Media Highlights

December 2004

This summary highlights media placements UCSC faculty and staff have garnered during the month of December 2004.

National and international

Research by professor of biomolecular engineering David Haussler and others on the use of computers to reconstruct the genome of a common ancestor of mammals received wide coverage, including the New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Guardian (U.K.), Scripps Howard News Service, UPI, New Scientist magazine, and online news sites MSNBC.com, BBC News, ScienceNow, Scientific American, Bio-IT World, Innovations Report, Times of India, Betterhumans (Canada), Science Daily, ScienceBlog.com, and Medical News Today. . . . Research on the antibiotic rifampicin as a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease by Anthony Fink, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, was covered by the Hartford Courant, UPI, BBC News.com, Forbes.com, WebMD, DeHavilland News, Science Daily, WebIndia, and CNS Drug News Pharmaceuticals. . . . Economist Michael Dooley was quoted in a Business Week article about the U.S. trade gap, explaining the benefits to China of the large gap. Dooley was also quoted discussing Asian exchange rates in a Bloomberg News column. In another story about the impacts of globalization on the U.S. economy, Business Week reported research by economist Lori Kletzer, who has examined data of workers who've been laid off to extrapolate the fate of workers displaced by trade. . . . ABCNews.com ran a story about research on Weddell Seals in Antarctica by Terrie Williams, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. Video footage from Williams's research was aired with related stories on ABC's Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and 20/20. . . . Literature professor John Jordan was featured in a New York Times article about Google Scholar, a new service from the giant search engine designed to find scholarly abstracts, books, peer-reviewed papers, and technical papers intended for academics and scientists. . . . The Scientist magazine ran an article about biologist Bruce Lyon's research on black-headed ducks. . . . Research by physicist Zack Schlesinger on an unusual material that contracts when heated was covered by Physical Review Focus, Materials Today, and Innovations Report. . . . Missouri's Moberly Monitor-Index described an interactive seminar presented by American studies professor Tricia Rose that explored the relationship of race and youth culture. . . . A Time magazine article about cosmology included quotes from physicist Anthony Aguirre. . . . A National Geographic News article about evolution in lizards included quotes from Barry Sinervo, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. . . . The Associated Press quoted psychology's Craig Haney in a story about prospective jurors' understanding of the presumption of innocence, which he said is often deficient. . . . Assistant professor of theater arts David Cuthbert contributed an article to Entertainment Design about landing a job as a lighting designer for a Broadway show starring Billy Crystal. . . . Erik Asphaug, associate professor of Earth sciences, was quoted in a story about asteroids on Space.com. . . . Kathy Keenan, who teaches business and marketing writing at UCSC Extension, was quoted in a New York Times story about the sorry state of written communication in the workplace.

State and regional

The Los Angeles Times tapped sociologist Mike Males for comment about the drop in teen drivers, which he attributes to the expense of cars and insurance. The San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times also phoned Males for a story about adults being held liable for youths' crimes. . . . Manuel Pastor of Latin American and Latino studies was quoted in the San Bernardino Sun about the impact of neighborhood blight on crime rates.

Local

The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a story about the death of Rocky the sea lion, with quotes from research biologist Colleen Kastak and Ronald Schusterman, retired adjunct professor of ocean sciences. . . . The Mid-County Post ran a story about research on black-headed ducks by biologist Bruce Lyon. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel and Mid-County Post ran stories quoting head of special collections Christine Bunting about a $500,000 gift from the late Miller and Bunny Outcalt to benefit the photographic archives in the library. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel published a blurb about the new book by sociologist Patricia Allen.

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