Comments by UC Davis community members and references to the campus regularly appear in a wide variety of media outlets around the country:

Physician Randi Hagerman from the MIND Institute and one of her patients were featured Dec. 18 on NBC's Today Show on how genetics testing is transforming medicine, using fragile X syndrome as an important example. "If a parent knows about a family history of developmental delay or mental retardation or even autism, then that's a key indicator for the parent to ask for testing," Hagerman said.

J. Edward Taylor, an agricultural economist, told The Washington Post on Jan. 7 that in 2002 about 14 percent of all people born in Mexican villages were living in the United States. This situation, brought about by the North American Free Trade Treaty, is the opposite of what lawmakers had hoped would happen. The idea behind NAFTA was that it would eliminate duties on U.S. goods shipped to Mexico so that that country's economy would be rejuvenated and Mexicans could find work at home instead of immigrating illegally.

Trevor Suslow, a UC Davis food pathologis who has been widely quoted in the media nationwide, told the Los Angeles Times Jan. 13 that three recent E. coli outbreaks raise questions about what is causing them to occur with such frequency.

Scott Gartner, a political scientist, discussed the purported "Vietnamization" of Iraq in a Dec. 26 Newsday opinion-editorial. The column analyzed the Bush administration's support of a plan that would gradually turn power over to the Iraqis, which Gartner said is reminiscent of President Nixon's decision to empower the South Vietnamese army instead of depending on American troop strength to fight the Vietnam War.

In a Jan. 8 ScienceNOW story, astrophysicist Tony Tyson said he is "excited" by the creation of a new map that has charted the erstwhile invisible dark matter in our universe. The article states that the findings are the result of one of the largest celestial observing campaigns ever undertaken.

Isabel Montanez, a geology professor, is quoted in the Jan. 5 San Francisco Chronicle as the lead researcher on a project whose findings suggest global warming and cooling have run in cycles over the millennia.

Julia Coates, professor of Native American studies, advised the Cherokee government on its formation of the Cherokee Community of the Inland Empire, a group of people to share the tribe's culture and history, according to the Jan. 7 San Bernardino County Sun.

A recent dearth in veterinary positions at Los Angeles animal shelters spells good luck for vet school grads, Donald Klingborg, associate dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, told the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 8. "There are six-plus job offers for every graduate," he explained.

The Combating Autism Act that President Bush recently signed into law has elicited a wide variety of viewpoints. "I think there's more work to be done," Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a professor in the Department of Public Health, told United Press International on Jan. 9.

The vitamin folate prevents birth defects and helps retain memory and hearing but women still do not get enough of it. Robert Dobie, an ear, nose and throat specialist at the School of Medicine, tells his patients "they ought to have a good diet and take a multivitamin, because so many diseases are related to diet," according to the Jan. 13 Baltimore Sun.

— Haley Davis is a News Service intern.