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Tuesday, 11 September 2012
1. Mexican Moms Are More Nurturing Than White Ones, Study Finds
Huffington Post
A new study co-authored by education professor Bruce Fuller has found that Mexican immigrant mothers performed better on some measures of parenting than white mothers, including "warm and supportive home settings," engaging in fewer conflicts with spouses, and exhibiting evidence of stronger mental health, in spite of higher poverty rates. According to professor Fuller: "Poverty is definitely a drag on the well-being of families, but at the same time, at least for Mexican immigrants, they have cultural strengths that buffer the negative effects of family." Full Story
2. Can a New Computer Model Revolutionise Carbon Capture?
Energy Collective
A computer modeling project co-led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Berend Smit has made a breakthrough in the search for new low-cost, efficient methods of burning coal and natural gas with significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Full Story
3. Arts Beat Blog: New York Architect Selected by Berkeley for Prize
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
New York architect Deborah Berke has been named the first winner of the campus's biannual Berkeley-Rupp Prize promoting women in architecture. With an award of $100,000, she will receive a semester-long professorship, one public lecture, and an exhibition of her work at the architecture school. Full Story
4. Federal trial set to open in latest case faulting Army Corps for Katrina flooding
Washington Post
The Army Corps of Engineers is once again defending itself against expert witness and Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea in a second lawsuit filed by New Orleans residents alleging negligence leading to the failure of floodwalls designed to protect the city’s Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina. Professor Bea has concluded that subterranean water pressures from the storm surge passed through the holes and a layer of clay with enough force to breach the floodwalls in two places, but Justice Department lawyers discount his theory. If the judge again rules for the plaintiffs, the case could evolve into a class-action involving many more claims against the corps. This story appeared in hundreds of sources nationwide. Full Story
5. Soundscapes of Smog: Researchers Let You Hear the Pollution of Cities (Literally)
The Atlantic
Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, environmental science, policy, and management doctoral student Gabriel Isaacman and a colleague from Yale have created sounds from air samples collected around California by Berkeley air pollution researchers. The results are sonic representations of air quality in the Caldecott Tunnel, Bakersfield, Pasadena, and the Sierras. Link to audio. Another story on this topic appeared in the Bay Citizen. Full Story
6. Suburban Lions Present a Conundrum
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
Associate research zoologist Laurence Frank, of Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Kenyan group Living with Lions, comments on the challenges of translocating suburban lions in Africa. Because the animals are so territorial, he says: “The great majority of people are not aware of the true consequences of translocating carnivores, and just assume that it is the ‘kind’ thing to do. ... Translocating a lion kills it slowly and cruelly, but out of sight. ... Even if they are released in the center of Meru [National Park], the existing lion population will force her to the boundaries, where she will encounter livestock and people at a time when she is desperate to feed her cubs.” Full Story
7. NFL Awarding $1.5 Million in Medical Grants
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
NFL Charities is awarding more than $1.5 million in grants for sports-related medical research at 15 organizations, including UC Berkeley. This story appeared in more than 100 sources. Full Story
8. Exclusive: California Gov. Jerry Brown tells critics 'We've made a helluva lot of progress'
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
Max Neiman, of the Institute of Governmental Studies, comments on Governor Jerry Brown's efforts to convince voters to raise taxes: "He's a perfect match for the tenor of the times and the state's temper. ... Within the cracks and crevices where he sees opportunities to get things done, he's seized them." Full Story
9. Guess Who Pays For Romney's Tax Cuts For The Wealthy: The Middle Class
Huffington Post
A blogger critiques a commentary by Martin Feldstein, former chair of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, which explained how Mitt Romney's tax plan could work, saying: "Some economists, such as Brad DeLong at Berkeley, scratched their heads and said, 'Hang on, this doesn't make any sense at all, unless you jack up taxes on the middle class,' which is what both Obama and neutral observers had been saying all along." Full Story
10. China Real Time Report Blog: Examining China’s Re-Education on Labor Camps
Wall Street Journal Online (*requires registration)
Law lecturer Stanley Lubman writes about the open debate taking place in China over the country's practice of sending alleged troublemakers to labor camps for years at a time without formal arrest or trial in a system known as “re-education through labor” (laojiao, or RETL). His conclusion: "At the very least, recent public comment of the practice suggests that debate over the merits of the system will continue, and could even stimulate serious consideration of genuine reforms." Full Story
11. IHT Rendezvous Blog: University Ranking Shows Boom in Global Student Mobility
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
UC Berkeley ranked 22nd in the annual Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World Universities Ranking. Full Story
12. Op-Ed: MOOCs' Missing Pieces
Inside Higher Ed
A commentary on problems with massive open online courses, or MOOCs, quotes computer science professor David Patterson, who said in a recent panel discussion that technological evidence indicates cheating online is “unbound.” Full Story
13. 21 Must-See Fall Concerts
San Francisco Chronicle
A Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler concert at the Greek Theatre, October 19, is highlighted as a fall "must-see." Full Story