http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/ Headlines from the University of California, Berkeley Steve McConnell - steve.mcconnell@berkeley.edu en-US http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/06_lang.shtml As the "Breath of Life" conference on California Indian language revitalization gets underway on June 8 on campus, UC Berkeley faculty and student linguists are fanning out around the globe to research and document other often endangered languages. Published: 06 June http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/04_nemea.shtml Just as the Summer Olympics get underway in Beijing on June 21, an ancient athletic stadium at a UC Berkeley archaeological site in Greece that was home to the original Panhellenic Games will once again come alive with competition in the 2008 edition of the Nemean Games. Published: 04 June http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/29_hoosonobit.shtml David Hooson, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and a scholar of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, national identities and the history of geographic ideas, died on May 16 at the age of 82. Published: 29 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/07_kellerobit.shtml Cathleen "Candy" Keller, an associate professor of Egyptology in the University of California, Berkeley's Department of Near Eastern Studies, died of pancreatic cancer on April 18 at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. She was 62. Published: 07 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/01_rapmusic.shtml A new study finds that references to illegal drug use in rap music jumped sixfold in the two decades since 1979, the year when rap made its way from inner-city urban areas to a mainstream audience. Moreover, illegal drug use became increasingly linked during this time period to wealth, glamour and social standing, raising red flags about its potential influence on young listeners, said Denise Herd, UC Berkeley associate professor and author of the study. Published: 01 April http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/03/19_immigration.shtml "Human history has always been about migration," says sociologist Irene Bloemraad, "but with ever-increasing globalization, the 21st century will be a century of people on the move." Over the past five years, she has worked to raise the profile of immigration studies at UC Berkeley, where a remarkable two thirds of students are foreign born or have at least one foreign-born parent. Published: 19 March http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/03/18_galeobit.shtml David Gale, a puzzle lover and professor emeritus of mathematics who made fundamental contributions to economics and game theory, died March 7 at the age of 86. Published: 18 March http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/03/06_conditionalcash.shtml Children in impoverished families that received an extra amount of cold, hard cash from a government support program were taller, less likely to be overweight, and scored higher on cognitive, motor and language tests, compared with kids in families that received less money, says a new UC Berkeley-led study. Published: 06 March http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/02/29_gordo.shtml The "Gordo" comic strips, which beginning in 1941 introduced millions of people in the United States to life south of the border, is part of the rich archive of cartoonist Gus Arriola's work now residing at the University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library. Published: 29 February http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2008/02/13_love.shtml Psychology prof Dacher Keltner investigates the many facets of everyone's favorite heartfelt emotion — from the passionate urges of early romance to the connections some people are able to feel for humanity at large. Published: 13 February http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/02/12_aging.shtml As America scrambles to meet the retirement needs of 78 million aging Baby Boomers, UC Berkeley is cyber-surfing ahead of the so-called "silver tsunami" by launching its first-ever online conference to help create aging-friendly communities. Published: 12 February http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/11/13_happykids.shtml Reams of academic research abound across the country on how to raise happy children, but who has the time to read this myriad of findings, boil down the facts, and then turn them into practical parenting advice? UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center is taking on the job with its new Web site on how to foster joy and avoid brattish behavior in children. Published: 13 November http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/10/22_sleeploss.shtml In the first neural investigation into what happens to your emotions when you don't sleep, results from a UC Berkeley brain imaging study suggest that while a good night's rest can regulate your mood and help you cope with the next day's emotional challenges, sleep deprivation excessively boosts the part of the brain most closely connected to depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders. Published: 22 October http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/10/18_genetictesting.shtml For many Americans, the potential to track one's DNA to a specific country, region or tribe with a take-home kit is highly alluring. But while the popularity of genetic ancestry testing is rising - particularly among African Americans - the technology is flawed and could spawn unwelcome societal consequences, according to researchers from several institutions nationwide, including UC Berkeley. Published: 18 October http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/10/11_scarymovies.shtml Eduardo Andrade of the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business wondered why his wife loves scary movies that make him squirm. So, the assistant professor of marketing interested in consumer behavior teamed up with Joel B. Cohen, a professor of marketing and anthropology at of the University of Florida, to deconstruct what happens when people watch horror films. Published: 11 October