Video PUP Speaks: Chryl Laird on the social experiment that helped her understand Black voters December 15, 2021 Steadfast Democrats聽author聽Chryl N. Laird聽explains what a social experiment taught her about the way group behavior of Black voters is shaped by social networks.聽锘� 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鈥檛? Read More
Essay Jane Austen鈥檚 beginnings December 10, 2021 There is an excellent cartoon, first published in Punch magazine, that depicts Jane Austen sitting in her publisher鈥檚 office and getting what we might call some mixed feedback on her latest submission: 鈥榃e like the plot, Miss Austen, but all this effing and blinding will have to go鈥�. Read More
Essay By Design | Book cover highlights of 2021 December 09, 2021 Adjusting to pandemic life in the past two years, we鈥檝e learned new ways to live, work, innovate, and flourish. Despite uncertainty, we鈥檝e 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鈥�1862), the author of聽Walden, 鈥淐ivil Disobedience,鈥� 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鈥檙e off the charts when it comes to anatomy, physiology and behaviour. Read More
Video PUP Speaks: Kyle Harper on a germ鈥檚-eye view of history November 30, 2021 In the immortal words of the rock band The Doors, people are strange. From nature鈥檚 perspective, human beings are highly unusual. Kyle Harper shows how humans became the irresistible hosts of so many diseases, and how it has shaped us as a species. Read More
Essay Bob Dylan鈥檚 鈥淢urder Most Foul鈥� and National Memory November 22, 2021 This week marks the 58th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Last year鈥檚 anniversary went nearly unnoticed in the press. Read More
Essay Shock value:聽The聽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
Podcast 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
Podcast 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
Podcast 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
Essay 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
Essay 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
Essay Collaborative innovations in support of diverse voices November 10, 2021 A few weeks ago, I sat in a聽Zoom room with our social science team, in awe (again) of聽my colleagues鈥櫬燾ommitment and聽their聽embrace of change. Read More
