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Clouds flow in ahead of offshore winds

November 12th, 2009, 8:58 pm by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
There's moisture south of Orange County, but little of it will move into this region.

There's moisture south of Orange County, but little of it will move into this region.

A thick marine layer is developing over Orange County and will reach 5,500 feet deep in many areas by early Friday, possibly generating drizzle over a wide area and keeping temperatures in the 60s again tomorrow. But the National Weather Service says “high pressure aloft slowly shifts over the state on Saturday through Sunday. An offshore flow develops late Saturday night through Sunday morning with gusty northeast (Santa Ana) winds over the mountains, inland valleys and into Orange County. Offshore flow weakens Monday through Tuesday.”

The strength of the offshores has yet to be determined, but this is not considered to be a major Santa Ana event.

The forecast means a couple of things: The weather service was right when it said a week ago that Orange County would not receive significant rain through Nov. 15. And the region is temporarily locked in a pattern where it’s cool for a couple of days, then warm, followed by another round of seasonal, or below seasonal temperatures. It also means that, for the moment, the county won’t get the rain it badly needs. But the pattern can change quickly. It’s just that there’s no sign, at the moment, that it’s going to happen right away.

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Posted in: Ain't that interesting? • UCI science news • • | 2 Comments »

White House to honor UCI physicist

November 12th, 2009, 3:56 pm by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
UCI biophysicist Zunanna Siwy. Image courtesy of UCI.

UCI biophysicist Zunanna Siwy. Image courtesy of UCI.

A UC Irvine biophysicist who explores the minute pores that allow nutrients to flow through the walls of such things as human cells will be honored by the White House in January for being one of the most promising young scholars in the country.

Zuzanna Siwy is one of roughly 100 scientists and engineers nationwide who are receiving a Presidential Early Career Award, an honor that comes with funding to support the person’s work. Siwy is scheduled to visit the White House in mid-January, and the administration has tentative plans for the scholars to meet President Obama.

The work of the recipients also is highlight by John Holdren, the president’s science advisor.

Siwy, 37, said by email, ” It is such a great honor to be a recipient of the Presidential Early
Career Award, and I look forward to meeting the President at the White House. This distinction is an enormous inspiration for me to provide community service with my continued research.”

Siwy conducts basic research, working in an area that will help explain how the body functions. Other scientists might find practical applications for her work on pores, especially as it applies to medicine, nutrition and aging “as well as technological processes such as desalination, thus obtaining drinking water out of sea water,” Siwy said.

Siwy’s selection “confirms that we make good choices in hiring young scientists. They are the cream of the crop,” said Bill Parker, chair of UCI’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

New: Elephant seals might sleep while diving deep off O.C.

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Posted in: Ain't that interesting? • UCI science news • • • | 1 Comment »

UCI offering free classes online

November 11th, 2009, 3:44 pm by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
nowick

Researcher James Nowick. Image courtesy of UCI.

UC Irvine has slowly begun to follow the lead of other colleges and universities,videotaping courses that are later placed online for the enjoyment and education of the public. Irvine recently posted an entire 20-episode organic chemistry course on iTunes that is taught by James Nowick, an award-winning researcher who explores how proteins might be manipulated to fight cancer and other diseases. The course — Chemistry 51A Organic Chemistry –is available in the iTunes U section of iTunes, the popular website operated by Apple. Irvine’s iTunes  area also contains a half dozen courses in the biological sciences and one or more lectures in other disciplines, including a talk on building intelligent machines that was given by famed MIT cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky. UCI has dabbled in posting lectures, interviews and classes online but hasn’t been doing it on a regular and wide-scale basis.

Posting video courses for the public’s benefit was largely pioneered at MIT and is now widely done by such schools as Yale, Brown, Harvard and the University of Chicago. Some of the programming is presented as audio podcasts. But there also are many lectures and classes, including many that include the course syllabus. Most of the classes are free, but Apple charges a small fee for some lectures and podcasts.

Posted in: Ain't that interesting? • UCI science news • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Depressed? Join UCI clinical study

November 11th, 2009, 6:00 am by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
depression

Courtesy of Bing Images

UC Irvine is recruiting adult volunteers for a clinical study focused on people who suffer adult depressive disorder. In a solicit, UCI says that researcher Rinal B. Bera is trying to “determine whether AZD6765, an investigational drug, has an effect on depression when taken together with current prescribed depression medication. AZD6765 is being developed for individuals with symptoms of depression and who have responded poorly to currently available antidepressants.

“To be eligible, participants must:

1. Have a current diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder

2. Be between 18 and 65 years of age

3. Have not responded to treatment with two or more antidepressants

4. Currently be taking an FDA-approved antidepressant for at least six weeks.

“Participation is the study will last approximately 13 weeks.Compensation of up to $680.00 will be provided to those that qualify andc complete the study. For more information, please contact a member of Dr. Rimal B. Bera’s research team at: 1-888-824-1588 or 1-714-456-6317, or dianne.sullivan@uci.edu

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UCI robot being given ability to ‘think’

November 10th, 2009, 6:00 am by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
carl-copy

HAL 2000? Hardly. But Jeffrey Krichmar (right), a UCI cognitive scientist, and Brian Cox, an animatronics engineer, will give the robot Carl 1 software that simulates the decision making process. Image courtesy of UCI.

A homely little robot with fake ears might end up helping to explain a problem faced by all humans — how to deal with uncertainty.

Scientists at UC San Diego will electronically record neurons in the brains of rats while the animals are deciding how to find food in a series of behavioral experiments. UC Irvine researchers will then incorporate that data into a software model of the brain.

The brain is located in Carl 1, a robot that uses a camera to see, tiny sensors to avoid hitting things and whiskers to manipulate objects, says UCI. Carl 1 also has ears that will, at somepoint, hold microphones so that it can respond to sound commands.

“We have identified brain areas that appear to track uncertainty in the world and how we learn to deal with those uncertainties. But, our knowledge of those areas are incomplete,” Jeffrey Krichmar, a UCI cognitive scientist, said by email.

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