August 2017
Sustainability is now cool -- and rightfully so -- because not only is it (thankfully) trendy, but it literally helps keep the planet cool.
And UCI is continuing to bolster its cool credibility. Sierra Magazine has, for the 8th year in a row, ranked UCI in the top-10 of "Cool Schools." The reasons:
August 2017
The first day of school can easily turn the most well-behaved, confident child into a rule-breaking, frightened one. But there are ways to prepare children for the new school year, and Jessica Borelli, associate professor of psychology and social behavior, has some strategies for parents.
August 2017
A prison psychologist has filed a lawsuit against the state of California, saying she was retaliated against for reporting abuses against gay and transgender prisoners.
The lawsuit and allegations are detailed in an article by KQED that cites research by Criminology, Law and Society Professor Valerie Jenness. In 2009, Jenness published a study finding that transgender prisoners are 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general population.
August 2017
In the 1990s, a rising number of criminal cases were spurred by the pretense that a crime victim had suffered at the hands of a perpetrator, but had repressed the memory for years or even decades.
At the time, Elizabeth Loftus, now a distinguished professor at the School of Social Ecology, didn't buy it.
"I could really find no credible scientific support for the idea that memory works this way," Loftus told the Good Men Project.
August 2017
Forensic evidence -- bite marks, latent fingerprints, firearms identification, shoe prints -- is routinely admitted into criminal trials, despite a rising chorus of scientists and lawyers questioning its accuracy. Often, DNA testing refutes what had been considered firm forensic evidence.
Since 1989, the National Registry of Exonerations, housed at the School of Social Ecology, has documented more than 2,000 exonerations. The Registry was mentioned in an article in The Washington Post.
August 2017
When a few dozen prisoners took over New York's Attica State Prison in September 1971, there were a few bad injuries, but no deaths initially, and the 1,300 prisoners quickly organized themselves and issued a list of demands. But five days later, New York State Police stormed the prison; 10 hostages and 29 prisoners died.
The effects of the uprising rippled across the country, as Keramet Reiter, assistant professor of criminology, law and society writes in her review of the book "Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy" by H.A. Thompson.
August 2017
Coping with crises requires resilience: a method of getting through challenges, whether that's unloading with a friend, exercising, meditating or something else. The challenge for many people is that once midlife hits, the crises change. That's because midlife is so different than the times before and the times after, according to Jutta Heckhausen, a professor of psychology and social behavior.
August 2017
James Vigil, professor emeritus of criminology, law and society, signed the first-ever UCI Founders’ Pledge in June 2017 for Aztlán, a mixed reality game he is creating with business partner Sergio C. Muñoz.
August 2017
Happy, optimistic, positive people live longer and healthier lives. And they even have better reactions to severe health challenges such as asthma, HIV and cancer.
"Happier people experience stress differently, they perceive their stress as less severe and don’t react to it as strongly. In fact, smiling while stressed can actually reduce heart rate and blood pressure," Sarah Pressman, assistant professor of psychology and social behavior, told Mashable.
Gift will help lab expand real-life application of non-invasive salivary testing.
A $150,000 gift from the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation will enable a new direction for the Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research: to translate basic scientific research into clinically useful information and methods.