To better understand how the brains of social mammals process group communication, neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, used wireless neural recording devices to track the brain activity of Egyptian fruit bats as they socialized in small groups, and occasionally vocalized to each other. This audio recording from the study gives a sense of the type of “chatter” that is going on between the bat group members during social interactions. Read the story on Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/10/21/bat-study-reveals-secrets-of-the-social-brain/.

Listen to the social chatter of Egyptian fruit bats

Transcript: 

My relationship with my older brother was really close. I didn't really have a father figure growing up. And my older brother was that father figure to me. He would often mentor me, spend time with me and hold me accountable.

Every time I would get in trouble or cut classes, he would often be there to pick me up from the principal's office and also give me a sense of lecture, which wasn't criticizing, but more so letting me know, "Hey, you know you messed up and you know what you gotta do."

You know, many times we would just go out to fish in the Delta River and sometimes we would come to the Bay Area in San Francisco and do some crabbing. 

It wasn't just about the activity; it was more so about him wanting to spend time with me and also teaching me that there's life outside of the city. That's a way that you can balance and also escape a lot of the things going on in your surroundings.

Photo courtesy of Danny Thongsy. 

Music: "Felt Lining" by Blue Dot Sessions: https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/38a694f6-6405-4370-98bc-a828c229c256

Read the story on Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/01/20/student-danny-thongsy-we-can-look-within-ourselves-to-find-strength-and-persevere/

For Danny, his older brother was his father figure

Transcript:

So, on the day that my brother, my older brother, passed away... I remember I was at a friend's house partying, drinking alcohol, gambling and just joking around with each other.

And a friend from the neighborhood rode his bike all the way from the place that my older brother was shot. Once I received that news, I was in shock. And afterwards, I found a phone, called my family and they told me that my older brother was in the hospital.

I remember going through the room where he was lying. And other family members were there crying, as well. And me, I was just staring at him with tears coming out of my eyes and just telling myself, "Wow, this can't be happening. This cannot be happening."

I whispered something into my brother's ear while he was just lying there, saying, "Whoever did this, they're going to pay for this."

When he passed away, he was 26 years old. His name was Mee "Danny" Thongsy. So, the name Danny is also his name, which I took up after his passing.

Photo courtesy of Danny Thongsy.

Music: "Again in the Spring" by Blue Dot Sessions https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/4c72ce2f-6716-4b19-b3a2-24a425076b70

Read the story on Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/01/20/student-danny-thongsy-we-can-look-within-ourselves-to-find-strength-and-persevere/

The day Danny's older brother was killed

Transcript:

So, for my family, our economic condition, we didn't really have much. We came over with just pretty much nothing. For work, my parents, they were farmworkers, working with local farmers — I think because of the skills they learned from the homeland being rice farmers.

As my parents got older, their health started deteriorating and they couldn't go out to the fields and work. So, what they would do, they would find ways to make income by us cooking food, selling food: egg rolls, lemon grass chicken, spring rolls, bảo.

Bảo itself is... we call it Lao Bảo, but in different Asian cultures, they have a little twist to it, which itself is just a steamed flour bun with some stuffing inside. It could be meat, mushroom or some vegetables.

That's one of the staple meals I grew up on, as well. Aside from eating sticky rice. Yeah, it's still my favorite today (laughs). 

Photo courtesy of Danny Thongsy.

Music: "Algea Tender" by Blue Dot Sessions https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/2e2ae0c8-f17c-4688-a3f5-ba2645e79f55

Read the story on Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/01/20/student-danny-thongsy-we-can-look-within-ourselves-to-find-strength-and-persevere/

How Danny's family survived as Laotian refugees

Transcript:

(Heavy breathing and running footsteps on the ground outside)

Philip Stark: I'm in a very entitled position in this world, right? I'm a white, male, European ancestry, educated, job at one of the world's best universities. All those things give me a podium that a lot of people don't get and I try to use it for good. I sort of take advantage of that to try to spread messages that I think are worth hearing — about sustainable agriculture and food waste and all these things. Even the delight, the physical delight of doing this and connecting to the part of your brain that is really wired for this. It all feels good. 

So, I mean, do I have pangs of guilt about it? Yes — there are other people who are more deserving of the attention than I am. But given that I've got the attention, I'll try to use it for something of value. 

---

UC Berkeley photo by Jason Pohl.

Read the story on Berkeley News: news.berkeley.edu.

Using his privilege and platform for good

Transcript: 

(Heavy breathing and running footsteps on the ground outside)

Jason Pohl: So, maybe you've talked about this before, but when did this all start for you? 

Philip Stark: So, it started trail running.

Jason Pohl: Of course.

Philip Stark: And putting in long miles, and starting to notice the plants and noticing things changing from season to season. And getting curious about "What's that pretty flower" or "What's this?" At first, it was like, "What it called?" 

(Stops running, wind sounds)

Oh, here's some miner's lettuce. This gets covered. 

(Starts running again)

So, you know, why do I care what it's called? That's this funny Western notion of like naming a thing is somehow knowledge. 

Jason Pohl: It's trivia. 

Philip Stark: Yeah. It's a bit like Western medicine, where if you've got a name, a diagnosis, it's as if you have a cure, which is not true. Putting a name on a syndrome doesn't give you a cure. 

So, to answer that question: What's it good for? To eat it as medicine, whatever. And I sort of knew that some of those things were edible. I had the beginning of a green list. It's advice I give people who want to start, right? If there's something you recognize already, that's the beginning of your green list. 

It went from nibbling on stuff on the trail to stuffing some in my pockets to eat when I got home to a game of, "Can I have something foraged on the table every day" to "Can I learn a new edible species every week?"

Jason Pohl: (Laughs)

Philip Stark: Then, once you start to get tuned in, your brain ... we really are wired to recognize this stuff. We're hunter-gatherers by evolution. So, you start to see it everywhere, including in cracks in the sidewalk. 

---

UC Berkeley photo by Jason Pohl.

Read the story on Berkeley News: news.berkeley.edu

A foraging fixation born on the run

Vincent Medina, co-founder of the campus's 'ottoy initiative and an East Bay Ohlone cultural leader, says "xučyun ruwway" and explains its meaning.

Transcript:

xučyun ruwway (HOOCH-yoon ROO-why). xučyun ruwway (HOOCH-yoon ROO-why). xučyun is the name of a region in our East Bay Ohlone homeland that includes Berkeley and Albany. ruwway is the name for house or home in our Chochenyo language.

Read the story on Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/04/22/new-uc-berkeley-housing-complex-to-be-called-xucyun-ruwway-honoring-ohlone-people

xučyun ruwway: Vincent Medina on how to say it and what it means

Sounds, interviews and excerpts from UC Berkeley to accompany Berkeley News stories on news.berkeley.edu.

xučyun ruwway: Vincent Medina on how to say it and what it means

Berkeley Sounds

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