Welcome to our weekly roundup of news from university presses! Once again, there is a lot to share this week from our fellow academic publishing houses and much to learn on What SUP at the social university presses. This week, we found conversations on #bannedbookweek, the benefits of a confident handshake, and mass extinctions. What did you read this week?

The MIT Press puts a spotlight on the science behind social interactions. How do our brains evaluate nonverbal social interactions such as body language? One of the findings: a simple handshake is always a good idea.

Oxford University Press anticipates the new James Bond movie by giving their top 10 of the most forgotten and underrated Bond title songs. Gems include Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice” and Patti LaBelle’s “If You Asked Me To”.

Stanford University Press discusses the forgetting and abjection of plant life in favor of animals among humanities scholars. What changes in the debates about biopolitics if we take vegetable life into account alongside animal studies?

The University of North Carolina Press shares the history of giving blessings in anticipation of the annual feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Until the mid-1980s Protestants rarely every blessed things, so what changed?

Princeton University Press interviews paleoenvironments professor Paul Wignall on how life on earth survived mass extinctions throughout history.

New York University Press argues against keeping children and young people away from certain books. Instead of censoring, adults should engage with their children’s curiosity and let them read and learn.  After all, books offer a safe space where we can have conversations about difficult subject matter.

John Hopkins University Press features a number of helpful tips for surgeons preparing to work overseas. With over 288 million people in need of surgical care in low-resource countries, volunteer surgeons are desperately needed.

Oregon State University Press analyzes how the intersections of race, gender and class with the justice system bias juries and significantly affect the outcome of trials. The author uses his own experience with a racially biased trial to argue that we all deserve better.

Syracuse University Press celebrates #bannedbookweek by providing a list of reads that have been banned by certain regimes in the past in order to celebrate intellectual freedom.