UCSC in the News is a weekly column summarizing prominent media placements UCSC faculty, staff, and students have received.
Planetary scientist Francis Nimmo was featured in international coverage of new evidence for a giant impact that shaped the surface of Mars: Nimmo was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered and quoted in stories in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Seattle Times, Arizona Republic, Vancouver Sun, and International Herald Tribune, as well as U.K. papers the Times, Guardian, Herald, Daily Mail, and Telegraph, and online news from the BBC, CBC, Reuters, Scientific American, National Geographic, Science News, Sky & Telescope, and Discovery Channel.
A study of Saturn's moon Enceladus by Nimmo and postdoctoral researcher James Roberts was covered by Astrobiology Magazine, Space Daily, and Space.com.
Professor of humanities Jerome Neu was spotlighted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, which featured an interview with him about his latest book, Sticks and Stones: The Philosophy of Insults. Neu also recently received a flattering review of his book by Cambridge University professor of philosophy Simon Blackburn in the London-based Times Higher Education magazine.
Biologists Peter Raimondi and Mark Carr were quoted in a Christian Science Monitor story about protected areas for marine life.
Craig Reinarman was quoted in a Boston Globe article about the rising potency of marijuana, which is prompting a new round of debate about the safety of the drug. Reinarman likened it to the difference between hard alcohol and beer and wine, saying "usually people are seeking a certain level of intoxication" and adjust their consumption accordingly.
Astronomer Douglas Lin was quoted in a New York Times article about the search for planets outside the solar system that could support life, and in a Science News article about planet formation theories.
Physicists William Atwood, Robert Johnson, and Joel Primack were featured in coverage of the launch of the GLAST space telescope in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Columbus Dispatch, KSCO Radio, and KSBW TV.
An article in Discover magazine about ocean acidification includes quotes from James Zachos, professor of Earth and planetary sciences.
Research on marine bycatch led by biologist Myra Finkelstein was covered in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Conservation Magazine and Science Daily.
The Sacramento Bee interviewed economist Rob Fairlie about Latino access to computers.
The cautionary voice of ocean scientist Mary Silver was featured in a New Scientist article about the idea of fertilizing the ocean with iron to combat global warming.
Physicist Alan Litke was quoted in a Voice of San Diego article about a project to study the electrical signals that send visual input from the retina to the brain.
A story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and San Jose Mercury News about the effects of the wildfires on native vegetation quoted the Arboretum's Brett Hall.
Biologists with the UCSC Predatory Bird Research Group were in the news again: Brian Latta in a San Diego Union-Tribune story about a proposal to remove the peregrine falcon from California's endangered species list, and Glenn Stewart in ongoing San Jose Mercury News coverage of the falcons that fledged from a nest on San Jose City Hall, one of which died; Stewart also wrote an opinion piece about that for the Mercury News.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel featured a story about UCSC linguistic students presenting a demo of spoken dialog systems at NASA Ames Research Center, quoting adjunct associate linguistics professor Beth Ann Hockey and student Heather Mahan.
A Santa Cruz Sentinel columnist noted that 14 students from UCSC's Digital Arts and New Media master's program presented their work through an exhibit at the second 01SJ Global Festival of Art on the Edge held in San Jose.
Economist Lori Kletzer was interviewed by the Santa Cruz Sentinel for a story about high levels of overtime being worked by deputies in the sheriff's office.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that dean of humanities Georges Van Den Abbeele has been awarded the 2008 Blaise Pascal Medal for Social Sciences by the European Academy of Sciences.
Media Highlights provides monthly summaries of "UCSC in the News" columns.
