In Dialogue: What is misunderstood about Blackness? February 27, 2023 For decades, ‘Blackness’ has been a crucial political and cultural category that grounds a public discourse on cherishing a robust historical tradition and systemically uprooting white supremacy. Read More
Meaning and the hard problem of life February 21, 2023 In the middle of the twentieth century something happened to the meaning of “meaning.” Until then meaning had been associated with concepts, definitions, and language—and so associated strongly with the human animals who hold concepts, define things, and speak. But now it came to be connected to a term, information, that was sponsoring revolutions in areas from computation to biology. Read More
Why democracy belongs in artificial intelligence February 21, 2023 Most of the real harms AI systems can cause—but also the opportunities they can afford—are nothing to do with robots taking over the world or self-generating AI systems. They are to do with what, how, when, and why we should use powerful predictive tools in the decision-making systems of our political, social, and economic organizations. Read More
Ukraine’s memorials February 20, 2023 One of the curiosities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is how, even amid the deprivations of a savage war, Ukrainians have turned their attention to destroying or de-Russifying Soviet monuments and protecting their own. Read More
Medea, again February 16, 2023 Although she is surrounded by the accoutrements of a magical spell that she is performing, which gestures to her mastery of an arcane science, the predominant impression is of a woman who is being victimized by a love-charm that the gods have cast upon her, compelling her to use her special knowledge to help the hero Jason. Read More
James B. Nardi on The Hidden Company That Trees Keep February 15, 2023 You can tell a lot about a tree from the company it keeps. James Nardi guides you through the innermost unseen world that trees share with a wondrous array of creatures. Read More
Helen Sword on Writing with Pleasure February 13, 2023 Writing should be a pleasurable challenge, not a painful chore. Writing with Pleasure empowers academic, professional, and creative writers to reframe their negative emotions about writing and reclaim their positive ones. Read More
Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson on Campus Economics February 05, 2023 Campus Economics provides college and university administrators, trustees, and faculty with an essential understanding of how college finances actually work. Read More
Thoreau and the business of distraction February 04, 2023 In his early years, the writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau was a restless young man with a romantic temperament, casting about for a way to make a living without giving up his freedom. Read More
Batman’s holy grotto: The psychic resurrection of Bruce Conner February 02, 2023 Bohemian San Francisco gained a new gathering place in 1960 when the deep-pocketed aspiring painter Billie Jahrmarkt and his wife Joan decided to found a gallery for the benefit of their artistic and literary friends. Two such, artist Bruce Conner and poet/playwright Michael McClure, took the project in hand. Read More
What does it mean to resist surveillance? January 28, 2023 If you talk to a long-haul trucker about why they chose their occupation, there’s a high likelihood they’ll mention autonomy and freedom—that they didn’t want someone looking over their shoulder all the time. Read More
The long past of seaweeds January 27, 2023 Algae are one of life’s most diverse and least appreciated groups, and their rise—and the story of how seaweeds evolved within them—offer a key with which to unlock some of life’s most intricate secrets. Read More
David Drewry on The Land Beneath the Ice January 25, 2023 For some years I had felt need to produce a coherent story about the “big science” project to map the ice thickness of Antarctica and the land that lies beneath. This is truly the last place on Earth to be surveyed. Read More
Yes, the Chinese care about the Western classics January 24, 2023 Much as in Europe and the US, the ancient Greeks live on in China through their works—at least, recently so. Over the past century, the philosophical and political texts of western antiquity, especially those of classical Athens, have sparked the interest of Chinese intellectuals, journalists, reformers, and nationalists. Read More
Betty S. Lai on The Grant Writing Guide January 24, 2023 Grant funding can be a major determinant of promotion and tenure at colleges and universities, yet many scholars receive no training in the crucial skill of grant writing. Read More