news 2008

Literature/Linguistics - 30.03
Kornhaber consults for TV show in the use of multiple intelligences
Mindy Kornhaber, associate professor of educational theory and policy at Penn State, recently had a unique opportunity in television. Kornhaber served as a consultant to "Canada's Smartest Person," a two-hour prime-time television show on the Canadian national network CBC.

Literature/Linguistics - 29.02
Listening to the past - new study into the changing accent of Glasgow
A research team, led by Jane Stuart-Smith of the School of Critical Studies at the University of Glasgow has been awarded £235,000 by the Leverhulme Trust to study the evolution of speech in the city over the course of the past century.

Literature/Linguistics - 13.01
I recognise you! But how did I do it?
Are you someone who easily recognises everyone you've ever met? Or maybe you struggle, even with familiar faces? It is already known that we are better at recognising faces from our own race but researchers have only recently questioned how we assimilate the information we use to recognise people.

Literature/Linguistics - 23.11.2011
Computer spots micro clue to lies
Whether you are playing poker or haggling over a deal you might think that you can hide your true emotions. But telltale signs can reveal that you are concealing something, and now researchers at Oxford University and Oulu University are developing software that can recognise these ‘micro-expressions' - which could be bad news for liars.

Literature/Linguistics - 26.10.2011
Studies indicate charter schools performing well in reading, math
A new analysis from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, at UW Bothell, shows evidence that charter elementary schools outperform traditional public schools in math and reading, and that charter middle schools excel in math as well.

Life Sciences - Literature/Linguistics - 23.09.2011
Australische Ureinwohner waren die frühesten Auswanderer
Ein internationales Forscherteam mit Berner Beteiligung hat erstmals das menschliche Genom von australischen Aborigines entschlüsselt. Die Ergebnisse lassen die ersten Völkerwanderungen des modernen Menschen in neuem Licht erscheinen.

Literature/Linguistics - Computer Science/Telecom - 22.06.2011
Database explains strange survival of irregular verbs
An historical study of the development of irregular verbs in the hundreds of Romance languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan has revealed how these structures survive.

Literature/Linguistics - 13.04.2011
Open access to journals increases readership but not citations, study says
Citations matter for authors. Being cited by one's peers is the chief indicator of an article's quality and worth. In the sciences, citations fuel a reward system of promotion, tenure, grants and editorial board positions.

Literature/Linguistics - History/Philosophy - 17.02.2011
How the Cambridge Literary Review is taking on the establishment
Launched as a reaction to the lack of outlets for challenging contemporary writing, a Cambridge-based journal is finding favour in the very places it aims to be the antidote for. One year on from its birth and with the fifth issue soon to be released, the Cambridge Literary Review continues to gain prominence, with a strong write up in the Times Literary Supplement and copies on sale in the Tate Modern bookshop amongst others.

Literature/Linguistics - 4.02.2011
Hidden pornographic poems explain 'bestseller' success of C18 poetical volumes
Art 04 Feb 11 The title page of the Cabinet of Love, which appears unannounced at the end of The Works, a copy of which is held in the Bodleian. Credit: Bodleian Libraries An Oxford University academic has explained the secret behind the success of two of the best selling volumes of poetic miscellanies in the 18th Century – a series of pornographic poems were hidden at the back of the book.

History/Philosophy - Literature/Linguistics - 6.01.2011
Forgotten chapter in Bible history
New research has uncovered a forgotten chapter in the history of the Bible, offering a rare glimpse of Byzantine Jewish life and culture. The study by the Centre for Computing in the Humanities (CCH) at King's College London, in collaboration with Cambridge University researchers, suggests that, contrary to long-accepted views, Jews continued to use a Greek version of the Bible in synagogues for centuries longer than previously thought.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Literature/Linguistics - 11.11.2010
Real cause of Brecht’s demise revealed
A dogged piece of detective work by a University professor has uncovered the truth about how one of the world's greatest playwrights died 54 years ago. Rumours have long surrounded the official version of Bertolt Brecht's death from a heart attack in 1956 in Communist East Berlin.

Literature/Linguistics - History/Philosophy - 23.10.2010
Austen's famous style may not be hers after all
Arts 23 Oct 10 Austen's 'The History of England', a spoof history written by a teenage Jane Austen. Image by kind permission of the British Library and Jane Austen's Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition.

Literature/Linguistics - 6.10.2010
Chicago’s unfinished public housing efforts yield mixed results
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - After a rocky start, Chicago's controversial efforts to overhaul its public housing have showed gradual improvement, according to a new report by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Literature/Linguistics - 23.07.2010
University archive inspires Hollywood directors
A film to be made by Hollywood directors Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald was inspired by day diaries kept in the University of Sussex Mass Observation Archive. People around the world are being asked to upload personal films about their lives on YouTube tomorrow (Saturday 24 July) for the biggest ever user-generated film to be made.