACS, is the only trauma surgeon in the western United States recently invited to be part of the Global Alliance for the Care of the Injured (GACI) - a World Health Organization initiative to improve trauma care in low and middle income countries.

Three UC San Diego Professors Elected to National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences today elected three professors at the University of California, San Diego to membership in the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors bestowed on U.S. scientists and engineers.

Joint Program with World Wildlife Fund Program Aims to Train Professionals from Around World in Meas
UC San Diego and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will launch in August a new international certificate program in Advanced Terrestrial Carbon Accounting.

Language Crafters
Inventors of fantastic and alien tongues discuss art of constructing languages at 'Linguistics Goes to Hollywood' Nobody wore a ridged rubber forehead, or painted their skin Pandora blue.

UC San Diego’s "Simphony" Research Earns Grammy Foundation Support
A UC San Diego study of the impact of music training on the brain and behavioral development in children has been awarded a grant of nearly $20,000 by the Grammy Foundation. The San Diego Youth Symphony's Community Opus program works in partnership with the UC San Diego SIMPHONY project to better understand how music helps young minds develop and grow.

UC San Diego Named One of Greenest Colleges in U.S. and Canada by Princeton Review
The University of California, San Diego has been named one of the most environmentally responsible "green colleges" in the U.S. and Canada by the Princeton Review .

As CO2 Reaches Symbolic Milestone, Scripps Launches Daily Keeling Curve Update
Levels of the greenhouse gas are approaching 400 parts per million; Scripps offering daily Twitter feed, news and analysis of climate indicators For the first time in human history, concentrations

The Asian Monsoon is Getting Predictable
Researchers find strong correlation between summer monsoon and the climate pattern that preceded it For much of Asia, the pace of life is tuned to rhythms of monsoons. The summer rainy season is especially important for securing the water and food supplies for more than a billion people. Its variations can mean the difference between drought and flood.

Gone, But Not Forgotten
An international team of neuroscientists has described for the first time in exhaustive detail the underlying neurobiology of an amnesiac who suffered from profound memory loss after damage to key portions of his brain.

Biological Activity Alters the Ability of Particles from Sea Spray to Seed Clouds
Ocean biology alters the chemical composition of sea spray in ways that influence its ability to form clouds over the ocean. That's the conclusion of a team of scientists using a new approach to study tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols that can influence climate by absorbing or reflecting sunlight and seeding clouds.

UC San Diego Launches Groundbreaking Policy Research Lab
$1.5 million USAID award to fund interdisciplinary projects dedicated to the design and evaluation of public policy How can we alleviate poverty?

A Hopeful Message Gets a Hearing
Scripps researcher spreads word about a potential short-term win against climate change to variety of audiences A push to curb air pollution as a means of slowing the pace of climate change is g

Navy Names New Scripps Research Vessel to Honor the Legacy of Space Explorer and UC San Diego Profes
Ship will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the nation's newest research vessel will be named R/V Sally Ride ,

SDSC Hosts First Annual Industry Partners Research Review
June 12 Event to Showcase SDSC's Advanced Computing Resources and Expertise The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego will host its first annual research

Navy Names New Scripps Research Vessel to Honor Legacy of Space Explorer Sally Ride
Ship will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the nation's newest research vessel will be named R/V Sally Ride ,

Nanosponges Soak Up Toxins Released by Bacterial Infections and Venom
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have invented a "nanosponge" capable of safely removing a broad class of dangerous toxins from the bloodstream - including toxins produced by MRSA, E. coli , poisonous snakes and bees. These nanosponges, which thus far have been studied in mice, can neutralize "pore-forming toxins," which destroy cells by poking holes in their cell membranes.

A New Protein Target for Controlling Diabetes
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a previously unknown biological mechanism involved in the regulation of pancreatic islet beta cells, whose role is to produce and release insulin. The discovery suggests a new therapeutic target for treating dysfunctional beta cells and type 2 diabetes, a disease affecting more than 25 million Americans.

Curator Michelle Hyun Brings Fresh Ideas to University Art Gallery
Curator Michelle Hyun's "We'd love your company," at UC San Diego's University Art Gallery through May 10, is the first in a series of exhibits with which she hopes to redefine the gallery's mission.

Survey Results Reveal Distracted Driving Habits of San Diegans
UC San Diego Researchers and CHP Educate Public on Driving Laws and Safety Tips According to experts in the Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, there were approximately 3,300 deaths and 400,000 injuries nationwide in 2011 due to collisions involving distracted driving.

Clinical Trial Evaluates Engineered Smallpox Vaccine as Potential Liver Cancer Killer
As part of a multicenter clinical trial, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are evaluating Pexa-Vec (JX-594) to slow the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or liver cancer.

Want to Connect with the Future? Attend Research Expo at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering
Advances in tattoo sensors for health monitoring, on-chip optical networking, low-cost cancer diagnostics, video games designed to teach computer programming, new materials for protecting soldiers from blasts, and energy-efficient high-wire robots.

UC San Diego Computer Scientists Develop First-person Player Video Game that Teaches How to Program
Children learn some of the basic of Java after just one hour of play Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have developed an immersive, first-person player video game des

SDSC’s Gordon Supercomputer Assists in Crunching Large Hadron Collider Data
UC San Diego/Open Science Grid Collaboration Speeds Quest for Dark Matter Discovery Gordon , the unique supercomputer launched last year by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, recently completed its most data-intensive task so far: rapidly processing raw data from almost one billion particle collisions as part of a project to help define the future research agenda for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Want to See the Future? Attend Research Expo
Time machines? Not yet. But at Research Expo on April 18, you can talk to Jacobs School of Engineering graduate students who are working on the future.

Mapping the Mind
President Obama announces BRAIN Initiative in which UC San Diego, 'Mesa' colleagues and private-public partners will play key roles President Barack Obama is introduced by Dr.

Transforming Audacious Speculations into Reality
Engineers who think like artists, physicists who thinks like dancers, scientists who think like poets, and designers who think like Mother Nature: These are some of the researchers from the Universit

Multidisciplinary Research Institute at UC San Diego Named in Honor of Qualcomm
The University of California, San Diego is renaming its division of the California Institute for Tele and Information Technology (Calit2) in honor of the philanthropy of the San Diego-based wireless technology leader, Qualcomm Incorporated.

UC San Diego Team Achieves Petaflop-Level Earthquake Simulations on GPU-Powered Supercomputers
The image shows a snapshot of ground motion of the 2008 magnitude-5.4 Chino Hills earthquake in an east-to-west direction; the red-yellow and green-blue colors depict the amplitude of shaking.

Women’s Wellness Day, Free to the Public on Saturday, April 13
On Saturday, April 13 from 8 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., UC San Diego Health System is hosting an interactive conference in La Jolla, focused on women's health.

Pinning Down the Pain
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, says a key protein in Schwann cells performs a critical, perhaps overarching, role in regulating the recovery of peripheral nerves after injury. The discovery has implications for improving the treatment of neuropathic pain, a complex and largely mysterious form of chronic pain that afflicts over 100 million Americans.

UC San Diego Cancer Scientists Named to First Class of AACR Fellows
Five University of California, San Diego scientists and professors are among the first class of the Fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, created to recognize researchers whose scientific contributions have propelled significant innovation and progress against cancer. The entire class consists of 106 individuals, to celebrate the 106 year anniversary of AACR, the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research.

Cuisine for a Cause: 32nd Annual Celebrity Chefs Cook Gala Slated for Apr. 27
Evening of "Epicurean Elegance" to benefit UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Award-winning chefs from San Diego and across the country will convene in La Jolla for a night of "Epicurean Elegance" and philanthropy on Saturday, April 27 at the 32nd annual Celebrity Chefs Cook Gala.

California Research and Education Network Traffic Doubles
One of the World's Most Advanced Networks Moves 18 Petabytes in February 2013 Soon after the conclusion of its conference on the University of California, San Diego campus about the future of rese

Engineers Develop Nanofoams for Better Body Armor, Layers of Protection for Buildings
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are developing nanofoams that could be used to make better body armor; prevent traumatic brain injury and blast-related lung injuries in soldiers; and protect buildings from impacts and blasts. It's the first time researchers are investigating the use of nanofoams for structural protection.

Could a Robotic Skateboard Defeat Tony Hawk? One Day, Maybe
Engineering Students Teach Children About the Physics of Skateboarding "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" A robotic skateboard soared high into the air and above Paul Schmitt, a scientist and skateboa

Monoclonal Antibody Targets, Kills Leukemia Cells
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center have identified a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets and directly kills chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells. The findings, published in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 25, 2013 represent a potential new therapy for treating at least some patients with CLL, the most common type of blood cancer in the United States.

Kidney Sparing Surgery Underutilized for Patients Who Need It Most
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have released study results that show national treatment trends in the surgical management of patients with kidney disease. The study found that partial and complete kidney removal (total nephrectomy) and energy-based techniques to destroy tumors are all on the rise.

Halftime Heroes
During a recent home game, members of the UC San Diego men's and women's basketball teams shared high-fives and smiles with a group of newfound young fans who aspire to one day grow up and be just like them.

Viewing Research Bandwidth Through A New Prism
Currently there are 144 fibers tunneling into Atkinson Hall, and 36 fibers into the main 2,000-square-foot Calit2 server room, plus additional fiber into an adjacent room where Calit2 network research equipment is located.

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center New Member of National Comprehensive Cancer Network
On March 19, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN ) announced the election of University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center as the first and only San Diego-based NCCN Membe

Sujit Dey Named Faculty Director of the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center
Sujit Dey, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been named faculty director of the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center.

New Program Teaches Empowering "Anti-Cancer" Approaches for Doctors, Patients, and Loved Ones
UC San Diego Integrative Oncology 2013, April 6-7 From Saturday, April 6 to Sunday April 7, the Center for Integrative Medicine at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine is hosting a landmark conference on integrative oncology.

Two UC San Diego Researchers Receive New CIRM Grants
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are principal investigators in two of nine new grants approved today by the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

’End of Men’? Not Even Close, Says UC San Diego Report on Gender in the Professions
Sociologist Mary Blair-Loy, founding director of UC San Diego's Center for Research on Gender in the Professions and author of the award-winning book "Competing Devotions." It's March 2013 - 50 ye

No Sons Linked to Lower Contraception Use in Nepal
While poverty and under-education continue to dampen contraception use in Nepal, exacerbating the country's efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality rates, researchers say another, more surprising factor may be more intractable: Deeply held cultural preferences for sons over daughters.

South Korean Delegation Praises UC San Diego’s Research Ethics Program
When, in 2006, the South Korean university and scientific communities were stunned by the apparent research misconduct of stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk, part of the response was to significantly increase national efforts to promote research ethics.

International Women’s Day Conference Focuses on Making a Difference
Key speakers at an International Women's Day conference held on campus Friday encouraged women to help pursue their own dreams through giving back.

UC San Diego’s Graduate Programs Among Nation’s Best, According to U.S. News and World Report
The 2014 edition of the U.S. News & World Report' s Best Graduate Schools guidebook, released today, highly ranks the University of California, San Diego's professional schools in engineering

Linguistics Scholar John Moore Appointed Muir College Provost at UC San Diego
John Moore, professor of linguistics at the University of California, San Diego, has been appointed the new provost of John Muir College, effective September 1, 2013.

UC San Diego Biologists Produce Rainbow-Colored Algae
What can green algae do for science if they weren't, well, green? That's the question biologists at UC San Diego sought to answer when they engineered a green alga used commonly in laboratories, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, into a rainbow of different colors by producing six different colored fluorescent proteins in the algae cells.

Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Awards $1.6 Million to Young Investigator Suckjoon Jun
One of the newest faculty members at UC San Diego- Suckjoon Jun , an assistant professor of physics and molecular biology-has won a $1.6 million award from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Reaching for the Sky
UC San Diego's commitment to sustainability can be found in its teachings, research, operations-­even on the university's rooftops.

Biology of Time Change
On March 10, clocks across the United States will be moved forward one hour, shifting an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.

Campus Braces for Anticipated Impacts of Sequestration
Sequestration - a mechanism for automatic spending cuts - went into effect March 1 and will eventually trigger, over the next eight years, more than a trillion dollars in cuts to federal programs.

New Cancer Council Combines Local Centers’ Strengths
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute come together in novel collaboration San Diego is a powerhouse for cancer re

International Consortium Builds ’Google Map’ of Human Metabolism
Recon 2 is the most comprehensive virtual reconstruction of the human metabolic network to date, assemble by an international consortium of researchers, who liken it to a 'Google map' of metabolism. Image Credit: Anna Dröfn Daníelsdóttir, Freyr Jóhannsson, Soffía Jónsdóttir, Sindri Jarlsson, Jón Pétur Gunnarsson & Ronan M. T. Fleming from the University of Iceland.

New UCSD Library App That Zeros in on Available Computers Gets Big Thumbs Up
A new mobile app launched by the UC San Diego Library during fall quarter has proven to be a real hit with campus smart phone users, especially those who are on the prowl for an open computer in the Library or another study space on campus.

Sports Medicine Chief Christopher Wahl, MD, Blends New Techniques with Old School Philosophy
Nationally recognized orthopedic surgeon Christopher Wahl, MD, has joined the University of California, San Diego Health System as the new chief of Sports Medicine.

New Workshop Helps Doctors Avoid Burnout, Increase Wellbeing
On Saturday, May 11, the Center for Mindfulness at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine is hosting a workshop to help physicians and clinicians increase job satisfaction and prevent burnout.

SDSC Coordinates Effort to Establish the BigData Top100 List
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, today announced plans for a community-based effort to create the BigData Top100 List, the first global ranking of its kind for systems designed for big data applications.

Four UC San Diego Faculty Members Named Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 2013 Fellows
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has announced the selection of researchers as recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013, including four scholars from the University of California, San Diego. Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders.

Man Walks Again After Surgery to Reverse Muscle Paralysis
After four years of confinement to a wheelchair, Rick Constantine, 58, is now walking again after undergoing an unconventional surgery at University of California, San Diego Heath System to restore the use of his leg.

‘Robot Combat League’ Stars Calit2’s Saura Naderi in ‘Fight to the Death’
Calit2 Outreach Coordinator Saura Naderi (left) and mixed martial arts fighter Amanda Lucas combine their talents to control Robo Hammer, one of the robot fighters in SyFy's "Robot Combat League."

UC San Diego Health System Named One of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics
University of California, San Diego Medical Center has been named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for the second time by Truven Health Analytics, formerly the health care business of Thomson Reuters.

Clues to Climate Cycles Dug from South Pole Snow Pit
Particles from the upper atmosphere trapped in a deep pile of Antarctic snow hold clear chemical traces of global meteorological events, a team from the University of California, San Diego and a colleague from France have found.

Polling San Diegans About Cell Phones and Driver Safety
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have launched a new survey aimed at gauging local motorists' opinions and activities associated with cell-phone usage and driving.

UC San Diego’s Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss to be Held March 1
The University of California, San Diego will be putting on its annual birthday celebration on Friday, March 1, for one of the world's most beloved authors, Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Seuss.

Engineer, Alumna and Olympic Runner
Meet Sonali Merrill, a Jacobs School alumna, who also is a member of Sri Lanka's Olympic track and field team.

UC San Diego Computer Scientist Among Young Faculty Recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships
An expert in bioinformatics and computational mass spectrometry at the University of California, San Diego is among the 2013 crop of young faculty members identified by the Alfred P. Sloan Foun

Online Course Seeks to Educate World about Sustainable Food and Energy Issues
The University of California, San Diego is developing a free online course designed to educate students and anyone else around the world with a computer and an internet connection about the challenges and potential solutions for meeting the global demands of food and fuel in the 21st century.

Breaking Down Barriers to Online Education
The self-described "tinkerers" and "hacker-ninjas" behind a free web app they call "KA Lite" have an immodest goal: They aim to bring the revolution in online education to the 65 percent of the world that isn't online.

Course Seeks to Educate World about Sustainable Food and Energy Issues
A free online course is being developed at UC San Diego to educate students and anyone else around the world with a computer and an internet connection about the challenges and potential solutions for meeting the global demands of food and fuel in the 21 st century.

New Injectable Hydrogel Encourages Regeneration and Improves Functionality After a Heart Attack
Microscopic images of pig hearts damaged by heart attack show the growth of new heart muscle tissue (Shown in Red, Figure A) after treatment with an injectable hydrogel compared to a heart left untreated (Figure B, right). Photo credit: Karen Christman, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. University of California, San Diego bioengineers have demonstrated in a study in pigs that a new injectable hydrogel can repair damage from heart attacks, help the heart grow new tissue and blood vessels, and get the heart moving closer to how a healthy heart should.

UC San Diego Cancer Scientist Wins $3 Million Award
Napoleone Ferrara one of 11 winners of inaugural Breakthrough Prize Napoleone Ferrara, MD, PhD, the molecular biologist credited with helping decipher how tumors grow and now senior deputy directo

Rewriting a Receptor’s Role
Synaptic molecule works differently than thought; may mean new therapeutic targets for treating Alzheimer's disease In a pair of new papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences upend a long-held view about the basic functioning of a key receptor molecule involved in signaling between neurons, and describe how a compound linked to Alzheimer's disease impacts that receptor and weakens synaptic connections between brain cells.

Healthcare Services for Rural Sub-Saharan Africa Within Reach, According to New UC San Diego Study
A new paper published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization has determined that providing rural sub-Saharan Africans a close-to-client health system by paid, full-time community health workers by 2015 would cost $2.6 billion per year, or just $6.86 per person covered by the program.

Tough, Light and Strong: Lessons From Nature Could Lead to the Creation of New Materials
In a sweeping review of the field of bio-inspired engineering and biomimicry in the Feb.

The Impact of Invent the Future
The gift of education has the power to transform lives. For a first generation college student, a scholarship can change a life's trajectory.

Sciences, Engineering Join Therapeutics in UC San Diego "Express License" Program
Almost 160 active companies in San Diego County have been established by UC San Diego alumni, faculty and staff.

UC San Diego Awarded NIH Grant to Expand Diabetes and Obesity Research Hub
SDSC to Provide Computational Resources and Host Research Database Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have been awarded a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to expan

SDSC’s Chaitan Baru Named Associate Director, Data Initiatives
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has named SDSC Distinguished Scientist Chaitanya Baru the Center's Associate Director, Data Initiatives.

Breakfast with Champions to Benefit Prostate Cancer Research Feb. 22
The University of California, San Diego will host its first-ever fundraiser for prostate cancer research, "Breakfast with Champions," on Friday, Feb.

Excess Protein Linked to Development of Parkinson’s Disease
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say overexpression of a protein called alpha-synuclein appears to disrupt vital recycling processes in neurons, starting with

Working Alone Won’t Get You Good Grades
A graph showing interactions between 82 students during the last week of a course. High performing students are in dark blue and form a core where the highest density of persistent interactions can be observed.

Engineering a Future
The UC San Diego chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers demonstrated some culinary magic at the organizational fair, combining dry ice with cream and sugar to make homemade ice cream.

UC San Diego Funded by NIMH to Study Successful Aging in Adults with HIV
5-year grant totals $3.4 million The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded a $3.4 million grant to a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to study successful aging in HIV-infected adults.

Alternative Hip Replacement Technique Results in Faster Recovery
University of California, San Diego Health System is one of only a few hospitals in the nation to offer computer-assisted navigation technology with the direct anterior hip replacement technique, potentially resulting in less pain, faster recovery and fewer dislocations for patients with osteoarthritis and other forms of degenerative joint disease.

SDSC Mourns the Loss of Dr. Robert P. Harkness
Robert P. Harkness, a computational astrophysicist with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, died on Sunday, January 27, after a brief bout with cancer.

’Alternative Accounts’
Cheyenne warrior engaging enemies, by Black Horse (Northern Cheyenne). The Black Horse Ledger, 1879-1885, is on view in "Alternative Accounts" for the first time.

UC San Diego to Host Workshop on Future of Stereoscopic 3D Cinema
Calit2 senior research scientist Tom DeFanti in StarCAVE VR environment, using polarized glasses to navigate model of Atkinson Hall in S3D (but in 2D for this image).

Urban Heat Has Large-scale Climate Effects
The heat generated by everyday activities in metropolitan areas has a significant enough warming effect to influence the character of the jet stream and other major atmospheric systems during winter months, according to a trio of climate researchers. Led by Guang Zhang, a research meteorologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, the scientists report Climate Change that the extra heat given off by Northern Hemisphere urban areas causes as much as 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F) of warming in winter.

Rady Study Examines How to Best Persuade Consumers to Help Protect the Planet
We've all seen those message cards in hotel rooms asking us to reuse our towels. Many of us likely wonder, do those signs actually work?

Do the Right Thing
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Name-calling is not nice. And resorting to schoolyard taunts is surely not the way to make the world a better place. But a little bit of ego sting may not be such a bad thing. Reminding people of the link between behaving unethically and being an unethical person keeps people honest, suggests research led by UC San Diego's Christopher Bryan, assistant professor of psychology in the Division of Social Sciences.

Flu Season Survival Guide
It's that time of year again: flu season. The epidemic this year is widespread, afflicting millions in every state across the country.

Blocking Digestive Enzymes May Reverse Shock, Stop Multiorgan Failure
From top to bottom: healthy rat intestine, intestine after the onset of shock, and intestine treated with a therapy developed by UC San Diego bioengineers. The researchers found that by administering digestive enzyme blockers directly into the small intestines of rats an hour after the onset of different types of shock, reversed the often fatal conditions associated with shock such as sepsis and multiorgan failure, reducing injury to the heart and lungs and greatly increased long-term survival of the animals from about 16 percent to 86 percent.

Drug Targets Hard-to-Reach Leukemia Stem Cells Responsible for Relapses
Chronic myeloid leukemia leads to production of many abnormal white blood cells, which do not fight infection as well as normal white blood cells.

How Cells Know When It’s Time to Eat Themselves
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a molecular mechanism regulating autophagy, a fundamental stress response used by cells to help ensure their survival in adverse conditions. The findings are published online in the January 17 issue of Cell .

Community Celebrates Groundbreaking of Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute Facility
Shovel Ceremony - from left to right: Steve Relyea (Vice Chancellor, External and Business Affairs), Gabriel Haddad (MD, Chair of the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics and Physician-In-Chief of R

Facebook Beats Books - and Faces - in Memory Test
If this were a Facebook post, you would remember it - better than a stranger's face or a line from a published book.

Surgical Technique Spots Cancer Invasion with Fluorescence
One of the greatest challenges faced by cancer surgeons is to know exactly which tissue to remove, or not, while the patient is under anesthesia. A team of surgeons and scientists at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new technique that will allow surgeons to identify during surgery which lymph nodes are cancerous so that healthy tissue can be saved.

Next Steps in Potential Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes results when beta cells in the pancreas fail to produce enough insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. One approach to treating diabetes is to stimulate regeneration of new beta cells. There are currently two ways of generating endocrine cells (cell types, such as beta cells, that secrete hormones) from human embryonic stem cells, or hESCs: either generating the cells in vitro in culture or transplanting immature endocrine cell precursors into mice.

Regulating Single Protein Prompts Fibroblasts to Become Neurons
Repression of a single protein in ordinary fibroblasts is sufficient to directly convert the cells - abundantly found in connective tissues - into functional neurons. The findings, which could have far-reaching implications for the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, will be published online in advance of the January 17 issue of the journal Cell .