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February 15, 1999
Marine biologists Peter Raimondi and Mark Carr were featured in several articles about their involvement in a major study of marine ecosystems along the West Coast. The study, supported by a $17.7 million grant from the Packard Foundation, brings together researchers from UCSC, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, and Oregon State University. The Santa Cruz County Sentinel, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Oregonian were among the newspapers that covered the story.
Economist Menzie Chinn was interviewed by the China branch of Voice of America radio regarding implications of the Brazilian devaluation for the Chinese economy and whether it increased the likelihood that the yuan would be devalued.
Daniel Press of environmental studies penned a timely op-ed about land preservation in California for the Sacramento Bee. The piece was published right after Al Gore announced the Clinton administration's plans for dealing with urban sprawl. Press identified seven steps to take in the effort to preserve open space, including slowing the annexation of prime agricultural land and easing property tax restrictions to make it easier for communities to buy land.
An article in New Scientist magazine about the strange dark matter that dominates the universe featured the work of astronomer Dennis Zaritsky. Zaritsky's precise measurement of the total mass of the Milky Way galaxy showed that the stars of the Milky Way are embedded in a mysterious dark halo of invisible matter with a mass equal to that of a thousand billion Suns, more than ten times the mass of all the visible matter in the galaxy.
The work of psychology's Craig Haney was covered by the Houston Chronicle in a story about the state's solitary prison cells, which Haney has deemed inhumane. . . . Also in psychology, Bill Domhoff was one of three guests who appeared on ABC's 20/20 last week for a discussion of dreams and current research on our nocturnal meanderings.
Anthony Pratkanis weighed in for KSBW-TV on the absurdity of Jerry Falwell's latest headline-grabbing assertion: that the Teletubbies television show promotes a gay lifestyle because the character, Tinky Winky, is purple, wears a triangle on his head, and carries a handbag that Falwell described as a (gasp!) purse.
It's been more than 25 years since Zita Cabello-Barrueto's brother was murdered by Pinochet's lieutenants following the coup in Chile, but Cabello-Barrueto, a lecturer in Latin American and Latino studies, has been filing legal cases against Pinochet since 1986. Her work was highlighted in the San Francisco Chronicle by columnist Lewis Dolinsky, who linked Cabello-Barrueto's story to efforts in London to extradite Pinochet.
Agroecology's Patricia Allen was featured in an article in the Amador Ledger-Dispatch about sustainable agriculture. . . . Orin Martin of the Farm & Garden was featured in a Santa Cruz County Sentinel write-up on the mystique of pruning.