news 2010

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 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.

Switzerland deals flexibly and pragmatically with plurilingualism. It does this successfully. Nevertheless, immigration and increasing international integration are posing new challenges to schools, economy and administration.

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. But Professor Stephen Parker, from The University of Manchester, has now proved that the iconic German poet, playwright and theatre director suffered as a child in the early 1900s from undiagnosed rheumatic fever, then a poorly understood condition.

An album of 20 beautiful eighteenth century Chinese prints, found by a University of Manchester historian, has been hailed as the UK's finest example of Qing dynasty art. However, the collection of poster-sized prints, discovered at the University's John Rylands Library, contains a mysterious unfinished colour painting.

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. The polished prose of Emma and Persuasion was the product of an interventionist editor, an Oxford University academic has found.

Princeton computer scientists have developed a new way of tracing the origins and spread of ideas, a technique that could make it easier to gauge the influence of notable scholarly papers, buzz-generating news stories and other information sources. The method relies on computer algorithms to analyze how language morphs over time within a group of documents - whether they are research papers on quantum physics or blog posts about politics - and to determine which documents were the most influential.

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. The Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation, launched in 2000, is a dramatic effort to replace, refurbish or redevelop nearly 25,000 units of the city's public housing, while relocating residents either to rehabilitated public housing, new mixed-income communities, or into the private housing market using vouchers that subsidize their rent.

Over 80% of all products manufactured today in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries require the use of catalysts. Catalysts are materials which themselves are not consumed within chemical reactions, but which serve to accelerate those reactions and set them on course to create the desired products.

Science Pete Wilton | 15 Sep 10 When he came to write his latest book Oxford University's Marcus du Sautoy decided he wanted to go beyond the printed page. For The Num8er My5teries he created a series of 'apps' that enable iPhone users to explore the ideas and games within the book and recently wrote for The Guardian on what apps can bring to books.

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.

Developmental Review: Perceptions in Behavior and Cognition, a quarterly journal of theory and literature review in developmental psychology edited by Charles Brainerd, professor of human development, has been rated one of the three most influential journals in its field. In the 2009 Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Impact Factor data released in June, Developmental Review ranks alongside Child Development and Developmental Psychology - the two longest-running developmental psychology publications.

You know the type: self-aggrandizing, self-indulgent and self-absorbed. New research led by psychologist Jack Goncalo, assistant professor in the ILR School, shows how and why narcissists can influence creativity in groups and in the workplace. The findings will be published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Cambridge, Mass. July 8, 2010 - Tomiko Yoda, a scholar acclaimed for her feminist critique of modern Japan's canonization of ancient Japanese literary texts, has been named Takashima Professor of Japanese Humanities at Harvard University, effective July 1, 2010. Yoda was previously associate professor of Asian and Middle Eastern studies, literature, and women's studies at Duke University, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1996.

More than two billion people worldwide do not have adequate access to surgical treatment, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) . The Harvard researchers also found that people living in high-income regions have far greater access to surgery sites (operating theatres) than do those living in low-income regions and that surgical facilities in low-income settings often lack essential equipment.

People could help to prevent species of birds from becoming extinct by recording sightings of all kinds of birds online, including common species, according to a new study published today in PLoS Biology . The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London, are urging the public to become 'citizen scientists' to help prevent today's common bird species from becoming threatened tomorrow.

An international group of scientists will gather at the University of Cambridge on Friday 7 May 2010 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer, one of the most dramatic scientific findings of modern times. The event will be web cast live. The seminal paper, published in the journal Nature, alerted the world to a major environmental threat and paved the way for concerted international action to address the problem.

PASADENA, Calif.— Parents pursuing adoption within the United States have strong preferences regarding the types of babies they will apply for, tending to choose non-African-American girls, and favoring babies who are close to being born as opposed to those who have already been born or who are early in gestation.

Art 01 Mar 10 A small display of Tolkein's original artwork and manuscripts will be on display Thursday, 4 March The Bodleian Library is taking part in World Book Day 2010 by exhibiting a selection of JRR Tolkien's original artwork which was used to illustrate . A unique manuscript of Hobbit doodles and a rare first edition of the book will also be on display.

BERKELEY — If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.