science wire

UC San Diego Researchers Receive New CIRM Funding
Stem cell grants covers heart failure, Alzheimer's disease, ALS and spinal cord injuries Five scientists from the University of California, San Diego and its School of Medicine have been awarded almost $12 million in new grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to conduct stem cell-based research into regenerating spinal cord injuries, repairing gene mutations that cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and finding new drugs to treat heart failure and Alzheimer's disease.

Hormone Plays Surprise Role in Fighting Skin Infections
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are molecules produced in the skin to fend off infection-causing microbes.

SDSC to Host "Summer Institute" Supercomputer Workshop August 6-10
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, is expanding upon its successful Gordon Summer Institute program to include both its Gordon and Trestles supe

SDSC to Host Summer Institute for Geosciences August 6-10
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, will host its ninth annual Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists (CSIG'12) August 6-10.

UC San Diego Receives $7 Million from DOD for Innovative Neural Research
Schematic of cooperative brain centers interactiing to produce functional neural behavior associated with learning and decision making. An interdisciplinary team of scientists at UC San Diego composed of physicists, biologists, chemists, bioengineers and psychologists has received a five-year, $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate the dynamic principles of collective brain activity.

Exotic particles, chilled and trapped, form giant matter wave
Physicists have trapped and cooled exotic particles called excitons so effectively that they condensed and cohered to form a giant matter wave. This feat will allow scientists to better study the physical properties of excitons, which exist only fleetingly yet offer promising applications as diverse as efficient harvesting of solar energy and ultrafast computing.

UC San Diego Superfund Research Program Receives $15 Million Grant Renewal
Among The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has renewed funding for the Superfund Research Program (SRP) at the University of California, San Diego. Over the next five years, the $15 million grant will fund continued research on the molecular and genetic consequences of exposure to uncontrolled toxicants from Superfund and other hazardous waste sites.

Survivor Beach Brings Community Together in Fight to ’Wipe Out’ Cancer June 10
Attendees will attempt to form record-breaking line of surfboards, showing support for cancer survivors and research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center The beach of La Jolla Shores will be home

Green ’Pond Scum’ Holds Hope for Producing Edible Vaccine Against Malaria
Vaccine development among focuses of new Center for Food & Fuel for the 21st Century Most people know by now that algae are a promising source of biofuels that could supplement and eventually replace the world's declining reserves of oil. But UC San Diego biologists working on algal biofuels who joined forces with another team at the School of Medicine studying tropical diseases have discovered another use for algae.

Q&A with Brian Schottlaender
Thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members use the UC San Diego Libraries every day.

San Diego Book Arts to Showcase Artist’s Books at Geisel Library Exhibit May 26-July 8
The San Diego Book Arts will hold their Fourth National Juried Exhibition of works of art in book form at UC San Diego's Geisel Library from May 26 through July 8, 2012.

UC San Diego Researchers in Florence Explore New Ways to Search for Lost Leonardo Mural
UC San Diego grad student David Vanoni uses an endoscopic probe on the wall behind which The Battle of Anghiari mural is believed to be hidden.

Defining the Agenda for "Big Data" Benchmarking
SDSC Workshop Participants See Innovation Potential The move to data-driven science and decision-making is necessitating the need for a comprehensive benchmarking of 'big data' applications as wel

UC San Diego Biologists Produce Potential Malarial Vaccine from Algae
Mosquitoes from the genus Anopheles transmit the protozoan that causes malaria. Credit: Wikimedia Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have succeeded in engineering algae to produce potential candidates for a vaccine that would prevent transmission of the parasite that causes malaria, an achievement that could pave the way for the development of an inexpensive way to protect billions of people from one of the world's most prevalent and debilitating diseases.

Girl Child Marriages Decline In South Asia, But Only Among Youngest
Findings mixed in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh Each year, more than 10 million girls under the age of 18 marry, usually under force of local tradition and social custom. Almost half of these compulsory marriages occur in South Asia. A new study suggests that more than two decades of effort to eliminate the practice has produced mixed results.

Why Omega-3 Oils Help at the Cellular Level
Findings suggest possibility of boosting their health benefit For the first time, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have peered inside a living mouse cell and mapped the processes that power the celebrated health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. More profoundly, they say their findings suggest it may be possible to manipulate these processes to short-circuit inflammation before it begins, or at least help to resolve inflammation before it becomes detrimental.

Prominent Marine Ecologist to Receive Prestigious Cody Award from Scripps
A marine ecologist known for his work on community ecology and chemical ecology has been selected to receive the 2012 Robert L. and Bettie P. Cody Award in Ocean Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Mellon Foundation Supports New Software Tools for Humanities Researchers
Lev Manovich and a visiting researcher exploring a visualization of one million manga pages on HIPerSpace visualization system constructed by Gravity Lab at Calit2. Computers have changed the landscape of humanities research. Innovations continue to make it cheaper and easier to digitize and analyze ever larger volumes of data.

Grand Challenges Explorations Grant Funds Groundbreaking Health Research
A tiny tattoo-like electronic device could someday provide wireless pregnancy monitoring of maternal and fetal vital signs, giving expectant mothers more mobility and improving access to prenatal care in remote areas.

CRCA Reflects Distinguished Past at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Participants in the Universal Language Orchestra, which was designed to help children learn about their creativity and about experimental music, also took the stage in Calit2's Atkinson Hall.

Computer Scientists Develop an Interactive Field Guide App for Birders
A team of researchers led by computer scientist Serge Belongie at the University of California, San Diego, has good news for birders: they have developed an iPad app that will identify most North American birds, with a little help from a human user.

"Take Charge" of Diabetes: Can Commercial Weight-Loss Program Help?
UC San Diego Nutrition experts launch year-long study of participants with Type 2 Diabetes Diabetes affects nearly 24 million people in the United States, most with Type 2 diabetes, a disease which is often coupled with obesity.

Collaboration on Offshore Seismic Research Project at San Onofre
Southern California Edison (SCE) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will collaborate on a project to gather seismic data off the coast of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).

Scarring Cells Revert To Inactive State As Liver Heals
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, report that significant numbers of myofibroblasts - cells that produce the fibrous scarring in chronic liver injury - revert to an inactive phenotype as the liver heals.

New UC San Diego Research Unit Focuses on Food and Fuel for the 21st Century
A new Organized Research Unit (ORU) that focuses on "Food and Fuel for the 21st Century" has been established at the University of California, San Diego.

Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development Opens
On May 3, 2012, Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and the UC San Diego School of Medicine launched the Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development.

"Game-powered machine learning" opens door to Google for music
Can a computer be taught to automatically label every song on the Internet using sets of examples provided by unpaid music fans? University of California, San Diego engineers have found that the answer is yes, and the results are as accurate as using paid music experts to provide the examples, saving considerable time and money.

Fallows to Speak on Future of Aviation in China
James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, will speak on his new book, "China Airborne: Aviation and the Future of China," on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at the University of California San Diego Institute of the Americas.

Paul S. Viviano Named New CEO of UC San Diego Health System
Paul S. Viviano has accepted the position as the new CEO of UC San Diego Health System and associate vice chancellor for Health Sciences.

Three Professors at UC San Diego 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.

World Leaders Gather at UC San Diego to Discuss Internationalization of Chinese Currency
Representatives from People's Bank of China, the International Monetary Fund, Deutsche Bank and others will speak about the growing global use of Chinese currency and what it means for the dominance

Insulin Resistance, Inflammation and a Muscle-Saving Protein
In the online May 2 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism , researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine publish three distinct articles exploring: the complex interactions of lipids and inflammation in insulin resistance the roles of omega 3 fatty acids and a particular gene in fighting inflammation how elevated levels of a particular protein might delay the muscle-destroying effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Economist, Writer-performer Awarded Guggenheim Fellowships
Two members of the UC San Diego faculty have won a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2012: Writer-performer Eileen Myles and economist James E. Rauch.

UC San Diego Orthopedic Surgeon Named New President of International Society
Steven Garfin, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery in the School of Medicine was named President of the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) for 2012 to 2013.

Researchers: Where International Climate Policy Has Failed, Grassroots Efforts Can Succeed
Control of greenhouse agents other than CO2 needs to reach the local level, according to a new Foreign Affairs essay The world can significantly slow the pace of climate change with practical effo

UC San Diego Professor Named to the Prestigious Royal Society
Jack E. Dixon, PhD, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of pharmacology, cellular and molecular medicine, chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego has been named a foreign member of the Royal Society.

World-Renowned Melanesian Archive Turns 30
Donald Tuzin with Arapesh people of Ilahita Village during his first fieldwork in Papua New Guinea in the early 1970s.

Global Warming Solutions Dependent on ’Oneness of Humanity’ Dalai Lama Tells Campus Audience
With a UC San Diego Triton visor protecting him from the hot glare of spotlights, the 14 th Dalai Lama deconstructed the barriers between science and spirituality Wednesday on his first official visit to San Diego.

HIV Prevention in a Pill
UC San Diego researchers receive $5.6 million grant to test if they can keep high-risk individuals from becoming infected with virus that causes AIDS In these scanning electron micrographs from Thomas Deerinck at the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at UC San Diego, multitudinous HIV-1 particles exit from a cultured HeLa cell.

Seismic Stress Test
What happens when you put a fully equipped five-story building, which includes two hospital floors, computer servers , fire barriers and even a working elevator, through a series of high-intensity earthquakes? Structural engineers at the University of California, San Diego began to get some answers last week, when they launched a series of tests conducted on the world's largest outdoor shake table at the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center.

Clinical Decline in Alzheimer’s Requires Plaque and Proteins
Without p-tau protein present, impact of amyloid is "not significantly different from zero" According to a new study, the neuron-killing pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which begins before clinical symptoms appear, requires the presence of both amyloid-beta (a-beta) plaque deposits and elevated levels of an altered protein called p-tau.

SDSC’s Trestles Supercomputer Speeds Clean Energy Research
The Clean Energy Project team at Harvard University. From left to right: Roberto Olivares-Amaya, Suleyman Er, Johannes Hachmann, and Alán Aspuru-Guzik.

Modest Alcohol Consumption Lowers Risk and Severity of Liver Disease
Two forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are depicted in these images of liver biopsies from adults, taken from this study. The first shows nonalcoholic fatty liver only. People with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NALFD) who consume alcohol in modest amounts - no more than one or two servings per day - are half as likely to develop hepatitis as non-drinkers with the same condition, reports a national team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine
Although perceived as sheer fantasy by many, the magic depicted in the popular Harry Potter novels by author J.K. Rowling can be traced to Renaissance traditions that played a pivotal role in the development of modern science and medicine.

UC San Diego Medical Center Named One of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuters
UC San Diego Medical Center, located in Hillcrest, has been named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuters.

UC San Diego Ranks 6th Among U.S. Universities for Research & Development Dollars
The University of California, San Diego again ranked 6th among top U.S. universities in total research and development expenditures for fiscal year 2010, with $580,279 million in federal R&D money and $943,219 million in total R&D expenditures.

Scripps Delivers Science to James Cameron’s Historic Dive into the Abyss
As part of James Cameron's "Deepsea Challenge," Scripps engineer Kevin Hardy (center, with hook) deploys a deep ocean vehicle (DOV), or "lander" that he developed to explore the mysteries of the world's deepest points.

Breaking Ground on a New Era of Health Care
Philanthropists, community leaders, health care visionaries, architects and contractors, along with faculty and staff of UC San Diego, gathered April 9 to celebrate the official start of construction

Faculty, Staff Leaders Travel to State Capitol to Advocate for UC San Diego
Representatives from UC San Diego's Staff Association and Academic Senate visited the state capitol last Tuesday to discuss the significant contributions of staff and faculty to the University of California system and state of California.

UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center Recognized for Dedication to Sustainability
New Building is first LEED Gold certified acute care medical facility in San Diego Region The UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center is the first hospital-based project in the region to receive LEED Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

UC San Diego, Clarke Foundation Collaborate to Create Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination
The University of California, San Diego and the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation have agreed to establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination (ACCCHI) at UC San Diego.

Scott M. Lippman, MD, Named New Director of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
Scott M. Lippman, MD, chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas (UT) MD Anderson Cancer Center, has accepted the position of director of Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, beginning May 1, 2012.

Nanomachine Pioneer from UC San Diego Wins Top Australian Medal in Electrochemistry
Joseph Wang, Distinguished Professor, Department of NanoEngineering at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering UC San Diego nanoengineering professor Joseph Wang will accept the 2012 Breyer Medal in person this Sunday, April 15, in Perth, Australia.

Engineers Conduct Seismic Tests of Five-Story Building Equipped with Nonstructural Components
Series of tests to assess earthquake and fire readiness of elevators, fire systems, medical equipment, computer servers and other components An overall shot of the five-story building that will be tested at the Englekirk Center at UC San Diego starting April 16.

First U.S. Case Since FDA-Approval, New Magnetic Device for Heartburn
On Monday, April 9, 2012, Santiago Horgan, MD, chief of minimally invasive surgery at UC San Diego Health System implanted the new FDA-approved LINX device in a 29-year old patient suffering from gas

Philanthropists and Foodies Unite at Celebrity Chefs Cook Gala May 5
Black-tie fete features award-winning chefs, benefits cancer research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center When Bobbi Warren was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer a year and a half ago, she was not surprised.

Chronopolis Earns High Marks as "Trustworthy Digital Repository" in CRL TRAC Audit
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) has certified Chronopolis, a large-scale data preservation network, as a "trustworthy digital repository" that meets accepted best practices in the management of digital repositories.

New Service Helps Travelers Brave Long Wait Times at U.S. Border Crossings
Computer Science and Engineering students helped build the new border-wait service. (L-r) Freshman Rustin Manafian; senior Patrick Guan; and first-year grad student Gen Liu.

Pulse Pressure Elevation Could Presage Cerebrovascular Disease in Alzheimer’s Patients
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System have shown that elevated pulse pressure may increase the risk of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Their study has been published in the early online edition of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease in advance of the June 5 print publication.

Global Manhunt Pushes Limits of Social Mobilization
Network of Spotters Tracks Suspects through Social Media in Simulated Jewel Heist in Five Cities across North America and Europe An international team of researchers, including computer scientist

Interactive Displays, Cutting-Edge Research To Take Center Stage at Triton Day Experience April 7
The Jacobs School of Engineering's undergraduate students will display the hardware they use to launch balloons into near-space (20 miles up).

Sprinter’s School Record Highlights Final Day of Cal/Nevada Track and Field Championships
Senior Jacqueline Rose was named the female track athlete of the meet after winning the 400-meter dash on Sunday.

How Genes Organize the Surface of the Brain
The first atlas of the surface of the human brain based upon genetic information has been produced by a national team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System. The atlas reveals that the cerebral cortex - the sheet of neural tissue enveloping the brain - is roughly divided into genetic divisions that differ from other brain maps based on physiology or function.

Using Social Media to Catch a Thief on March 31
A group of crowdsourcing experts, including Manuel Cebrian, a computer science researcher at the University of California, San Diego, are building a team to participate in a, perhaps, impossible worl

Faculty researchers share their experiences turning discoveries into marketable products
(L-R) UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering professors David Kriegman, computer science and engineering; Rene Cruz, electrical and computer engineering; Sujit Dey, electrical and computer enginee

Chronic Stress Spawns Protein Aggregates Linked to Alzheimer’s
Repeated stress triggers the production and accumulation of insoluble tau protein aggregates inside the brain cells of mice, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in a new study published in the March 26 Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

President Obama Visits Solar Power Plant Using Technology Developed by UC San Diego Engineers
When President Obama visited the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility in Nevada Wednesday, he got a first-hand look at the first large-scale solar facility equipped with solar forecasting devices called sky imagers. The devices are powered by sophisticated algorithms, which were developed by researchers at the University of California San Diego.

Venice hasn’t stopped sinking after all
The water flowing through Venice's famous canals laps at buildings a little higher every year - and not only because of a rising sea level. Although previous studies had found that Venice has stabilized, new measurements indicate that the historic city continues to slowly sink, and even to tilt slightly to the east.

SDSC’s "Big Data" Expertise Aiding Genomics Research
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has in the last three years undergone a major reboot, remaking itself into a center of expertise on all aspects of "big data" research including genomics, one of the fastest growing areas of scientific study.

UC San Diego, Taiwan’s Academia Sinica to Collaborate on Research
UC San Diego and Taiwan's Academia Sinica have agreed to collaborate across a broad range of research areas.

UC San Diego Swimmer Wins 200 Breaststroke Title on Final Day of NCAA Championships
Emily Adamczyk won UC San Diego's first national title of the 2012 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday, winning the 200 breaststroke in school-record time on the final day of the meet at the ISD Natatorium.

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Recognized by Industry Leaders for Highest Quality, Consistent Car
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center has one of the first oncology practices in the nation to be recognized by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI ) Certification Program, an affiliate of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Among Nation’s Best
Becker's Hospital Review issues annual list of 70 "great" hospitals and health systems UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is the only San Diego hospital to be featured in Becker's Hospital Review l

Combined Health Agencies Honors Four UC San Diego Health Heroes
Brain stimulation surgery for patients with Parkinson's disease; promoting liver health on a national level; leading one of the nation's top ALS clinics; and designing a law that protects the rights

Botox Injections Now Used for Severe Urinary Incontinence
When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injec

New Website to Open World of Neurosciences to Public
Which of the following statements are true? We only use 10 percent of our brain. Listening to classical music can make us smarter.

Research Expo Offers Exclusive Peek at Tomorrow’s Game-changing Technologies
New green methods for making hydrogen fuels. Microrockets that can circulate in the human body without external fuel.

A lifetime of research may be leading to a life-saving treatment for shock
Graphic illustration of the autodigestion process by Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schönbein shows (left) how digestive enzymes are normally contained within the intestine by its epithelial lining.

New Weight Loss Surgery Folds Stomach into Smaller Size
Patients seeking a weight-loss surgery that does not require an implanted device or permanent change to their anatomy, have a new clinical trial option at UC San Diego Health System.

New Drug Target Improves Memory in Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of Cincinnati, and American Life Science Pharmaceuticals of San Diego have validated the protease cathepsin B (CatB) as a target for improving memory deficits and reducing the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in an animal model representative of most AD patients.

Internet Censorship Revealed Through the Haze of Malware Pollution
These graphs show the amount of IBR, or "malware" activity - and the sharp drops related to the actions by the Egyptian government (top) and Libyan government (bottom) in response to the political demonstrations that occurred in early 2011. The data was observed by the UC San Diego Network Telescope in terms of packets per second, or basic messages.

Nanotrees harvest the sun’s energy to turn water into hydrogen fuel
Electronic microscopic image of a nanoforest, or "3D branched nanowire array." Green tint added for contrast.

UC San Diego in the Hall of the Lost Da Vinci
Why are the UC San Diego name and logo prominently displayed across one of the most famous walls in Florence?

Smart, self-healing hydrogels open far-reaching possibilities in medicine, engineering
UC San Diego bioengineers have developed smart, self-healing hydrogels with far-reaching applications including medial sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealents and self-healing plastics.

Science Detective Investigates Lizards and Evolution at Scripps Lecture
Come to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego to hear about a research adventure to the Caribbean islands and explore the mysteries of lizard evolution.

SDSC’s ’Gordon’ Supercomputer: Ready for Researchers
Initial Projects Range from Storm Predictions to Stock Market Data Accurately predicting severe storms, or what Wall Street's markets will do next, may become just a bit easier in coming months as

Cocoa May Enhance Skeletal Muscle Function
Improvements seen in patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes in initial study A small clinical trial led by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa.

UC San Diego among First in Nation to Treat Brain Cancer with Novel Viral Vector
Directly injected viral vector, Toca 511, is designed to spread through brain cancer cells and kill them while leaving healthy cells unharmed UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers and surg

Pioneering Astrophysicist Rashid Sunyaev to Speak at Kyoto Prize Symposium March 21
Rashid Sunyaev, Ph.D., one of the world's most distinguished astrophysicists, will speak at the University of California, San Diego, March 21 at 3:30 p.m., as part of the annual Kyoto Prize Symposium.

SDSC, UC Santa Cruz to Host Summer School on Astroinformatics
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, in conjunction with the University of California's High-Performance AstroComputing Center (UC-HiPACC), will host

Potential of New Memory Technologies Explored at UC San Diego Workshop
The impact and future of non-volatile, solid-state memories that help power today's electronic mobile devices will be the focus of a three-day workshop held March 4 to 6 at the University of California, San Diego.

Navy Selects Shipyard to build Scripps’ New State-of-the-art Research Vessel
Washington shipyard chosen to construct new 'ocean class' ship to support a mix of vital areas of research and education AGOR 28, owned by the Office of Naval Research and operated by Scripps, will be launched in 2015.

Scripps Oceanography Receives nearly $5.5 Million in Recent Gifts
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego received a string of major private donations in early 2012 that exceeded $5.2 million.

No. 1 UCSD Takes Down Sonoma State in Regular Season Finale, 78-58
The top-ranked UC San Diego women's basketball team wrapped up a historic 2011-12 regular season on Friday, dispatching Sonoma State by a final margin of 78-58 at The Wolves' Den on the SSU campus.

Cables Spanning Pacific Ocean Seafloor to Give Ocean Science a New Edge
Scripps researchers, NOAA and TE SubCom agree to pursue science ports on transcontinental fiber optic cable lines to help monitor earthquakes, tsunamis and other forces Marine scientists and a com

Archive Chronicling History of San Diego’s Chicano Movement to Go Digital
In 2004, the University of California, San Diego Libraries acquired one of the region's most significant archives - the papers of Chicano activist Herman Baca - documenting the struggles and achievements of the Chicano Movement in San Diego from 1964 to 2006.

UC San Diego Captures CCAA Title with 72-64 Win at Cal State Monterey Bay
The Tritons celebrated their third CCAA regular season title in four years following Friday's victory over the Otters.

Theatre and Dance Alum Returns to Direct Campus Production of ’June Moon’
Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy may get girl in the end? The plot is simple. But the real story behind "June Moon," the next offering from the UC San Diego department of theatre and dance, is about the quest for love and the price of fame, according to director Jonathan Silverstein.

University of California to Launch YouTube’s First University-run Original Channel
University of California Television (UCTV) will launch a new YouTube original channel on March 1 called UCTV Prime.

Injectable Gel Could Repair Tissue Damaged by Heart Attack
Tissue spins in a beaker at the end of the cleansing process that removes all of the cells. The process retains the tissue's structural proteins, a key component of the hydrogel. University of California, San Diego researchers have developed a new injectable hydrogel that could be an effective and safe treatment for tissue damage caused by heart attacks.

The Splice of Life: Proteins Cooperate to Regulate Gene Splicing
RNAs wound in a knot and bound by hnRNP proteins illustrates the intractable problem of RNA regulation addressed by Huelga et al. Understanding how RNA binding proteins control the genetic splicing code is fundamental to human biology and disease - much like editing film can change a movie scene.

UCSD Uses Heat Energy to Fix Odd Heart Beat
UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center is now offering patients with atrial fibrillation the breakthrough benefits of heat energy, or radio frequency waves, to irreversibly alter heart tissue that triggers an abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia.

Express Yourself: How Zygotes Sort Out Imprinted Genes
Writing in the February 17, 2012 issue of the journal Cell , researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Toronto Western Research Institute peel away some of the enduring mystery of how zygotes or fertilized eggs determine which copies of parental genes will be used or ignored.

InterDigital and Calit2 Launch InterDigital Innovation Challenge
InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC) and the University of California, San Diego division of the California Institute for Tele and Information Technology (Calit2) today announced the launch of the InterDigita

Lava Formations in Western U.S. Linked to Rip in Giant Slab of Earth
A new model by Scripps researchers details a rupture inside the Farallon slab that caused a magma flow now known as Columbia River flood basalt in the Western U.S. Like a stream of air shooting out of an airplane's broken window to relieve cabin pressure, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego say lava formations in eastern Oregon are the result of an outpouring of magma forced out of a breach in a massive slab of Earth.

3 UC San Diego Faculty Members Named Sloan Foundation Research Fellows
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation today named three faculty members at the University of California, San Diego recipients of its prestigious research fellowship, given to promising young scholars at the early stage of their research careers.

Art and Science Have a Chat in ’ANOMALIA’
In scientific research, an anomalous finding can be cast aside because it falls outside of the typical and does not fit cleanly in a normal distribution curve.

Will Anti-Arrhythmic Drug Beat Sudden Cardiac Arrest?
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in the United States. This form of heart attack kills 325,000 people every year, representing one death every two minutes.

Could "Love Hormone" Help Treat Depression?
Gazing into your lover's eyes isn't only romantic; it also releases a brain chemical called oxytocin that strengthens social bonds in a variety of species.

UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Faculty Elected to National Academy of Engineering
Three faculty members in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Electrical Engineers Build "No-Waste" Laser
A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste. The two new lasers require very low power to operate, an important breakthrough since lasers usually require greater and greater "pump power" to begin lasing as they shrink to nano sizes.

Clinical Trial Teaches Binge Eaters to Toss Away Cravings
Of 190 million obese Americans, approximately 10-15 percent engage in harmful binge eating. During single sittings, these over-eaters consume large servings of high-caloric foods. Sufferers contend with weight gain and depression including heart disease and diabetes. A new clinical trial, called Regulation of Food Cues, at UC San Diego Health System, aims to treat binge eating by helping participants to identify real hunger and to practice resistance if the stomach is full.

15th Annual Heart of San Diego Gala to Be ’An Affair to Remember’ with Sanjay Gupta
Emmy-winning producer Wendy Walker and pharmaceutical executive Randall Woods honored for support of UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center In its 15 th year of benefiting the University of

Inspiration for New Materials in Piranha-proof Armor
It's a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner? The surprising answer - given the notorious guillotine-like bite of the piranha - is Brazil's massive Arapaima fish.

Google Earth Ocean Terrain Receives Major Update
Internet information giant Google updated ocean data in its Google Earth application this week, reflecting new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, NOAA researchers and many other ocean mapping groups from around the world. The newest version of Google Earth includes more accurate imagery in several key areas of ocean using data collected by research cruises over the past three years.

Women’s Basketball Team Goes 22-0 with Win Against Cal State Dominguez Hills
Emily Osga and Daisy Feder combined to score 33 points to lead the top-ranked UC San Diego women's basketball team to a convincing 77-52 victory over visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills in California Collegiate Athletic Association play on Saturday evening at RIMAC Arena.