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Thursday, 7 March 2013
1. UH scientists uncover evidence comets helped spark life on Earth
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Astrophysicists at Berkeley and the University of Hawaii at Manoa 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. Another story on this topic appeared in the Space Reporter. Full Story
2. Health Briefs
San Francisco Chronicle
A new study by Berkeley public health researchers has found that easier access to alcohol corresponds to an increased likelihood of binge drinking. Full Story
3. Covered California's plan to partner with Wal-Mart is criticized
Los Angeles Times
A state plan to have employees at Wal-Mart and other retailers help educate consumers about their healthcare options and assisting them in buying federally subsidized private insurance, is facing objection. Labor groups are citing a 2004 UC Berkeley report, which found that Wal-Mart workers' dependence on public programs in California, such as Medi-Cal and food stamps, costs taxpayers roughly $86 million per year. Nationwide, the cost of public assistance to Wal-Mart workers could be as much as $2 billion annually. Full Story
4. Wonkblog: Better Place was supposed to revolutionize electric cars. What went wrong?
Washington Post Online
In 2008, hopes ran high that a small company called Better Place would be able to save the electric car industry by creating a system much like that of cell phones, in which car companies own the batteries and customers pay on a per-mile basis. Theoretically, it could still work. Berkeley economics student Thomas Becker found in 2009 that such a system could be transformative. “The total cost of ownership of these vehicles is expected to be between $0.10 and $0.13 lower on a per-mile basis than gasoline-powered cars,” he wrote, “depending on the future price of oil.” Full Story
5. New robots in the workplace: Job creators or job terminators?
Washington Post
A robot recently developed at Berkeley can fold laundry. Full Story
6. The Experts: Lessons from the 2008 Meltdown
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
A panel of finance experts, including Berkeley business professor Terrance Odean, is asked: "What's the most important lesson for investors from the 2008 stock market meltdown?" Professor Odean responds: "Don't hold a portfolio that you are likely to sell in a panic. In a time of sober reflection, ask yourself how much uncertainty and loss you could tolerate without selling in a panic. Buy a portfolio that you can hold through good markets and bad. While there is no guarantee that every bear market will rebound within a few years—Japan's has not—it is clear that people who sold their stock portfolios in spring of 2009 and bought money-market funds will have a difficult time recovering from that decision." Full Story
7. Same-sex marriage needs voters' stamp
San Francisco Chronicle
Columnist Debra Saunders writes about same-sex marriage, quoting "savvy conservative" Berkeley law professor John Yoo, who argues its legality should be the voters' decision, not the Supreme Court's. "It would be a mistake for the Supreme Court to use this case to basically cut off the political process and impose its own view on a moral and political question that is very divisive," he says. Full Story
8. George Lucas bids to build visual storytelling museum in San Francisco’s Presidio park
Washington Post
George Lucas has proposed a museum dedicated to storytelling at the former commissary site in San Francisco's Presidio. A competing proposal is for a museum honoring former UC Berkeley chancellor Michael Heyman. Full Story
9. Exhibit of rarely seen Ansel Adams photos of UC-Berkeley closes this week
KALW
"Fiat Lux," a Bancroft Library exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs documenting the Berkeley campus in 1967 will close Friday, March 8. Link to audio. Full Story