News Archive

July 16, 2018 — Currently, information-processing tools like computers and cell phones rely on electron charge to operate. A team of UC San Diego physicists, however, seek alternative systems of faster, more energy-efficient signal processing. They do this by using “excitons,” electrically neutral quasiparticles that exist in insulators, semiconductors and in some liquids. And their latest study of excitonic spin dynamics shows functional promise for our future devices.

July 16, 2018 — Fifty years ago, the film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” directed by Stanley Kubrick, who co-wrote it with futurist Arthur C. Clarke, changed the world. The groundbreaking cinematic revolution offered a visionary view of the future and of humankind’s place in the cosmos. The film inspired numerous changes in science, technology and art—demonstrating the lasting impact of its ingenuity and artistry.

July 13, 2018 — Amid contentious political rhetoric and tightening borders, global trade and investment are top of mind for national leaders and companies alike. To contextualize the importance of such international connectivity, World Trade Center San Diego, with support from the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, released “Trade and Competitiveness in North America,” a research summary that quantifies trade and competitiveness in the Cali Baja mega-region, spurred in part by the negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

July 12, 2018 — The University of California San Diego has earned a STARS Gold rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.

July 12, 2018 — An international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, subatomic particles that can emerge from their sources and, like cosmological ghosts, pass through the universe unscathed, traveling for billions of light years from the most extreme environments in the universe to Earth.

July 11, 2018 — The University of California San Diego has admitted 29,601 freshman and 9,353 transfer students out of a record 116,452 applicants. The number of freshman admits is down slightly (two percent) compared to last year’s record of 39,802 students; yet the university increased its offers of admission to first-generation students (up nearly five percent among freshman and transfers), with nearly one-third of the admitted class being the first in their family to attend a four-year college. In addition, the campus saw a 55 percent jump in admitted local, San Diego students, and admitted more underrepresented students compared to last year.

July 10, 2018 — The stuff the universe is made of. The origins of life. Dreams. Consciousness. Multiple universes. These are among the biggest questions in science. University of California San Diego Professor of Physics Kenneth Intriligator addresses challenging topics like these, and his theoretic efforts gained the attention of the Simons Foundation, which named him one of its 2018 Simons Investigators, announced in the July 10 edition of the “New York Times.”

July 9, 2018 — Many insects and animals have special proteins that act like car antifreeze to prevent ice from forming and spreading in their bodies amidst harsh winter temperatures. Scientists know about these antifreeze proteins (AFPs), but not so much about the mechanisms that make them work. Chemistry researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Utah, however, share new cold facts about AFP function in their July 9 article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Their research results could impact a variety of industrial and natural processes, including cloud formation, as well as future scientific studies.

July 9, 2018 — Through x-ray crystallography and kinase-inhibitor specificity profiling, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with researchers at Peking University and Zhejiang University, reveal that curcumin, a natural occurring chemical compound found in the spice turmeric, binds to the kinase enzyme dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) at the atomic level. This previously unreported biochemical interaction of curcumin leads to inhibition of DYRK2 that impairs cell proliferation and reduces cancer burden.

July 9, 2018 — Physicians at UC San Diego Health are now offering prostate artery embolization as a new treatment option for men with benign prostatic hyperplasia, or an enlarged prostate. The minimally invasive procedure is an alternative to surgery, with no hospital stay, little operative pain and lower cost.