The need for material literacy October 03, 2022 In a time of screen saturation, digitized images of objects and manuscripts, and an emphasis on “knowledge workers” rather than craftspeople, we run the risk of becoming materially illiterate. Read More
Aline, Eero, my boyfriend, and me September 20, 2022 A few years ago, after I had just met my boyfriend, we found ourselves driving in circles around a Colorado carpark. He claims the carpark was confusingly oriented, that its architecture seemed to indicate that we would go either up or down if we kept going. Read More
On ‘seeing’ trees and forests September 19, 2022 Forests and the trees that comprise them are understood at different scales of space and time. This is true for professional and recreational naturalists, research scientists, hikers, conservationists, eco-tourists, and ecologists. Read More
The challenge of popularizing mathematics September 19, 2022 Of all the academic disciplines, mathematics is perhaps the most difficult to popularize. One must navigate a subject that is not always received with excitement by the general public. Read More
Making democracy with autocrats: East Asia’s past, China’s future? September 15, 2022 Democracy is not just Western; it is Eastern as well. In a time when democracies globally—including the United States—are endangered, three Asian democracies stand out for their quality and stability: Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Read More
Word watch September 12, 2022 Ever have the feeling that you should know something, but you don’t yet know what it is? But wait, if it is unknown to you, then how do you know that you should know it? Read More
Dinosaurs are more and less unknown than you think August 22, 2022 Even if you aren’t interested in dinosaurs, it’s almost impossible not to absorb some information from the endless swirl of discoveries reported in the media, new documentaries and even movies (of bother greater and lesser quality). Read More
Rediscovering Melville and Mumford August 22, 2022 The darkest times often feel unprecedented, but as almost any historian will tell you, they’re not. Read More
Young, Gifted and Diverse: Q&A with the authors August 22, 2022 Despite their diversity, Black Americans have long been studied as a uniformly disadvantaged group. Read More
Jason König on The Folds of Olympus August 09, 2022 I have always loved spending time in the mountains and reading about the history of mountains and mountaineering. I never set out with the intention of joining up those interests with my work as a classicist, but it just occurred to me at one point that premodernity, and especially the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, tend to be completely ignored in that increasingly vast body of writing. Read More
Why work matters August 09, 2022 The United States is one of the most unfriendly places in the world to have a child, especially for low-wage, working parents. To date, our current policy initiatives for working families focus on giving parents time away from work to cope with family responsibilities, with policies such as parental leave, sick time, and scheduling flexibility. Read More
Tim Birkhead on Birds and Us August 08, 2022 I hated history at school, but once I became interested in how our ideas develop through time—in how we know what we know about birds—the past suddenly became very important. Read More
David Hone on How Fast Did T. rex Run? August 08, 2022 How did dinosaurs rear their young? What did they eat? What did T. rex actually do with those tiny arms? Read More
Virginia Trimble and David Weintraub on The Sky is for Everyone August 03, 2022 The Sky Is for Everyone is an internationally diverse collection of autobiographical essays by women who broke down barriers and changed the face of modern astronomy. Read More
Adrienne Mayor on Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs July 29, 2022 Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. Read More
