science wire

UChicago lands Kilwins ice cream and candy shop in Hyde Park
Hyde Park resident Jackie Jackson has signed a lease with the University of Chicago to open a Kilwins ice cream and candy shop just off 53rd Street, at 5226 S. Harper Ave.

Archive Chronicling History of San Diego’s Chicano Movement to Go Digital
In 2004, the University of California, San Diego Libraries acquired one of the region's most significant archives - the papers of Chicano activist Herman Baca - documenting the struggles and achievements of the Chicano Movement in San Diego from 1964 to 2006.

Theatre and Dance Alum Returns to Direct Campus Production of ’June Moon’
Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy may get girl in the end? The plot is simple. But the real story behind "June Moon," the next offering from the UC San Diego department of theatre and dance, is about the quest for love and the price of fame, according to director Jonathan Silverstein.

Rare Judeo-Spanish memoir gives a voice to the people of a lost culture
Historians Aron Rodrigue and Sarah Abrevaya Stein bring the history of Ottoman Jews to life in a text published by Stanford University Press.

Journal boycott gaining steam at UW-Madison
They are mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore. That describes an emerging response from more than 6,000 scientists to Elsevier , publisher of more than 2,500 scientific journals, including Cell and The Lancet. As the largest journal publisher in the world, Elsevier is able to command hefty subscription fees at university libraries.

International interactive artist Camille Utterback delivers public lecture at Stanford
The artist discusses her interactive installations and how they engage the viewer in a dynamic, kinesthetic experience at the intersection of art and technology.

’Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening donates $500K to UCLA School of Theater, Film and TV

Online Archive Explores One Man’s Scrapbooks of African American Life
L.S. Alexander Gumby may be one of the most influential historians of early 20th century African American life in New York—even though he never wrote a traditional volume of history.

Stanford scholar chronicles evolution of Chinese love through texts
Stanford Professor Haiyan Lee chronicles the Chinese "love revolution" through a study of cultural changes influenced by Western ideals.

Lovelorn liars leave linguistic leads
Online daters intent on fudging their personal information have a big advantage: most people are terrible at identifying a liar.

Dancers perform Anna Sokolow’s Rooms
Artistry, artifacts and scholarship come together in a dance history project presented by Stanford Dance, the Clayman Institute for Gender Research and Stanford Hillel.

Clarke’s 24-hour restaurant to open Feb. 13
Clarke's , a new 24-hour restaurant located at 1451 E. 53rd St., will open its doors at 8 a.m. Feb.

Geisel Library Exhibits, Events to Celebrate Black History Month
A series of exhibits and events in celebration of Black History month will be held during winter and into spring quarter at UC San Diego's Geisel Library.

Poet Elizabeth Alexander to appear at the University of Minnesota
Who : Poet Elizabeth Alexander What: Eighth Annual NOMMO African American Authors Series When : Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. Where : Cowles Auditorium, Hubert H. Humphrey

Got creative block? Get out of your office and go for a walk
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The next time you're in need of creative inspiration, try thinking outside the box - or cubicle. New research by Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks and Suntae Kim of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business shows that engaging in physical acts and experiences enhances creative problem-solving.

"Year of Proof" Is Penn Academic Theme for 2012-13
The University of Pennsylvania's academic theme for 2012-13 will be the "Year of Proof." Beginning in September at new student orientation and throughout the year, the University will hold events

Sundance and the Oscars: A big week for UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and TV

Durst Gift Helps Launch New Center on Urban Real Estate
Vishaan Chakrabarti, Carole Ann Fabian and Helena Durst talk about the Durst gift and the new Center for Urban Real Estate.

Rare Posters, Drawings From the Spanish Civil War on View at Geisel Library Through May 11, 2012
All images from the Southworth Spanish Civil War Collection in the UC San Diego Mandeville Special Collections Library "So There Will Be No Forgetting: Images from the Spanish Civil War," an exhib

New approach to combat intractable bacterial infections
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It’s all about the space at Stanford’s design school
Stanford's d.school space is the stage for creative collaboration. A new book by two of its leaders provides direction for design spaces elsewhere.

’The Social Network’: Charles Dickens wrote the script
He looked at the technological revolution unfolding around him and recognized the possibility for new kinds of social networks, and the insight catapulted him to the pinnacle of his field and changed popular culture forever.

Stanford University names Wiley Hausam managing director of Bing Concert Hall
Opening January 2013, the Bing Concert Hall will showcase world-class visiting performers and Stanford's community of faculty and student musicians.

Holocaust Living History Workshop to Present "Witnessing History" Events During Winter 2012
The UC San Diego Holocaust Living History Workshop (HLHW) launches a new series of events this winter, the "Witnessing History" series, focused on the topic of experiencing history in the making.

On the New York veggie forefront: Tatsoi, shiso, maxixe and other ethnic delectables
Komatsuna. Shiso. Winged beans. Maxixe. They're not your garden-variety vegetables. But while they may be relatively unknown outside of their home countries, a project by Cornell Cooperative Extension is trying to give these crops their time in the sun.

Byrna Kranzler, author of "The Accidental Anarchist," to Speak at Geisel Library Jan.18
Bryna Kranzler, the author of "The Accidental Anarchist," a harrowing and amazing tale about an ordinary man who became a Russian revolutionary, will speak on January 18 from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Seuss Room at the Geisel Library on the UC San Diego campus.

UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures/Dance announces events for winter 2012

Large and in charge: Powerful people overestimate their own height
The psychological experience of power makes people feel taller than they are, according to research by ILR School associate professor of organizational behavior Jack Goncalo and a Washington University colleague. "Although a great deal of research has shown that physically imposing individuals are more likely to acquire power, this work is the first to show that the powerful may actually feel taller than they are," Goncalo and Michelle Duguid write in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science.

Papers of Europe’s first female professor to become available online, with help from Stanford’s libraries
Courtesy of Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio Laura Bassi (1711-1778) was the first woman to be offered an official teaching position at a European university.

Playwright David Henry Hwang to discuss his new Broadway hit ’Chinglish’

Curator in the Classroom: The Artistic Eye of Prof. Kellie Jones
Kellie Jones talks about her new book, EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art . (4:27) It's been a busy year for Kellie Jones.

People More Motivated to Give When They See Others Volunteering Abroad
AUSTIN, Texas — People are more inspired to give when they see others contributing their time and money to a good cause outside their home state, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin.

Playback: 130-Year-Old Sounds Revealed
(Adapted from a news release issued Dec. 14 by the Smithsonian Institution) In the early 1880s, three inventors - Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter, collectively making up the Volta Laboratory Associates - brought together their creativity and expertise in a laboratory on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C., to record sound.

University of Minnesota Libraries mark 400th anniversary of the King James Bible
The 1611 King James Bible is one of the best known and most frequently printed books in the English language, but most don't know the story behind its creation.

"Everyday Dogs" book depicts allure of man’s best friend
A new book from the University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library now hitting the holiday bookstore shelves gives fresh meaning to the term "dog days" by celebrating the powerful connections between people and their canine companions.

The study-abroad route less traveled: A year in Russia

Enticing words on bags of potato chips have a lot to say about social class, Stanford researchers find
Like politicians who adopt regional accents to appeal to local audiences, the manufacturers of potato chips vary the wording on their bags to convey their products' authenticity in different ways to different buyers.

Stanford play examines what may have happened when two eminent physicists met during WW II
Copenhagen: Stanford play examines what may have happened when two of the world's foremost physicists met in the dark hours of World War II The play explores the relationship of two scientists, bound by physics, friendship and war.

Center for Science and Social Science Information to open on Science Hill
When students and faculty return to campus in January after winter break, they will discover a new place atop Science Hill where they can do research, study, and hang out.

Columbia University Acquires Archives of X-Men Writer Chris Claremont
NEW YORK, November 15, 2011 – Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library has acquired the archives of renowned comic book writer and novelist, Chris Claremont.

Creative ’Storm’ Set to Hit UC San Diego
"The Storm," a drama by 19th-century Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky, is not a common choice in American regional theatre seasons.

Pioneers of Documentary Photography Featured in New Exhibit on "Scientific Charity"
A boy with leg braces and crutches rests against a fire alarm. A woman hangs laundry from a clothesline strung across an airshaft behind a row of tenement buildings.

Penn Honors the Nation’s Veterans
PHILADELPHIA - In honor of Veterans Day, the University of Pennsylvania will hold a flag-raising ceremony on Locust Walk in front of Van Pelt Library at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov.

Faculty fellow studies sound art of old recordings
Brian Hanrahan has a special appreciation for the crackle, fuzz and background chatter that characterize old radio broadcasts.

World-renowned Georges Lavaudant directs Our Town at Stanford
"Why don't we do something in America?" the famous French director asked Stanford's Jean-Marie Apostolidès over dinner in Paris.

East Asia scholar Robert A. Scalapino dies at 92
Robert A. Scalapino, the Robson Research Professor of Government emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and a renowned expert in the field of East Asian studies, died Monday, Nov.

’Chronicling Trauma’: New book explores intersection of journalism, fiction, traumatic violence
Some items about some British and American authors: Poet and essayist Charles Lamb had a sister who stabbed their mother to death.

New social media Same old, same old, say Stanford experts
Two scholars of the 17th and 18th centuries say the earlier era prefigured the "information overload," with its own equivalents of Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant helps sustain DARE to completion
Whenever she appears on a popular statewide Wisconsin Public Radio offering, Joan Houston Hall can sense the hunger people have for regional sayings and their meanings.

Gil Cates, founding dean of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, dies

Dr. Livingstone’s lost 1871 ’massacre’ diary recovered; discovery rewrites history
In Africa 140 years ago, David Livingstone, the Victorian explorer, met Henry M. Stanley of the New York Herald and gave him a harrowing account of a massacre he witnessed, in which slave traders slaughtered 400 innocent people.

It’s All About the Hair
It's not every day that computer science students get invited to a Hollywood premiere to recognize the work they have done.

Cybertools and Sinhala archive will improve analysis of world’s 7,000 languages
A new generation of cybertools developed at Cornell will help researchers share and analyze rare Sri Lankan language recordings important for studying language acquisition in children.

Research on Education and Employment Outcomes for Deaf and Hard of Hearing to be Funded by $1.3 Million Grant
AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas at Austin educational psychologist Stephanie Cawthon has received $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Education to spearhead a nationwide effort t

UCLA hosts talk by British Library curator about historic 1889 letter to Iranian king
In the summer of 1889, Nasir al-Din Shah, king of Iran from 1848 to 1896, made his second and final visit to England.

Publisher, Author and Artist Fleur Cowles’s Archive Donated to Harry Ransom Center
AUSTIN, Texas — The personal archive of publisher, author and artist Fleur Cowles has been donated to the Harry Ransom Center , a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin.

Acclaimed novelist and poet to headline NOMMO African American Authors Series at U of M

Happy birthday, Harvard!
A photo slideshow from the SEAS celebration of Harvard's 375th birthday Harvard celebrated its 375th birthday on October 14, 2011.

Computer Scientist Seeks the Real Meaning of Language
Better be careful about telling a lie to Julia Hirschberg. The computer science professor, an expert in spoken language, examines what people unconsciously communicate through such things as intonation, accent and phrasing. One of the enduring questions she studies is whether it's possible to detect a lie.

Edgy Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin is writer-in-residence at Stanford
Sadism‘ Savagery? Cannibalism' The man who has been called Russia's greatest living writer turns our nightmares into art – and now he's at Stanford.

Wisconsin poverty measure informs anti-poverty conference
A researcher with the Wisconsin Poverty Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) is sharing project findings at an upcoming antipoverty summit.

Professor James Shapiro Examines the Question of Who Wrote Shakespeare
(Editor's note: This story on English professor James Shapiro was originally published in the May 14, 2010, Vol.

Funny Finding: Men Win Humor Test (by a Hair)
Funny Finding: Men Win Humor Test (by a Hair) UC San Diego Researchers Used New Yorker Cartoons to Explore Gender Stereotype October 19, 2011 By Inga Kiderra Huffington Post ABC News and "Good Morning America" TIME Slate Scientific American Men are funnier than women, but only just barely and mostly to other men.

U-M’s close ties to historic MLK Jr. Memorial
Oct. 17, 2011 U-M's close ties to historic MLK Jr. Memorial ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan's website, Montage, features the latest news and features about the arts, creative endeavors, collaborative projects and upcoming events.

Trustees approve construction projects, get extensive briefing on StanfordNYC
At its first meeting of the 2011-12 academic year, the Board of Trustees approved several construction projects.

Dig no more: Just till 2 inches for tulip bulbs, study finds
Just till and fill, and toil no more when planting tulip bulbs. A Cornell study shows that a much easier method of planting tulip bulbs is just as effective as digging the traditional 6 to 8 inch holes for each bulb. Gardeners need only "top plant": Till (loosen the soil) about 2 inches deep, place the bulbs on top of the soil and then cover them with a 2 to 4 inch layer of mulch and water to achieve successful tulips that will thrive year after year.

Library digitization projects span multiple millennia
Cornell University Library and the College of Arts and Sciences have awarded six new grants to create new digital content of enduring value.

Stanford scholar finds the origins of Western poetry in troubadour’s songs
Stanford Assistant Professor Marisa Galvez has written a book about medieval songbooks, pointing to troubadours as the models for modern poets.

Great speeches: How to know one if we hear one
Oct. 12, 2011 Great speeches: How to know one if we hear one Listen to podcast ANN ARBOR, Mich.—With the season for political oratory hard upon us, how does the rhetoric of this year's crop of presidential contenders measure up?

Global broadcasters need strategies to combat Internet censorship
Broadcasters seeking to deliver online news to countries where blocking is widespread must be prepared to create strategies tailored to those countries, says a new report from the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.

Stanford summer course yields touchscreen Braille writer
In a two-month summer course on high-performance computing, promising undergrads compete to create innovative applications.

Meyer residents one step closer to move
Stanford needed to find new homes for the occupants of Meyer Library, because the university plans to tear down the building, rather than spend more than $45 million to bring it into compliance with current seismic safety standards.

Statement Regarding Recent Incident on University of Minnesota Duluth Campus
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/27/2011) —Freedom of expression, fostering diverse views and opinions, and promoting civil debate are core to our democracy, and are an important part of the tradition of this country's public universities and of the University of Minnesota.

Famed Chinese producer among participants at UCLA-USC media and culture conference
We're all familiar with the cartoon mouse made famous by Walt Disney more than 80 years ago. With his prominent black ears, white gloves, big yellow shoes and red shorts, Mickey Mouse is a worldwide icon.

Black talk, blue thoughts
As a budding "black journalista," UCLA alumna Erin Aubry Kaplan couldn't believe her luck when the Los Angeles Times asked her to cover South Central Los Angeles after the 1992 riots.

Stanford’s Jim Young reflects on Moneyball and his time with the A’s
Among those anticipating the Sept. 23 release of the new Brad Pitt movie Moneyball is Jim Young, senior assistant athletic director for and media relations.

English Professor Makes a Place for Disability
English professor Rachel Adams doesn't exactly know when or why she became interested in freaks, but when it came time to write her dissertation—later her first book—the topic she chose was freak shows and the American cultural imagination.

Stanford takes Estonia’s ’Museum of Occupations’ under its wing
"While the Cold War may be over, history goes on, and it is the role of universities, and very much that of their libraries, to serve as institutions of cultural memory," said Stanford Librarian Michael Keller.

UCLA Department of Art announces events for fall 2011

10 writers are Stanford’s newest Stegner Fellows
Five poets and five fiction writers are entering Stanford this fall as the 2011-13 Stanford Creative Writing Program's Wallace Stegner Fellows.

More than a sign of sleepiness, yawning may cool the brain
by Morgan Kelly Though considered a mark of boredom or fatigue, yawning might also be a trait of the hot-headed. Literally. A study led by Andrew Gallup, a postdoctoral research associate in Princeton University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology , is the first involving humans to show that yawning frequency varies with the season and that people are less likely to yawn when the heat outdoors exceeds body temperature.

Cornell library receives gay-related photo collection
In the early 1980s, with the gay community in the terrifying grip of an unidentified new disease, New York City lawyer Harry Weintraub started collecting photographs. "I began this collection in earnest because of the AIDS crisis," he said. "Men were dying all around me. ... I was intent on trying to preserve not only their histories, but the histories of those who came before." Many families were embarrassed by their gay relatives and would throw out their personal effects, Weintraub said, because "they just wanted to get rid of everything.

UCLA’s Clark Library announces 2011-12 chamber music season
The winners of the 2011 Grammy Award for chamber music number among the top performers scheduled to appear over the coming year at UCLA's William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

Artists bring the art of Chinese kite-building to U-M
Sept. 13, 2011 Artists bring the art of Chinese kite-building to U-M ANN ARBOR, Mich.—He gave them a big machete-like knife, a bunch of bamboo strips and a box of Band-Aids.

Stanford Libraries acquire Jim Cullum’s ’Riverwalk Jazz’ archives
Stanford's Archive of Recorded Sound will begin streaming the jazz maestro's radio programs in January 2013.

Latin American Focused Library Collection and Institute Pilot Joint Endeavor
Aug. 31, 2011 AUSTIN, Texas — The Benson Latin American Collection (BLAC) and the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies (LLILAS) are joining efforts in an inventive approach to achieving common goals.