News Archive

May 21, 2015 — Better solar panels and wind turbines are important to helping ensure a low-carbon future. But they are not enough. The energy from these intermittent sources must be stored, managed, converted and accessed when it’s needed most. And the cost of the battery systems that do this work needs to drop.

May 21, 2015 — Each spring, UC San Diego hosts a series of receptions to welcome a special group of incoming students—Chancellor’s Associates Scholars. Most of these students are the first in their families to embark upon a university education. Many come from underserved areas of San Diego and Imperial counties. All of them are motivated to achieve their goals and dreams.

May 21, 2015 — “My father was an OB/GYN,” said Ernest Rady, one of San Diego’s most prominent philanthropists and business leaders. “When a woman would come in and say, ‘Thank you doctor, you saved my life,’ my father said it was like making a million dollars. He instilled in me the thought that helping others is fruitful.”

May 20, 2015 — Fostering increased collaboration and innovation between Japan and San Diego, the University of California, San Diego has established the Japan Forum for Innovation and Technology (JFIT). The new program, which will be housed in UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (formerly School of International Relations and Pacific Studies), will serve as a hub for research on contemporary business, science and technology in Japan, as well as associated policies. The launch of the Japan Forum at UC San Diego was made possible by a $300,000 pledged gift from Japanese IT company, Broadband Tower, Inc.

May 20, 2015 — Hubert Staudigel, a geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, and his collaborators have completed two studies about fossils in volcanic rocks, and the biological activity in some of the earth’s harshest environments.

May 20, 2015 — On June 15, the Qualcomm Institute will kick off its new season of nine works involving residencies and performances funded by the institute’s Initiative for Digital Exploration of Arts and Sciences (IDEAS). The interdisciplinary work, titled CrowdCAVE, will use two of the Qualcomm Institute’s key visualization spaces: the StarCAVE virtual-reality environment, where small groups of visitors are surrounded by a virtual crowd to which they are added; and the large-scale Vroom display wall next door in the Calit2 Theater, which will showcase the full breadth of the virtual group portraiture. “By using the Vroom display wall,” says UC San Diego visual arts lecturer Emily Grenader (MFA ’13), “we will be able to adequately show the ties between individuals at different locations performing in different ways.”

May 18, 2015 — A binational team from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, Mexico Section has launched a new research project aimed at promoting prevention of HIV and other blood-borne infections.

May 18, 2015 — Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego developed a gel filled with toxin-absorbing nanosponges that could lead to an effective treatment for skin and wound infections caused by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This nanosponge-hydrogel minimized the growth of skin lesions on mice infected with MRSA – without the use of antibiotics. The researchers recently published their findings online in Advanced Materials.

May 18, 2015 — A factor that determines the properties of clouds that help moderate the planet’s temperature may be decided in the oceans.

May 17, 2015 — For parents who send their kids to dance classes to get some exercise, a new study from researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests most youth dance classes provide only limited amounts of physical activity.