The links to the stories summarized on this page are time sensitive, so stories might no longer be online at that URL. We also include links to the original source publication itself.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
1. Science Blog: Did comets ladle the primordial soup onto Earth?
San Francisco Chronicle Online
Berkeley astrophysicists have reported new insights into the chemistry of comets, indicating it's possible they could have brought the essential building blocks of life to Earth. Stories on this topic appeared in more than a dozen sources worldwide, including Science World Report, UPI, Nature World News, Daily Mail, KTVU (link to video), and KGO TV (link unavailable online). Full Story
2. UC Berkeley led group gets $3.4 million for transit research
San Francisco Business Times
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the Berkeley-led University of California Transportation Center a $3.4 million grant for research in three areas of transit development -- environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability. City and regional planning professor Robert Cervero directs the center. Full Story
3. Diabetes linked to availability of sugar
San Francisco Chronicle
A study co-authored by Berkeley researchers analyzed 10 years of data on sugar availability and adult diabetes rates in 175 countries and found a correlation between increased availability and an increased incidence of diabetes in the population. Full Story
4. Quest Blog: Arsenic and Old Wells
KQED Online
A study led by postdoctoral researcher Carolina Balazs last year found that low-income Latinos in California's San Joaquin Valley are more likely to have high levels of arsenic in their water, despite the Environmental Protection Agency's 2001 approval of a stricter standard for arsenic in drinking water. Full Story
5. Medical research has focused on males
San Francisco Chronicle
Psychology professor Irving Zucker weighs in on gender bias in medical research. "I don't want to paint the picture that one should study both sexes in every study," he says, but in general, "it's imperative to study both sexes. ... There's an abundance of evidence that says studying one sex isn't going to necessarily allow you to generalize to the other sex." He co-authored a 2010 study showing that the majority of basic scientific research was done on males only, and more often than not, scientists didn't even identify which sex they were working with. Even in diseases from which women were more likely to suffer than men, male subjects still were preferred over females. He and other scientists believe this flaw may be leading to missed clues to disease mechanisms or treatments. Full Story
6. Women in biotechnology: Barred from the boardroom
Nature
Studies are showing that women remain absent from the scientific advisory boards (SABs) of biotech companies. One paper, co-authored by Berkeley business professor Toby Stuart in October 2012, found that although women have represented between 12% and 30% of academically active PhD holders since the 1970s, the percentage of women on SABs has never exceeded 10.2%. Even when the researchers compared male and female faculty members with similar levels of achievement, measured by factors such as publication and citation counts, male scientists were roughly twice as likely to join SABs as female ones. Full Story
7. Science Loses Two More: Oncologist Jane C. Wright and physics Nobel-winner Donald Glaser have died.
The Scientist
Donald Glaser, a Nobel Prize-winning Berkeley physicist who invented the bubble chamber -- a device for making the world of subatomic particles visible -- died February 28, at the age of 86. After winning the Nobel Prize, he spent the rest of his career as a molecular biologist. Another obituary of Professor Glaser appeared in the Contra Costa Times. Full Story
8. U-Md. cracks top 100 on a global ranking
Washington Post
UC Berkeley again ranked 5th in the Times Higher Education's 2013 World Reputation Rankings. The evaluations are based on a survey of more than 16,000 senior academics. The article says: "The top universities by reputation were unsurprising: Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley, in that order." Stories on this topic appeared in dozens of sources worldwide, including the Economist Online. Full Story
9. Dow hits a record, but who's reaping the rewards?
Los Angeles Times
With the Dow Jones industrial average having hit a new all-time high on Tuesday, this columnist remarks that all the corporate profits are going primarily to upper management and shareholders. This accounts for the consistent increase in income and wealth inequality among Americans, he says, citing Berkeley economics professor Emmanuel Saez, who found that from 1993 through 2010, the top 1% of income earners captured 52% of all real income growth. During the recovery, which corresponds to the post-2008 bull market, Professor Saez found the figure was 93% through 2010. Full Story
10. Hispanics Get Help Giving Their Kids a Boost
Program Teaches Hispanics Learning Techniques to Narrow Achievement Gap
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
Education and public policy professor Bruce Fuller comments on the achievement gap faced by Hispanic children in the U.S. "Their social agility wins over the hearts of their first teachers but can't fully offset relatively weak preliteracy skills," he says. Professor Fuller is studying a program called Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors), which offers a nationwide course helping Latino parents improve the educational outcome of their children. Full Story
11. Forum with Michael Krasny: What's at Stake in the Kenyan Election?
KQED Radio
Amos Njuguna, a visiting scholar at Berkeley's Center for Effective Global Action, discusses the significance of Kenya's upcoming election not only for Kenya itself, but also for Africa and the world. The leading candidate may be facing a war crime trial at The Hague. Link to audio. Full Story
12. Op-Ed: Home Is Where the Harm Is
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
A commentary on the The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction mentions research by Berkeley social welfare dean Jeffrey Edleson and colleagues, which found that courts typically order children returned to fathers known to have physically abused the mother, even though such violence is an indicator of significant risk to children. Full Story
13. Op-Ed: Rove isn't the guru who will help GOP win over a new generation
Sacramento Bee
Berkeley student Connor Grubaugh writes critically of Republican strategist Karl Rove, concluding: "California's young people need a revitalized Republican Party to protect their future. They need a party, like the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, that's willing to leave behind the heavy burdens of social conservatism and embrace economic progress. They need a party willing to cut loose excessive bureaucracy while maintaining and improving strong investments in education, infrastructure and innovation. Karl Rove, step back. With any luck, there will soon be a new party in town." Full Story
14. Alaska shouldn't challenge federal gun laws
San Francisco Chronicle
Public policy master's student Alexei Painter writes about gun control legislation. "I can see merit in both sides of the debate," he says. "That said, I think some gun rights advocates have completely lost their minds. ... A Missouri legislator introduced a bill that would actually make it a felony for a legislator to propose any gun control bill, the legislative equivalent of the Unbreakable Vow in the Harry Potter books. Perhaps the always tenuous distinction between 'state legislature' and 'fantasy world' finally has crumbled." Full Story
15. Kuroda to Hit ‘Wall of Reality’ at BOJ, Ex-Board Member Says
San Francisco Chronicle
Economics professor Barry Eichengreen comments on the risks of bond-buying by Japan's central bank, indicating the return may be worth the risks. “Those costs need to be weighed against the benefit of ending deflation," he says. "Simply because something costs doesn’t mean it’s undesirable.” Full Story
16. The Experts: Finding Income Despite Low Interest Rates
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
A panel of financial experts, including Berkeley business professor Terrance Odean, is asked: "With interest rates so low, where can investors look for decent income?" Professor Odean answers: "If the 1990s set your standard for a "decent" investment income, you may be living in the wrong decade. Like other prices, interest rates and expected returns are set primarily by supply and demand. When the economy is churning, companies compete for capital and pay higher returns. When demand for capital is low, so are expected returns. It is difficult to get around the low rates offered when the economy is slow. Unfortunately, frustration with low rates of return can lead people to take risks that they would otherwise avoid. As the economy improves, we should expect to see interest rates and other expected rates of return rise." Full Story
17. The Experts: How to Plan Retirement Expenses
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
A panel of financial experts, including Berkeley business professor Terrance Odean, is asked: "In roughing out a retirement budget, what should an individual figure for expenses? Do people's expenses fall a little or a lot—or maybe even go up—when they leave the workforce?" Professor Odean answers: "I have no data on this. I suspect that some retirees spend more on travel and entertainment, especially in their early retirement years. However, retirees could choose to spend less by, for example, taking advantage of having more time to cook meals rather than eat out. Health-care costs not covered by Medicare or other insurance are almost certain to rise in retirement." Full Story
18. Online and anonymous: A key facet of Web culture is a double-edged sword
Washington Post
A commentary on the boons and pitfalls of anonymity online says: "It’s all enough to make one wistful for simpler times. Once, without any high-tech gymnastics, anonymity might help you sell a book.... Or, maybe, it could just help you take some rhetorical shots at the Soviet Union, like the anonymous author identified simply as Z. He caused a stir and worldwide speculation with an article in 1990 in the journal Daedalus that expressed skepticism about the reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev. Z turned out to be a University of California-Berkeley professor named Martin E. Malia, although it didn’t take a forensic computer investigator to out him — he eventually conceded authorship, essentially outing himself." Full Story
19. A precursor to spring coloring Oakland streets
Oakland Tribune
Elaine Sedlack, a horticulturalist who cares for the Asian collection at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, remarks on the Flowering Plum trees currently blooming around Oakland. She says they are winter trees, and they are considered the "flower of the first month," because they bloom so close to the Chinese Lunar New Year. "Plum trees are one of the most enduring and pervasive images in East Asian Art," she says. "Even now people are using them in poetry and art." Full Story