Dr. Randy Taplitz, the clinical director of infectious diseases at the UCSD Medical Center, talks about what swine flu is; why it's been a cause of concern for public health officials; and how to protect yourself from this new virus.

Students, teachers and administrators describe what they learned at Pharmacy Day, an event sponsored by the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and BioBridge at UC San Diego.

On a recent Tuesday morning, the sound of a piano soared in the Conrad Prebys Music Center, rising along the venue’s triangular, wood-paneled walls and ceiling. Graduate student William Fried was performing "Feux d'Artifice" by French master Claude Debussy. He was one of a handful of students who got to test-drive the acoustically advanced concert hall in March before its public opening in May. http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/thisweek/2009/04/20_musiccenter.asp

The benefits of napping: Next time you feel tired and sleepy during the day and want to buy some coffee, think again. UC San Diego sleep scientist Sara Mednick says you would be better off taking a nap instead.Next time you feel tired and sleepy during the day and want to buy some coffee, think again. UC San Diego sleep scientist Sara Mednick says you would be better off taking a nap instead.

Think UC San Diego has one of the coolest sustainability programs around? Now there’s a way to let everyone know. The campus is talking part in the nationwide Chill Out competition organized by the National Wildlife Federation.

UC San Diego undergrads taking an intro-to-computer programming course held a campus art show recently. The art? Glossy collages created by pairs of students as a week-four homework assignment for Beth Simon’s CSE8A class, the first programming course computer science majors take at the Jacobs School of Engineering. The students learn to program in Java by writing code to manipulate digital images and create art.

Albert Einstein may have written his last scientific theory more than half a century ago, but he's still honing his emotional intelligence in a laboratory at the University of California, San Diego. Scientists at UC San Diego's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) have equipped a robot modeled after the famed theoretical physicist with specialized software that allows it to interact with humans in a relatively natural, conversational way.

Small is promising when it comes to illuminating tiny tumors or precisely delivering drugs, but many worry about the safety of nano-scale materials. Now, a team of scientists has created miniscule flakes of silicon that glow brightly, last long enough to slowly release cancer drugs, then break down into harmless byproducts.

Recent simulated earthquake tests conducted by UC San Diego engineers are expected to lead to retrofit schemes that make historic buildings safer. The structural engineers tested a structure similar to those that were built in California in the 1920s that have masonry-infilled walls and reinforced concrete frames.

UC San Diego Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien Gives His Nobel Lecture Feb. 18 at the Price Center Theater.