Listen in: Now Comes Good Sailing December 03, 2021 The world is never done catching up with Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), the author of Walden, “Civil Disobedience,” and other classics. A prophet of environmentalism and vegetarianism, an abolitionist, and a critic of materialism and technology, Thoreau even seems to have anticipated a world of social distancing in his famous experiment at Walden Pond. Read More
How did we get to here? Dinopedia and the dinosaur renaissance December 01, 2021 Dinosaurs are among the most exciting and remarkable animals ever. Animals like the giant predator Tyrannosaurus, the elephant-sized, mega-horned Triceratops and the whale-sized, long-necked sauropods Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus and the like are not just large and unusual, they’re off the charts when it comes to anatomy, physiology and behaviour. Read More
Kyle Harper gives a germ’s-eye view of history November 30, 2021 In the immortal words of the rock band The Doors, people are strange. From nature’s perspective, human beings are highly unusual. Plagues upon the Earth author Kyle Harper shows how humans became the irresistible hosts of so many diseases, and how it has shaped us as a species. Read More
Listen in: American Afterlives November 22, 2021 Death in the United States is undergoing a quiet revolution. You can have your body frozen, dissected, composted, dissolved, or tanned. Read More
When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People November 22, 2021 There is an epidemic of bad thinking in the world today. An alarming number of people are embracing crazy, even dangerous ideas. Read More
Bob Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul” and National Memory November 22, 2021 This week marks the 58th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Last year’s anniversary went nearly unnoticed in the press. Read More
Shock value: The life and death story of electricity November 22, 2021 It is an irony of our age that while electricity increasingly drives nearly every aspect of our daily lives, we continue to view it as some kind of mysterious external physical force that powers our appliances rather than an internal and vital biological force that animates our bodies. Read More
Listen in: Running Out November 15, 2021 The Ogallala aquifer has nourished life on the American Great Plains for millennia. But less than a century of unsustainable irrigation farming has taxed much of the aquifer beyond repair. Read More
Rediscovering friendship November 12, 2021 Plagues and pandemics are nothing new in history with the classical world of ancient Greece and Rome certainly having their share. Read More
Educating citizens November 11, 2021 The presidential election of 2016 prompted many academic leaders and faculty members to ponder the implications for their own institution. Read More
Collaborative innovations in support of diverse voices November 10, 2021 A few weeks ago, I sat in a Zoom room with our social science team, in awe (again) of my colleagues’ commitment and their embrace of change. Read More
Margaret Jacobs on After One Hundred Winters November 09, 2021 After One Hundred Winters confronts the harsh truth that the United States was founded on the violent dispossession of Indigenous people and asks what reconciliation might mean in light of this haunted history. Read More
Humanities to the rescue November 08, 2021 Environmentally speaking, it might be said that Western culture backed the wrong horse with both Christianity and capitalism. Each ingrained a self-centeredness—respectively, inter- and intra-species—that has proven disastrous for the planet. Read More
Listen in: Career and Family November 05, 2021 A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family. Today, there are more female college graduates than ever before, and more women want to have a career and family, yet challenges persist at work and at home. Read More
Stepping into A Dog’s World November 05, 2021 As I write these words, Bella is napping on the floor next to my desk, curled into herself like a large hairy black bean. Every so often, following an inner cue that remains mysterious to me, she stretches out and arches onto her back, feet to the sky, exposing a soft white belly. Read More
