Essay Learning from imperial violence February 22, 2024 Historians are supposed to feel lucky when our new books align closely with topics prominently in the news. I would welcome a little less relevance for 鈥淭hey Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence.鈥� Read More
Podcast A Real Right to Vote February 21, 2024 Throughout history, too many Americans have been disenfranchised or faced needless barriers to voting. Part of the blame falls on the Constitution, which does not contain an affirmative right to vote. Read More
Video PUP Speaks: Christopher Harris on the need to reframe Black History Month February 21, 2024 This month, Christopher Harris reminds us that to celebrate Black history is to cherish everyday Black life. Read More
Podcast Making Democracy Count February 16, 2024 What鈥檚 the best way to determine what most voters want when multiple candidates are running? What鈥檚 the fairest way to allocate legislative seats to different constituencies? What鈥檚 the least distorted way to draw voting districts? Read More
Essay Beyond bestiaries: the cats and dogs of Old English February 12, 2024 The words for 鈥榗at鈥� and 鈥榙og鈥� are virtually the same in Old English 鈥� hund (from which we get 鈥榟ound鈥�) and cat聽or catte (pronounced COT-tuh). Read More
Podcast Words and Distinctions for the Common Good February 12, 2024 Social scientists do research on a variety of topics鈥攇ender, capitalism, populism, and race and ethnicity, among others. They make descriptive and explanatory claims about empathy, intelligence, neoliberalism, and power. Read More
Essay When is an apple not an apple? February 09, 2024 When it comes time to use images to support a written report, a presentation, or a publication, oftentimes people find themselves stumped. The early years of education introduce students to the building blocks of verbal literacy, but very few of us are taught the ways in which images communicate their magic. Read More
Reading List Books by (and for) women in STEM February 09, 2024 A significant gender gap has long plagued all areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines across our global community. While progress has been made in increasing women鈥檚 participation in these areas of research and higher education, they remain under-represented in STEM fields. Read More
Essay My awkward road to unnatural extinction February 06, 2024 Successful writing projects have their tri-partite biographies, informed by the life histories of writer and subject matter and their productive encounter. Some of them are slowly formed while others are the result of a sudden insight or discovery. Read More
Interview Robin Schuldenfrei on Objects in Exile January 30, 2024 Robin Schuldenfrei reveals how the process of migration was crucial to the development of modernism. Read More
Podcast How to Be Healthy January 22, 2024 The second-century Greek physician Galen鈥攖he most famous doctor in antiquity after Hippocrates鈥攊s a central figure in Western medicine. Read More
Podcast Listen in: The Weirdness of the World January 22, 2024 Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a purely physical matter, or might it require something extra, something nonphysical? Read More
Video PUP Speaks: Hana Schank on public interest technology January 19, 2024 In order to address the critical challenges of our time鈥攑ublic health, climate change, homelessness, and more鈥攇overnments and non-profit organizations must effectively utilize technology. Here Hana Schank, PUP Speaks speaker and author of 'Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology', introduces a revolutionary new approach鈥攑ublic interest technology鈥攖o transform the way we solve problems. Read More
Essay Radio then and now January 17, 2024 When I was a kid, you could actually look inside a radio and see all sorts of neat stuff in there, like the amazing mechanical linkages of the tuning mechanism, or the mysterious, soft yellow glow of the vacuum tubes (the transistor hadn鈥檛 yet completely replaced tubes). The wonders of what I could see inside my parents鈥� 1947 AM/FM radio console hooked me. Read More
Essay Doing great deeds, or on the generosity of the rich January 17, 2024 Across history the rich have achieved plenty of things from which we continue to benefit. Surely, they did it for their own benefit, and to bolster their social status鈥攊n plainer words, to show off and to impress their fellow patricians鈥攂ut the fact remains that we benefit aesthetically from their efforts. Read More
