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Ants Give New Evidence for Interaction Networks

By Guest PostMay 25, 2011Culture, Scienceanna dornhaus, ant species, antennae, ants antennate, benjamin blonder, daniel wolf, dornhaus and blonder, evolutionary argument, Facebook, han jing, information, interaction networks, internet, kayla lauger, local grapevine, milan curry, paradigm, self directed networks, southern arizona, temnothorax rugatulus, trophallaxis, tuan cao, unique color code, university of arizona

*UA researchers have uncovered evidence in ant colonies suggesting that social networks may function differently than previously assumed.*

Be it through the Internet, Facebook, the local grapevine or the spread of disease, interaction networks influence nearly every part of our lives.

Scientists previously assumed that interaction networks without central control, known as self-directed networks, have universal properties that make them efficient at spreading information. Just think of the local grapevine: Let something slip, and it seems like no time at all before nearly everyone knows. (more…)

Take Fear Head on, Actor Tom Hanks Tells Yale Seniors

By Guest PostMay 23, 2011Culture, Educationacademy awards, apollo 13, big, catherine lew, class day, eliza gonzalez, eric randall, Facebook, fear or faith, forest gump, graduates, ivy ode, john paul jones, old campus, old country, oscar-winning actor, philadelphia, preparing to leave, saving private ryan, tom hanks, toy story, tweets, Twitter, veterans of the iran and afghan wars, woody, yale, yale baseball cap, yale class day, youtube viral sensations

How Yale’s newest graduates make their imprint on the world and on history will be determined by how well they handle fear and inspire faith, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks told the seniors in his Class Day address on May 22.

In the ceremony on the Old Campus, Hanks urged the soon-to-be graduates to begin their future by coming to the aid of the U.S. veterans of the Iran and Afghan wars, whose “faith in themselves is shadowed by the fear of not knowing what is expected of them next,” he said. (more…)

Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes

By Guest PostMay 22, 2011Culture, Economyamerican housing system, american model, credit card debt, fannie mae, free market economy, home ownership, homeowners, housing the new russia, jane zavisca, metaphor, mortgage, russia, russian government, russians, sociologist, soviet era, soviet era housing, soviet union, university of arizona

*UA sociologist Jane Zavisca says the two countries are polar opposites when it comes to mortgage financing.*

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the structural problems the new government and free-market economy had to deal with was housing. Most Russians lived in government-owned apartments that had been built beginning in the late 1950s. The question then became, who owned all of that Soviet-era housing?

In her new book, “Housing the New Russia,” due to be published by Cornell University Press, Jane Zavisca said the new Russian government dealt with it by announcing that this huge stock of apartments was, as of 1992, privately owned. (more…)

MU Archeologist Finds Oldest 3-D Statue In Western Hemisphere

By Guest PostMay 21, 2011Culture, Scienceandean people, myth of fox, myths, rising sun, statue, statue in peru, temple in peru

Statue at temple in Peru helps us understand ancient culture, myths

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A University of Missouri archeologist has found a 4,000-year-old statue in Peru that gives new insight into an ancient agricultural society. (more…)

Women, Minority Writers Still Face Obstacles in Hollywood

By Guest PostMay 21, 2011Culture, Entertainment, Mediaafrican american studies, darnell hunt, employment, entertainment industry, hollywood, hollywood industry, letisia marquez, significant obstacles, writers guild of america

A new report prepared by a UCLA sociology professor for the Writers Guild of America–West reveals that diverse writers continue to face significant obstacles to employment in Hollywood, particularly in light of the recession.

Darnell Hunt, who is also director of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, writes that “the current recession has clearly done little to help women, minority and older writers move ahead in the Hollywood industry, relative to their male, white and younger counterparts.” (more…)

Persuasive Speech: The Way We, Um, Talk Sways Our Listeners

By Guest PostMay 18, 2011Culture, Scienceinstitute for social research, isr, james earl jones, jessica broome, jose benki, julia child, larynx, national science foundation, pitch, psychology of language, speech characteristics, telephone interviewers, university of michigan, variation in the pitch, voice box

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Want to convince someone to do something? A new University of Michigan study has some intriguing insights drawn from how we speak.

The study, presented May 14 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, examines how various speech characteristics influence people’s decisions to participate in telephone surveys. But its findings have implications for many other situations, from closing sales to swaying voters and getting stubborn spouses to see things your way. (more…)

How to Tell When Someone’s Lying

By Guest PostMay 11, 2011Culture, Scienceairport, chris green, cognitive interview, detect deception, dishonest people, hong kong, ida rystad, independent commission against corruption, iraq war, los angeles, marine intelligence officers, marines, osama bin laden, psychology, public space, r edward geiselman, red flags, ronald fisher, sandra elmgren, single sentence, subway station, ucla students

*UCLA psychologist helps law enforcement agencies tell truth from deception

When someone is acting suspiciously at an airport, subway station or other public space, how can law enforcement officers determine whether he’s up to no good?

The ability to effectively detect deception is crucial to public safety, particularly in the wake of renewed threats against the U.S. following the killing of Osama bin Laden. (more…)

Digital Images of Yale’s Vast Cultural Collections Now Available for Free

By Guest PostMay 10, 2011Culturearchives, beinecke rare book, digital assets and Infrastructure, digital images of yale's, enjoy free access to online images, first Ivy league university, manuscript library, mozart sonata, odai, open access, public domain, red cloud, vast cultural heritage, war bonnet of sioux chief, yale treasures, yale's museums

Scholars, artists and other individuals around the world will enjoy free access to online images of millions of objects housed in Yale’s museums, archives, and libraries thanks to a new “Open Access” policy that the University announced today. Yale is the first Ivy League university to make its collections accessible in this fashion, and already more than 250,000 images are available through a newly developed collective catalog.

The goal of the new policy is to make high quality digital images of Yale’s vast cultural heritage collections in the public domain openly and freely available. (more…)

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