Interview Michael Brenner on In Hitler’s Munich March 28, 2022 In the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in World War I and the failed November Revolution of 1918–19, the conservative government of Bavaria identified Jews with left-wing radicalism. Read More
Podcast Listen in: Work Pray Code March 25, 2022 We all want our jobs to be meaningful and fulfilling. Work Pray Code reveals what can happen when work becomes religion, and when the workplace becomes the institution that shapes our souls. Read More
Interview Stephen B. Heard on The Scientist’s Guide to Writing March 23, 2022 The ability to write clearly is critical to any scientific career. The Scientist’s Guide to Writing provides practical advice to help scientists become more effective writers so that their ideas have the greatest possible impact. Read More
Essay Madison’s balancing act March 22, 2022 The further the American Revolution recedes into history, the easier it is to miss just how close the United States of America came to being a divided collection of competing colonies under the punishing heel of an angry Britain. Read More
Essay The evolution of bird migration March 21, 2022 To an earthbound species like humans, bird migration is nothing short of extreme. A four-ounce Arctic tern can fly to Antarctica and back each year during a lifetime that spans 30 years. Read More
Video PUP Speaks: Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake on correcting economic disappointments March 18, 2022 The past two decades have witnessed sluggish economic growth, mounting inequality, dysfunctional competition, and a host of other ills that have left people wondering what has happened to the future they were promised. Read More
Interview Carolyn Chen on Work Pray Code March 16, 2022 Silicon Valley is known for its lavish perks, intense work culture, and spiritual gurus. Work Pray Code explores how tech companies are bringing religion into the workplace in ways that are replacing traditional places of worship, blurring the line between work and religion and transforming the very nature of spiritual experience in modern life. Read More
Essay Is the human brain a biological computer? March 14, 2022 Electrically, the brain remains largely a black box. We send electrical signals in and we get electrical signals out, but what it all exactly means is open to a lot of interpretation and some intense controversy. Read More
Essay A spacetime interval March 14, 2022 Albert Einstein is dead. Bohemia, too, no longer exists. They have ascended to the realm of myths and legends, become words to conjure with—yet they are not, in general, invoked together. Read More
Podcast So Simple a Beginning March 11, 2022 The form and function of a sprinting cheetah are quite unlike those of a rooted tree. A human being is very different from a bacterium or a zebra. Read More
Essay Pi Day March 11, 2022 As every mathematician knows, 3.14 is only a rough approximation to π, one that fails to reveal its most fascinating properties, of being irrational and in fact transcendental. Read More
Reading List A playlist for Waterloo Sunrise March 07, 2022 There are cultural moments that implant themselves in our shared consciousness, impacting how we discuss or recall those times. If someone were to mention the early aughts, for example, chances are we could all point to an event, a celebrity, a song that represents the entire era, not just for one person, but for us all. Read More
Essay Facebook’s dark design: It’s not just the algorithms February 25, 2022 In the midst of our current debate about Facebook, have we ignored a core issue? Public scrutiny has focused almost entirely on the company and its practices. Read More
Essay Power, racism, and the role of the university February 23, 2022 In October 2020, I sat down with historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad for an event about my book, The Campus Color Line. It was a lively conversation, ranging from discussions about reparations in higher education to questioning who should lead U.S. colleges and universities. Read More
Podcast American Shtetl February 17, 2022 Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. Read More