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Whether we’re listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from UC Berkeley. For instance, Mozart’s jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his somber Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.
Social science archive
Sociologist a KQED Asian Pacific American ‘local hero’ 
May 21, 2013: Each May KQED radio honors a number of ‘local heroes” of Asian Pacific American heritage. Among its 2013 honorees is UC Berkeley sociologist Evelyn Nakano Glenn, cited for groundbreaking scholarship on the intersectionality of race, gender, citizenship and labor.
Media Advisory: Gov. Jerry Brown to address 2013 political science graduates
May 17, 2013: California Gov. Jerry Brown will address UC Berkeley political science graduates May 20.
Emoticons get more emotional, thanks to Berkeley psychologists
April 26, 2013: Emoticons not expressing the full complexity of your feelings? UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner and his team at the campus’s Greater Good Science Center can help. They have assisted in creating a nuanced Facebook sticker package based on a character named “Finch,” inspired by scientist Charles Darwin.
Ten Berkeley faculty named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
April 24, 2013: Ten Berkeley professors have been named members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a prestigious 233-year-old honorary society of national leaders from academia, business, public affairs and the humanities.
People care about the source of cash, attach less value to ‘tainted’ wealth
April 23, 2013: It’s no accident that money obtained through dishonest or illegal means is called “dirty money.” A new UC Berkeley study suggests that when people perceive money as morally tainted, they also view it as having less value and purchasing power, challenging the belief that all money is green, and that people will cross ethical boundaries to amass it.
Cal Day launched graduating senior’s Berkeley experience
April 19, 2013: Senior Ahn-Thi Le’s UC Berkeley journey began with Cal Day, when she fell in love with the campus. Now, after following a path that took her to India to work with rural artisans and to a place in the CellScope initiative improving health care in Vietnam, Le is about to graduate.
Groundbreaking sociologist, playful spirit
April 12, 2013: In her consciousness-raising scholarship on work, family and emotional labor, Arlie Russell Hochschild has reshaped popular understandings of society and social change. Her alma mater, Swarthmore College, profiles the Berkeley professor emeritus, a leading feminist sociologist of her generation, in its alumni magazine.
#GlobalPOV: Art, videos and Twitter take poverty curriculum to the world
April 8, 2013: Three Cal alumni and teachers — a live-action sketch artist, a social-media proselytizer and a brilliant professor who is also an unapologetic Bono fan — have teamed up to create artful, provocative videos and brought Twitter into the classroom. The goal: to extend the teachings of Berkeley’s biggest minor, Global Poverty and Practice, online. The project could be a model for a new kind of public scholarship and online education.
California’s online registration drive draws broader voter base
March 26, 2013: A new Berkeley study of California’s new online voter registration system shows some striking results, including that more registrants come from low- and middle-income neighborhoods than expected.
Ph.D. students rethink the tenure track, scope out non-academic jobs
March 20, 2013: Traditionally, the holy grail for doctoral students has been a professorship at a prestigious university. But in a sign of changing times, many Ph.D. students are now seeking jobs outside higher ed. Enter “Beyond Academia,” a career conference organized by Ph.D. students and postdocs.
Attention high schoolers: March 23 talk on “survival of the kindest”
March 19, 2013: UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner is the next speaker (Sat., Mar. 23, 10 a.m.) in the Nano-High series of talks sponsored by Berkeley Lab. Any high school student or teacher can sign up online and drop in to hear about cutting-edge scientific issues of the day. Keltner’s talk is titled “The Compassionate Instinct: A Darwinian Tale of Survival of the Kindest.”
From ‘Beat Street’ to Berkeley
March 19, 2013: A visiting assistant professor in the music department, J. Griffith “Griff” Rollefson has carved out a unique specialty for himself in the world of musicology. He’s not just a go-to guy when it comes to the study of hip hop and its cultural impact. He’s the go-to guy in the field of European hip hop.
Americans and religion increasingly parting ways, new survey shows
March 12, 2013: Religious affiliation in the United States is at its lowest point since it began to be tracked in the 1930s, according to analysis of newly released survey data by researchers from UC Berkeley and Duke University. Last year, one in five Americans claimed they had no religious preference, more than double the number reported in 1990.
Research News Briefs
February 28, 2013: Research News Briefs: Economic paper says social pressure affects women more than men when it comes to altruism / Neighborhoods teeming with liquor stores linked to big jump in binge drinking
Looking for a preschool? What’s right for your child? 
February 28, 2013: It’s the time of year when many parents of young children are looking at preschools. In a podcast from the Greater Good Science Center, Berkeley sociologist Christine Carter and R.N. Rona Renner discuss preschool philosophies, research insights on academic vs. play-based programs, and how to choose what’s right for your child.
Economists, computer scientists awarded prestigious Sloan fellowships
February 19, 2013: UC Berkeley economists Frederico Finan and Yuriy Gorodnichenko and computer scientists Björn Hartmann and Michael Lustig are among 126 young scholars awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013.
Law prof’s book reveals human cost of climate change
February 8, 2013: New book by Andrew Guzman, Overheated: The Human Cost of Climate Change, predicts a grim future for billions of people in this century.
Exploring the world of silence, charted or not
February 5, 2013: Drawing its inspiration from John Cage, a six-week OLLI course delves into art, music, film, neuroscience, bliss, edginess, paradox and more in what Susan Hoffman, OLLI’s director, calls “an experiment” in experiential learning.
National Medal of Science awarded to psychology prof emerita Anne Treisman
February 4, 2013: Anne Treisman, professor emerita of psychology at UC Berkeley and Princeton University, is among 12 researchers to receive the National Medal of Science. One of the highest honors granted by the U.S. government, the annual award recognizes people who have made outstanding contributions to chemistry, engineering, computing, mathematics, or the biological, behavioral/social and physical sciences.
Townsend Center: incubating inspiration in the humanities, for 25 years
February 4, 2013: Celebrating its 25-year annniversary, UC Berkeley’s Townsend Center for the Humanities is igniting free-ranging conversations among faculty and students, across multiple disciplines, that open new dimensions in academia, new ways to solve social problems, or simply serve to reinvigorate, to stretch human minds in new directions, says the center’s new director, Alan Tansman.
Research News Briefs
January 30, 2013: Research News Briefs: The star-nosed mole is helping researchers discover touch and pain receptors in humans. / The Keck Foundation is funding a project to insert tiny magnets into cells to make them easy to track with magnetic resonance imaging. / Feelings of awe make people more generous.
Playwright/alum Stan Lai to discuss creativity, theater
January 25, 2013: The prolific director/playwright Stan Lai comes home to the Berkeley campus to talk about contemporary theater, culture and creativity in Asia and the United States — and what the world would be like without theater.
Poor sleep can leave romantic partners feeling unappreciated
January 19, 2013: A UC Berkeley study looking into how sleep habits impact gratitude has found that sleep deprivation can leave couples “too tired to say thanks” and can make one or the other partner feel taken for granted.
When mom is the CEO at home, workplace ambitions take a back seat
January 18, 2013: It’s often said that women can have it all – motherhood and a successful career. But a new UC Berkeley study suggests that women who rule the household have less energy for or interest in being a rising star in the workplace.
Powerful people better at shaking off rebuffs, bonding with others
January 18, 2013: Employees often tiptoe around their bosses for fear of offending them. But new UC Berkeley research shows people in power have thicker skin than one might think.
Top psychologists to present research on sleep, awe and more at ‘Big Easy’ conference
January 10, 2013: Poor sleep can sour relationships. Powerful people are better at shaking off rebuffs. Moms who run the household are less concerned with rising to power in the workplace, and people who gaze at the vastness of nature tend to be less self-centered. These are among several intriguing findings UC Berkeley psychologists will be presenting at this week’s annual meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in New Orleans.
I School prof Geoff Nunberg’s word of the year for 2012: big data
January 4, 2013: Berkeley linguist Geoffrey Nunberg picks “big data” as the word of the year for National Public Radio’s Fresh Air show, and explains why people should pay attention to it. With audio.
Banguns initiative calls for change, accountability
December 21, 2012: UC Berkeley political scientist Steve Fish is helping to launch an initiative called Banguns in response to the Sandy Hook massacre. Those signing the initiative pledge to vote for, or financially support, only those elected officials who actively support effective new gun-control legislation
Scientists construct first map of how the brain organizes everything we see
December 19, 2012: Our eyes may be our window to the world, but how do we make sense of the thousands of images that flood our retinas each day? UC Berkeley scientists have found that the brain is wired to put in order all the categories of objects and actions that we see. They have created the first interactive map of how the brain organizes these groupings.
