Podcast The January 6th Capitol insurrection one year on January 06, 2022 Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities across America and around the globe are struggling to understand how so many people are being radicalized and why they are increasingly attracted to violent movements. Read More
Podcast “Bambi” isn’t about what you think it’s about January 05, 2022 Most of us think we know the story of Bambi—but do we? The Original Bambi is an all-new, illustrated translation of a literary classic that presents the story as it was meant to be told. Read More
Video Cynthia Miller-Idriss on the anniversary of the January 6th Capitol attack January 05, 2022 The 2021 attack on the Capitol changed the face of the United States. As the events of January 6th unfolded they were televised across the world, allowing a global audience to experience a violent response to an election held in what was once considered the world’s foremost democracy. Read More
Interview Book Club Pick: Land of Wondrous Cold January 03, 2022 Antarctica, the ice kingdom hosting the South Pole, looms large in the human imagination. The secrets of this vast frozen desert have long tempted explorers, but its brutal climate and glacial shores notoriously resist human intrusion. Read More
Reading List Start with a bold idea December 26, 2021 Bold ideas can come in with a roar; other times they enter our minds quietly, percolating there and transforming us. These books, forthcoming in 2022, propose radical ideas at various pitches. Read More
Essay Why are habits so sticky? December 23, 2021 Nearly all of us have habits that we would like to get rid of. It might be as innocuous as saying “um” too often when we speak, or as serious as a pack-a-day smoking habit. Either way, we know that changing our behavior is really difficult, even when the stakes are high. Read More
Essay How does one communicate with colors? December 20, 2021 Architecture is represented not only with lines, figures, and words, but also with colors. What sounds like a truism today—when colorful, computer-generated renderings of building projects dominate architectural media—is in fact a relatively recent phenomenon. Read More
Podcast Billy Wilder on Assignment December 19, 2021 Before Billy Wilder became the screenwriter and director of iconic films like Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, he worked as a freelance reporter, first in Vienna and then in Weimar Berlin. Read More
Video PUP Speaks: Chryl Laird on the social experiment that helped her understand Black voters December 15, 2021 Steadfast Democrats author Chryl N. Laird explains what a social experiment taught her about the way group behavior of Black voters is shaped by social networks. Read More
Podcast Why Trust Science? December 14, 2021 Are doctors right when they tell us vaccines are safe? Should we take climate experts at their word when they warn us about the perils of global warming? Why should we trust science when so many of our political leaders don’t? Read More
Essay Jane Austen’s beginnings December 10, 2021 There is an excellent cartoon, first published in Punch magazine, that depicts Jane Austen sitting in her publisher’s office and getting what we might call some mixed feedback on her latest submission: ‘We like the plot, Miss Austen, but all this effing and blinding will have to go’. Read More
Essay By Design | Book cover highlights of 2021 December 09, 2021 Adjusting to pandemic life in the past two years, we’ve learned new ways to live, work, innovate, and flourish. Despite uncertainty, we’ve done great things, shown abounding resilience and creativity. Read More
Podcast 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
Essay 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
Video PUP Speaks: Kyle Harper on 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 PUP Speaks 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
