December 24, 2002    (San Diego Union-Tribune)   Scientists have discovered that the jewels can be natural time capsules, preserving inside them chemical remnants of Earth's early atmosphere.

December 23, 2002    (Congressional Quarterly)   Almost 15 months after the terrorist attacks of 2001, at least a half dozen universities have started or expanded homeland security related research programs.

December 19, 2002    (University of Maryland, College Park)   A University of Maryland-led team of scientists has discovered that diamonds can be natural time capsules, preserving information about the cycling of sulfur between Earth's crust, atmosphere, and mantle some 3 billion years ago.

December 17, 2002    (San Diego Business Journal)   Local small businesses may play a greater role in homeland security, now that Congress has elevated it to a Cabinet-level department. But the question remains how much.

November 30, 2002    (The Economist Newspaper Ltd)   A few days after being infected with ebola, patients begin to notice that something is wrong. Headaches, fevers and chills are followed by diarrhoea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding, leading to the death of most of those infected. Other virulent diseases have similar effects; poisonous chemicals can kill even more quickly, although they are not contagious. When grouped with nuclear weapons in the antiseptic abbreviation WMD--weapons of mass destruction--it is easy to forget just how devastatingly nasty biological weapons can be. T.S. Eliot perhaps put it best when he said, "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

November 27, 2002    (San Diego Daily Transcript)   Working together, San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego are studying ways to protect against and prepare for catastrophic events.

November 26, 2002    (CBS Morning News (6:30 AM ET) - CBS)   When the UN weapons inspectors begin their work tomorrow in Iraq, they will be armed with the latest in high-tech equipment and more is on the way. Vince Gonzales reports.

November 25, 2002    (Los Angeles Times)   During World War II, the development of penicillin was credited with saving thousands of Allied lives. Afterward, battalions of scientists swarmed over swamps, marshes, jungles and forest underbrush looking for other fungi that could combat infection. Researchers screened thousands of compounds, leading to the discovery of streptomycin and other early antibiotics.

November 20, 2002    (San Diego Union-Tribune)   Efim Zelmanov, a former Yale University mathematics professor and the 1994 recipient of the prestigious Fields Medal, has joined the mathematics faculty at UCSD.

November 19, 2002    (NPR - Morning Edition (11:00 AM AM ET))