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Tuesday, 22 September 2009
1. 2 scientists, 1 artist named MacArthur fellows
San Francisco Chronicle
September 22, 2009
A San Francisco artist who creates using technology and interactivity, a Berkeley computer scientist who designs visual ways to help humans better sort through the confusion of maps and toy assembly instructions, and a Berkeley molecular biologist exploring new ways to understand and combat cancer were named MacArthur fellows Monday night.
Artist Camille Utterback, computer scientist MANEESH AGRAWALA and molecular biologist LIN HE were notified of the prestigious honor last week but ordered to keep their celebrations to themselves until today.
They're among 24 recipients chosen nationwide for the annual award, which comes with a $500,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago. Fellows can use the money any way they want over the next five years....
AGRAWALA, 37, IS A COMPUTER VISUAL TECHNOLOGIST AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCES AT UC BERKELEY.
HE, 35, IS A MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST AND ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY AT UC BERKELEY....
Agrawala develops visual methods to help people to more easily sort through information. As a graduate student, he created an automated program that creates easy-to-decipher route maps that make it clear where to turn and which road to take. Later, he developed a system that creates simple assembly instructions - with three-dimensional views - for such things as furniture and toys. He said he may use the grant to explore how radio journalists use words and sound to produce rich, descriptive and compelling stories.
The molecular biologist, He, said she expects to use the money to support her work in exploring the role of micro-RNAs in the development of cancer - a new and promising field that's attracting much attention, and hope for finding new treatments.
"This is going to allow us to explore some really exciting and novel ideas," she said....
[Stories on this topic appeared in hundreds of sources nationwide, including the New York Times & International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Business Times, and the Associated Press] Full Story
2. White House taps LBNL scientist to head DOE advanced energy unit
San Francisco Business Times
September 21, 2009
The Obama Administration said it will tap a local scientist to be the first director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, better known as ARPA-E.
ARUN MAJUMDAR IS THE ALMY AND AGNES MAYNARD CHAIR PROFESSOR IN THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, and head of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. ...
ARPA-E is a program funded through the federal stimulus to support high-risk, high-payoff technologies that have the potential to reduce foreign oil dependence, reduce energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency....
The Senate still must confirm Majumdar’s nomination. Full Story
3. Middle-aged women who exercise turn back clock by 16 years
Exercising for one hour a day for 12 weeks is enough to turn the clock back nearly two decades for middle-aged women, scientists have found.
Telegraph [UK]
September 22, 2009
Research shows that over-50s who make regular visits to the gym, go for a long bike ride or enjoy a swim can regain the fitness they had in their thirties.
Tests on older women revealed that 12 weeks of exercise was enough to produce the rejuvenation.
Two studies by SCIENTISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA [BERKELEY] found that “postmenopausal women can achieve the same health benefits from regular, vigorous exercise as younger women”.
PROFESSOR GEORGE BROOKS, an exercise physiologist, said: “There is some good news here for older women in the population, in that they respond much like younger women do to training. ...
“The results are very encouraging for exercise without weight loss as an effective means for increasing vigour and controlling risk factors for chronic diseases in older women.”...
DR ZINTA ZARINS, who carried out the experiments on women with an average age of 55, found that the physical and hormonal changes which came with age did not slow down their capacity to get fit....
[UPI also issued a story on this topic] Full Story
4. Study says even 'safe' drinking water poses risks to elderly
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
September 21, 2009
Using extra water filters can reduce the number of stomach illnesses experienced by the elderly in Sonoma County, even though the drinking water meets all standards, according to a UC BERKELEY STUDY.
The difference, 12 percent, could be significant because the elderly tend to be less tolerant to pathogens and get gastrointestinal illnesses more severely, said JOHN COLFORD JR., THE PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER FOR UC’S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH.
“It is statistically significant, it is larger than you expect to see by random chance,” Colford said. “It is important.”
Colford, however, said the study is not an indication that Sonoma County Water Agency water, which meets all state and federal standards, is unsafe.
Instead, he hopes the study will become part of an Environmental Protection Agency debate on whether there should be higher water standards for children, the elderly and those with immunology problems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy... Full Story
5. Fewer feet, smaller footprint
A world with fewer people would emit less greenhouse gases
Economist [UK]
September 21, 2009
Family planning is five times cheaper than conventional green technologies in combating climate change. That is the claim made by Thomas Wire, a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics, and highlighted by British medics writing in the Lancet on September 19th....
According to Roger Short of the University of Melbourne, the world’s population is 6.8 billion and is expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050. Some 95% of this growth is occurring in developing countries. In a paper published on September 21st in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, he points out that fewer people would produce less climate-changing greenhouse gas.
A companion study published in the same issue by MALCOLM POTTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, reckons that there are 80m unintended pregnancies every year. The vast majority of these result in babies. If women who wanted contraception were provided with it, 72% of these unintended pregancies would have been prevented, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund called “Adding it Up: the Benefits of Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare”....
[AFP also issued a story on this topic] Full Story
6. UC Berkeley officer who helped crack Jaycee Dugard case honored in ceremony
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
September 22, 2009
San Ramon — LISA CAMPBELL may have started her life in the Midwest, but she's the pride of the East Bay now.
On Monday evening, the UC BERKELEY POLICE SPECIALIST who played a vital role in the capture of Jaycee Dugard's suspected kidnapper was praised for her efforts in a small ceremony with state and local elected officials.
"This is a true occasion of heroism. It just took the intuition of one officer to recognize that something didn't look right — that's the essence of good police work, in my opinion," said Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton....
CAMPBELL, 40, WHO MANAGES SPECIAL EVENTS ON CAMPUS, has received international recognition for following up on her self-described "mother's intuition" that something "didn't look right" when she encountered kidnap suspect Phillip Garrido and his two young daughters on the UC Berkeley campus last month....
FELLOW UC BERKELEY POLICE OFFICER ALLY JACOBS, 33, ran a background check on Garrido and learned he was on federal parole for kidnapping and rape....
Campbell, who received a standing ovation, said only a few words to the crowd.
"In my own words, it was a collaboration of great police work that (enabled us) to accomplish something which we had no idea would be so monumental. Thank you — I feel at home."
[This story also appeared in the Oakland Tribune. Another aired on KGO TV (link to video)] Full Story
7. Regional: UC Students, Staff Plan Strikes, Walkouts on Thursday
KPIX Online
September 22, 2009
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF will be holding strikes and walkouts Thursday at all UC CAMPUSES, INCLUDING BERKELEY, San Francisco and Santa Cruz, to protest how the university's Board of Regents has dealt with reductions in state funding.
The protests are being organized by the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communication Workers of America union Local 9119 and will last throughout the day Thursday as a reaction to "a move to privatize the university and decimate public education," TANYA SMITH, PRESIDENT OF THE UPTE-CWA BERKELEY CHAPTER, said.
In July, the Board of Regents approved a plan to institute employee furloughs along with other cuts and fee hikes. UC President Mark Yudof also announced this month a plan to further increase student fees by another $2,514 over the next year.
Yudof said at last week's board meeting at UCSF Mission Bay that "the students ought to be angry. I'm angry about it too."
However, Yudof blamed the state government, which has cut funding to the UC and California State University systems....
Picket lines are starting as soon as 5:30 a.m. at various construction sites on the UC Berkeley campus. A rally is also planned at noon at Upper Sproul Plaza.... Full Story
8. Blog: The Chronicle's Dangerous Proposal for the UC System
Beyond Chron
September 22, 2009
A September 18th editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle chastised University of California students and faculty who staged loud and angry protests over a proposed 44 percent student fee increase and faculty/staff furloughs as ways to offset state budget cuts. The editorial said “the shouting didn't change anything. We need new thinking, not outbursts.” The editorial proposed several ways of generating more revenue for the UC system. The first suggestion urged UC to implement a three tier tuition system in which students would pay the most money to attend UC’s most prestigious and most popular campuses (BERKELEY, UCLA), less to attend the next most popular campuses, (Davis, San Diego Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz) and the least expensive fees would be paid by students attending the Merced, Riverside and Irvine campuses. Such a plan could mean only the rich and well connected can attend the state’s best public universities.
The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 says that any California student meeting the academic qualifications should be admitted to any of the nine UC undergraduate schools. The UC campuses were created to meet the regional needs of California students, with Berkeley serving Northern California and UCLA as the Southern California campus. As the state grew, UC campuses were created in the early 1900s in the then rural regions of Davis and Riverside to provide research facilities for the state’s agriculture industry. UC established campuses in Santa Barbara, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Irvine between 1945 and 1965 in response to the state’s tremendous population growth. UC’s latest campus in Merced opened four years ago to provide higher education to the Central Valley, the fastest growing region of California. While various UC campuses specialize in certain areas (UCSF is strictly a medical sciences campus) it’s current UC policy for every campus to recruit statewide. An undergrad student accepted to one UC campus has equal standing with any other UC undergrad, and a student attending Berkeley or UCLA shouldn’t have to pay any more or less than a student at any other UC campus....
The University of California was founded to educate the best and brightest Californians and over the years the UC system has earned a reputation as one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education, attracting students, faculty and researchers from around the country and around the world while remaining an institution for California residents. It’s important that UC continue to give California residents first priority in admission, including Black and Hispanic California students who have been historically underrepresented at UC schools. If UC student fees have to be increased nearly 50 percent and UC faculty/staff cuts implemented, so be it, but these drastic measures should only occur only after UC has exhausted all other means of generating revenue. Full Story
9. UC science hall closes for construction
Oakland Tribune
September 21, 2009
THE LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE AT UC BERKELEY has closed and will reopen Oct. 3 after workers complete construction of a new $300,000 planetarium.
The planetarium closed for demolition and construction Aug. 10. The entire hall, which houses the planetarium and other science exhibits, also closed Sept. 7 while workers take out the Animal Grossology exhibit and install the new Facing Mars exhibit.
The new planetarium will feature a 30-foot-wide dome, have seating for as many as 48 and will be wheelchair accessible, said MARKETING MANAGER JANET NOE.
The planetarium also will have new shows, including one called "Red Planet Mars."...
A new Sunday educational program, Ingenuity in Action, also debuts with the reopening of the hall. On selected Sundays there will be workshops for children and an Ingenuity Lab will help teach kids "how to test their creative and engineering ability on a fun, hands-on project." Full Story
10. Census details valley health insurance data
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
September 22, 2009
Releasing its most extensive picture ever of health insurance in America, the U.S. Census Bureau showed the wide gulf in coverage between California's affluent counties and its poorest, a checkerboard of health care haves and have-nots....
Health care experts cautioned that, particularly in smaller counties, the estimates of the share of the population that lacks insurance are subject to statistical error; however, the data also tracks closely with studies done by groups such as the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
HELEN ANN HALPIN, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IN BERKELEY said the new health insurance estimates at the county level "are not really reliable" because of hefty margins of error. However, for larger counties such as Santa Clara, where the Census Bureau estimated there were about 190,000 people without insurance in 2008, or 10.9 percent of the population, the margin of error is less than one percentage point.
In any case, "the vast majority of working age people, if they have insurance, they get it through their job," Halpin said. "With a recession, you're going to see rates of the uninsured go up."
[This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times] Full Story
11. Brain Scans Link ADHD to Biological Flaw Tied to Motivation
Washington Post
September 22, 2009
For decades, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has sparked debate. Is it a biological illness, the dangerous legacy of genes or environmental toxins, or a mere alibi for bratty kids, incompetent parents and a fraying social fabric?...
Scientists maintain that they've been narrowing in on the origins and mechanics of disabling distraction, while gathering increasing evidence that ADHD is as real as such less controversial disorders as Down syndrome and schizophrenia. Their most recent progress is described in a Sept. 9 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, based on a new study that indicates a striking difference in the brain's motivational machinery in people with ADHD symptoms....
STEPHEN HINSHAW, CHAIR OF THE PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, praised the study as being "above and beyond the normal rank and file" of incremental progress in the quest to solidify the dynamics of ADHD. "It's a big deal to get this kind of nonmedicated sample," he added....
The mainstream scientific consensus is that, as with other mental illnesses, there's no blood test or brain scan that proves an individual has ADHD. The disorder instead is diagnosed via a checklist of troublesome behaviors, including impulsivity, daydreaming and forgetfulness. What makes the diagnosis particularly difficult, Hinshaw said, is that those behaviors all fall within the normal range of human behavior. People with ADHD are simply farther out on the spectrum, and, often, enough so as to wind up in constant trouble. In addition, symptoms typical of ADHD can also stem from other illnesses or injuries.... Full Story
12. Livermore Lab speeds Visalia Superfund cleanup
San Francisco Business Times
September 21, 2009
Steam-cleaning technology created by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was used to clean a Superfund site in Visalia, in California’s Central Valley — and the job was finished a century earlier than first expected.
Utility company Southern California Edison used the site to soak wooden utility poles in creosote and other protective chemicals for some 80 years. Those chemicals contaminated the soil and underground water in the area. By the 1970s, the chemicals had seeped down as much as 100 feet in places.
The site, called the Visalia Pole Yard, was one of the first Superfund sites, part of a federal government cleanup program for very toxic places. Superfund sites are on the National Priorities List of the Environmental Protection Agency because they may seriously threaten public health....
Robin Newmark and Roger Aines, geophysicists at Livermore lab, developed the steam-cleaning process with help from other RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. It can remove contaminants up to 50 times faster than traditional “pump-and-treat” methods. Southern California Edison was using those pump-and-treat methods to remove just 10 pounds of toxins per week.... Full Story
13. Which Way, L.A.?
Will the State Tax System Be Reformed?
KCRW Radio
September 21, 2009
The sales tax in California may be the nation's highest, but 53% of state revenues come from the income tax. That creates problems, because incomes rise and fall with the stock market and the economy, creating the ups and downs that defy planning and lead to continuing budget crises. Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature created the Commission on the 21st Century Economy to develop a new system. The Commission's final report won't be presented until later this week, but its principal features are known. It would eliminate the sales tax and the corporate income tax and flatten the personal income tax by eliminating the top brackets. Lost revenue would be replaced by something called the Business Net Receipts Tax or BNRT.
Guests:
* CHRISTOPHER EDLEY, JR.: [DEAN OF THE UC BERKELEY LAW SCHOOL and] Commissioner, Commission on the 21st Century Economy...
[Link to audio] Full Story
14. Off Balance: President Obama says that it's time to balance the global economy and boost stability by getting China to spend more and compelling the U.S. to spend less
Portfolio
September 22, 2009
Americans spend too much money on consumer goodies and save too little for the future. Chinese consumers save a lot for retirement but don't spend enough along the way.
There is a growing international consensus that something needs to be done about these global economic imbalances. Despite the recession, the U.S. continues to run a trade deficit, and Asian nations such as China have a hefty trade surplus....
Some economists believe the growing trade and financial imbalances—what’s known as the current account—were a contributing factor to the worldwide recession that began in the U.S. and then spread globally.
“If you have a chronic account surplus or a chronic account deficit, you need to adjust your policies so that your savings and investment rates are in better balance,” says BARRY EICHENGREEN, A PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY. “We failed to do that in the first half of the decade, when our savings rate was 6 percent below our investment rate. The Chinese failed to do that and had the opposite problem.”... Full Story
15. Squeeze From The Right For House Republicans
CQ Politics
September 22, 2009
The passions of conservative activists could be reshaping the Republican Party and complicating some 2010 re-election campaigns.
Indiana’s Mark Souder is among four House Republicans likely to face primary opponents drawing strength from the “tea party” movement and its fervent opposition to anything that might trigger higher taxes or bigger government....
Republican pollster Whit Ayres said the “tea party movement” has given Republicans in Congress new reasons to stick to their guns as the opposition party.
“It’s helping to create an atmosphere where all the incentives for Republican members of Congress are to oppose Obama,” agreed ERIC SCHICKLER, A POLITICAL SCIENTIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY.... Full Story
16. Op-Ed: All immigrants deserve health care
Centre Daily Times
September 22, 2009
Immigrants, even those without documentation, deserve health care.
Let’s remember the context of the ugly outburst by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who shouted, “You lie!” during President Obama’s eloquent speech to a joint session of Congress. Wilson was reacting to Obama saying, “There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would ensure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
In the aftermath of Wilson’s rudeness, most Democrats and pundits denounced him for his lack of civility and his lack of respect for the office of the president. But few people grappled with the central question: Why shouldn’t undocumented people get health care?...
From building the railroads to the freeways, from making the bricks to the buildings, from growing our food to serving it, from raising the children of the wealthy to cleaning their homes, immigrants continue to make a valuable contribution to this country....
This is definitely not the time for Obama and the Democrats to try to get the Republicans on board by denying immigrants health care. It is time for Democrats and Republicans, along with the citizenry of this country, to acknowledge and appreciate the more than 12 million undocumented workers who help us all in so many ways.
“Los de abajo” (those on the bottom) should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor with a sense of dignity and respect. They earn it every day when they work hard here in the U.S. Full Story
17. Family holds out hope for hikers detained in Iran
Washington Post
September 22, 2009
Philadelphia -- The brother of one of three American hikers detained in Iran says the family hopes President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) brings the trio with him when he visits the United Nations.
Ahmadinejad is addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday in New York.
Alex Fattal says he and his mother, of Elkins Park, Pa., are encouraged by a recent interview Ahmadinejad gave to NBC. They haven't received official word from the American or Iranian governments....
Family members say JOSHUA FATTAL, SHANE BAUER and SARAH SHOURD were detained after they strayed into Iran while hiking in Iraq in July. THEY ATTENDED THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. Full Story
18. H.G. Wells: 10 Predictions That Have--And Haven't--Come True
National Geographic News
September 21, 2009
One of the founders of modern science fiction, H.G. Wells would have celebrated his 143rd birthday today.
The time machine was one of many future technologies that H.G. Wells popularized in his 20 novels and dozens of short stories. Although such a device isn't one of Wells's fancies that has since come to fruition, a time machine is within the realm of possibility, said RICHARD MULLER, A PHYSICIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY.
"There are many physicists who will tell you it is proven impossible, but that is not the case," Muller said. "We just haven't figured out how to do it."
(Tune in to the National Geographic Channel's Time Machine on Thursday, September 24 at 11 a.m.) Full Story