New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
Episodes
Rebecca L. Stein, "Screen Shots: State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine" (Stanford UP, 2021)
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the last two decades, amid the global spread of smartphones, state killings of civilians have increasingly been captured on the cameras of both bys...
Eunice Blavascunas, "Foresters, Borders, and Bark Beetles: The Future of Europe's Last Primeval Forest" (Indiana UP, 2020)
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Foresters, Borders, and Bark Beetles: The Future of Europe’s Last Primeval Forest (Indiana University Press, 2020), Eunice Blavascunas provide...
Andrew Dodd and Matthew Ricketson, "Upheaval: The Great Digital Disruption in Journalism and Its Aftermath" (NewSouth, 2021)
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Ricketson joins to discuss how newsrooms, the engine rooms of reporting, have shrunk. A generation of journalists has borne witness to seismic...
Roger Penrose, “The Cyclic Universe” (Open Agenda, 2021)
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the last twenty years, cosmology has unexpectedly emerged as one of the most exciting and dynamic fields of modern science. From astoundingly preci...
Katherine Chandler, "Unmanning: How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare" (Rutgers UP, 2020)
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Katherine Chandler's Unmanning: How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare (Rutgers UP, 2020) studies the conditions that create unmanned...
Catherine Knight Steele, "Digital Black Feminism" (NYU Press, 2021)
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How have Black women lead a digital revolution? In Digital Black Feminism (NYU Press, 2021), Catherine Knight Steele, an assistant professor of co...
Cyrus R. K. Patell, "Lucasfilm: Filmmaking, Philosophy, and the Star Wars Universe" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From A New Hope to The Rise of Skywalker and beyond, this book offers the first complete assessment and philosophical exploration of the Star War...
Vincent Ialenti, "Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now" (MIT Press, 2020)
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Based on twelve years of anthropological exploration, Vincent Ialenti's Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now (MIT Press, 2020...
Hannah Zeavin, "The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy" (MIT Press, 2021)
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, J.J. Mull interviews author Hannah Zeavin about her new book, The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy (MIT Press, 2021). Among ...
Luci Marzola, "Engineering Hollywood: Technology, Technicians, and the Science of Building the Studio System" (Oxford UP, 2021)
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Luci Marzola's book Engineering Hollywood: Technology, Technicians, and the Science of Building Studio System (Oxford University Press, 2021) tells...
Rebecca Earle, "Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Potatoes are the world's fourth most important food crop, yet they were unknown to most of humanity before 1500. Rebecca Earle, Feeding the People: T...
Jenny Nelson, “Harnessing the Sun” (Open Agenda, 2021)
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Harnessing the Sun is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Jenny Nelson, Professor of Physics and Head of the Climate C...
Caitlin Donohue Wylie, "Preparing Dinosaurs: The Work Behind the Scenes" (MIT Press, 2021)
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Those awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons on display in museums do not spring fully assembled from the earth. Technicians known as preparators have pains...
Martin Monti, “The Limits of Consciousness” (Open Agenda, 2021)
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Limits of Consciousness is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Martin Monti, Associate Professor in Psychology and...
Cait McKinney, "Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies" (Duke UP, 2020)
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, lesbian feminists across the United States and Canada have created information to build movements and survive in a world that doesn't wan...
Michael Yudell, "Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century" (Columbia UP, 2018)
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The co...
Deanna Marcum and Roger C. Schonfeld, "Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization" (Princeton UP, 2021)
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Google announced that it planned to digitize books to make the world's knowledge accessible to all, questions were raised about the roles and res...
Paul Milgrom, "Discovering Prices: Auction Design in Markets with Complex Constraints" (Columbia UP, 2017)
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Neoclassical economic theory shows that under the right conditions, prices alone can guide markets to efficient outcomes. But what if it it’s hard t...
Paul Thagard, "Bots and Beasts: What Makes Machines, Animals, and People Smart?" (MIT Press, 2021)
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Octopuses can open jars to get food, and chimpanzees can plan for the future. An IBM computer named Watson won on Jeopardy! and Alexa knows our favo...
Denis McQuail, “Perspectives on Mass Communication” (Open Agenda, 2021)
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Perspectives on Mass Communication is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Denis McQuail (1935-2017), who was Emeritus ...
Gideon Fujiwara, "From Country to Nation: Ethnographic Studies, Kokugaku, and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan" (Cornell UP, 2021)
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From Country to Nation: Ethnographic Studies, Kokugaku, and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan (Cornell UP, 2021) tracks the emergence of the modern...
Alvin E. Roth, "Who Gets What--and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design" (HMH, 2015)
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (Mariner Books, 2015), Nobel Memorial Prize Winner Alvin Roth exp...
Jaap-Henk Hoepman, "Privacy Is Hard and Seven Other Myths: Achieving Privacy Through Careful Design" (MIT Press, 2021)
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We are tethered to our devices all day, every day, leaving data trails of our searches, posts, clicks, and communications. Meanwhile, governments and ...
Darrin McMahon, “Deconstructing Genius” (Open Agenda, 2021)
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Deconstructing Genius is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and intellectual historian Darrin McMahon, Dartmouth College....
Elaine Yuan, "The Web of Meaning: The Internet in a Changing Chinese Society" (U Toronto Press, 2021)
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is the impact of Internet technology communication in China? How do Chinese people view "privacy" differently from the western perspective? How i...
Kyle Harper, "Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" (Princeton UP, 2021)
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kyle Harper's book Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History (Princeton UP, 2021) is a monumental history of humans and their ...
Sandro Galea, "The Contagion Next Time" (Oxford UP, 2021)
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How can we create a healthier world and prevent the crisis next time? In a few short months, COVID-19 devastated the world and, in particular, the Uni...
Mark Maslin, “Embracing the Anthropocene: Managing Human Impact” (Open Agenda, 2021)
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Embracing the Anthropocene: Managing Human Impact is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Mark Maslin, Professor of Geo...
Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, "The Imagination Machine: How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company’s Future" (HBR Press, 2021)
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller about their new book The Imagination Machine: How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company’s Fut...
Eric. S. Hintz, "American Independent Inventors in an Era of Corporate R&D" (MIT Press, 2021)
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wonder how America's individual inventors persisted alongside corporate R&D labs as an important source of inventions beginning at the turn of the ea...
Jonathan Rees, "The Chemistry of Fear: Harvey Wiley's Fight for Pure Food" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021)
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Though trained as a medical doctor, chemist Harvey Wiley spent most of his professional life advocating for "pure food"—food free of both adulterant...
Lisa T. Sarasohn, "Getting Under Our Skin: The Cultural and Social History of Vermin" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021)
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For most of our time on this planet, vermin were considered humanity's common inheritance. Fleas, lice, bedbugs, and rats were universal scourges, as ...
Elizabeth Loftus, “The Malleability of Memory” (Open Agenda, 2021)
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Malleability of Memory is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Elizabeth Loftus, a world-renowned expert on human m...
Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque...
Vanilla Beer and Allenna Leonard, "Stafford Beer the Father of Management Cybernetics" (2019)
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I am in conversation with artist and author Vanilla Beer about her 2019 book Stafford Beer: The Father of Management Cybernetics. Wh...
Chris Bleakley, "Poems That Solve Puzzles: The History and Science of Algorithms" (Oxford UP, 2020)
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As algorithms become ever more significant to and embedded in our everyday lives, ever more accessible introductions to them are needed. While several...
Tony Leggett, “The Problems of Physics, Reconsidered” (Open Agenda, 2021)
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Problems of Physics, Reconsidered is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Physics Nobel Laureate Tony Leggett. The ...
Nick Lane, “A Matter of Energy: Biology From First Principles” (Open Agenda, 2021)
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A Matter of Energy: Biology From First Principles is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nick Lane, Professor of Evolu...
Allan V. Horwitz, "DSM: A History of Psychiatry's Bible" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021)
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past seventy years, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, has evolved from a virtually unknown and little-used...
Shannon Mattern, "A City Is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences" (Princeton UP, 2021)
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Computational models of urbanism—smart cities that use data-driven planning and algorithmic administration—promise to deliver new urban efficienci...
Laura Paskus, "At the Precipice: New Mexico's Changing Climate" (U New Mexico Press, 2020)
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the Precipice: New Mexico's Changing Climate (U New Mexico Press, 2020) explores the question many of us have asked ourselves: What kind of world ...
Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez, "Delicious: The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human" (Princeton UP, 2021)
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nature, it has been said, invites us to eat by appetite and rewards by flavor. But what exactly are flavors? Why are some so pleasing while others are...
Stephen Kosslyn, “Applied Psychology: Thinking Critically” (Open Agenda, 2021)
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Applied Psychology: Thinking Critically is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Stephen Kosslyn, a renowned psychologis...
Joshua Schimel, "Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded" (Oxford UP, 2011)
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of Joshua Schimel, Professor of soil ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Writing Science: H...
Athena Aktipis, "The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer" (Princeton UP, 2020)
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of the forces driving cancer, we don’t necessarily think of evolution. But evolution and cancer are closely linked because the histori...
Mike Jones, "Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum" (Routledge, 2021)
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum (Routledge, 2021) provides the first interdisciplinary study of the digital document...
Justin Khoury, “Cosmological Conundrums” (Open Agenda, 2021)
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cosmological Conundrums is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Justin Khoury, Professor of Physics at the University o...
Caley Horan, "Insurance Era: Risk, Governance, and the Privatization of Security in Postwar America" (U Chicago Press, 2021)
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Actuarial thinking is everywhere in contemporary America, an often unnoticed byproduct of the postwar insurance industry’s political and economic in...
Ruth Aylett and Patricia A. Vargas, "Living with Robots: What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know" (MIT Press, 2021)
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There's a lot of hype about robots; some of it is scary and some of it utopian. In this accessible book, two robotics experts reveal the truth about w...
Firmin DeBrabander, "Life after Privacy: Reclaiming Democracy in a Surveillance Society" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As governments and corporations mine our “entrenched culture of sharing” to invade privacy (down to Target creating an algorithm to figure out whi...
Richard Janko, “The Derveni Papyrus” (Open Agenda, 2021)
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Derveni Papyrus is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Richard Janko, Gerald F. Else Distinguished University Prof...
Princeton UP's "Pedia" Series: Beautiful, Short Books About Big, Important Subjects
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to Robert Kirk, the publisher of Princeton University Press's "Pedia" book series. Encyclopedic in nature and miniature in form, the...
Patrick T. Reardon, "The Loop: The 'L' Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago" (Southern Illinois UP, 2020)
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Every day Chicagoans rely on the loop of elevated train tracks to get to their jobs, classrooms, or homes in the city’s downtown. But how much do th...
Katy Borner, "Atlas of Forecasts: Modeling and Mapping Desirable Futures" (MIT Press, 2021)
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To envision and create the futures we want, society needs an appropriate understanding of the likely impact of alternative actions. Data models and vi...
Caitlin Petre, "All the News That’s Fit to Click: How Metrics Are Transforming the Work of Journalists" (Princeton UP, 2021)
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 15 years, journalism has experienced a rapid proliferation of data about online reader behavior in the form of web metrics. These newsro...
Angelica Malin, "She Made It: The Toolkit for Female Founders in the Digital Age" (Kogan Page, 2021)
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to Angelica Malin about her new book She Made It: The Toolkit for Female Founders in the Digital Age (Kogan Page, 2021). Female entre...
Silvia Casini, "Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology" (MIT Press, 2021)
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our bodies are scanned, probed, imaged, sampled, and transformed into data by clinicians and technologists. In Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Make...
Stephen Hinshaw, “Understanding ADHD” (Open Agenda, 2021)
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Understanding ADHD is based on an in-depth, filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Stephen Hinshaw, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley. Ste...
Stephen J. Pyne, "The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next" (U California Press, 2021)
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen J. Pyne's new book The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next (U California Press, 2021) tells the story of what hap...
Audrey Watters, "Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning" (MIT Press, 2021)
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Contrary to the claims of many of today’s advocates of computerized instruction and online learning, efforts to use technology to improve the educat...
Nayanika Mathur, "Crooked Cats: Beastly Encounters in the Anthropocene" (U Chicago Press, 2021)
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Big cats—tigers, leopards, and lions—that make prey of humans are commonly known as “man-eaters.” Anthropologist Nayanika Mathur reconceptuali...
H. Glenn Penny, "In Humboldt's Shadow: A Tragic History of German Ethnology" (Princeton UP, 2021)
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Berlin Ethnological Museum is one of the world's largest and most important anthropological museums, housing more than a half million objects coll...
Joanna Haigh, “Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun” (Open Agenda, 2021)
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Joanna Haigh, Professor Emerita of Atmospheric...
Anil Seth, "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness" (Dutton, 2020)
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science...
Jennifer Groh, “Knowing One’s Place: Space and the Brain” (Open Agenda, 2021)
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Knowing One’s Place: Space and the Brain is based on an in-depth, filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Jennifer Groh, Professor of Psycholo...
Jemma Wadham, "Ice Rivers: A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity" (Princeton UP, 2021)
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ice sheets and glaciers that cover one-tenth of Earth’s land surface are in grave peril. High in the Alps, Andes, and Himalaya, once-indomitable...
Alessandra Tanesini, "The Mismeasure of the Self: A Study in Vice Epistemology" (Oxford UP, 2021)
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Epistemology traditionally focuses on the analysis of central epistemological concepts, such as knowledge, justification, evidence, truth, and belief....
Roy Richard Grinker, "Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness" (Norton, 2021)
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stigma about mental illness makes life doubly hard for people suffering from mental or emotional distress. In addition to dealing with their condition...
Magnus Ramage and Karen Shipp, "Systems Thinkers" (Springer, 2020)
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I spoke with Magnus Ramage, co-author of Systems Thinkers (Springer, 2020). This second edition provides an update to Ramage’s an...
Thomas O. Haakenson, "Grotesque Visions: The Science of Berlin Dada" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas O. Haakenson's book Grotesque Visions: The Science of Berlin Dada (Bloomsbury, 2021) focuses on the radical avant-garde interventions of Salo...
Jennifer L. Lambe, "Madhouse: Psychiatry and Politics in Cuban History" (UNC Press, 2017)
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"On the outskirts of Havana lies Mazorra, an asylum known to--and at times feared by--ordinary Cubans for over a century. Since its founding in 1857, ...
Michael Gordin, “Science and Pseudoscience” (Open Agenda, 2021)
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Science and Pseudoscience is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Michael Gordin, Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Co...
Rohit Khanna, "Misunderstanding Health: Making Sense of America's Broken Health Care System" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021)
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With technological advances and information sharing so prevalent, health care should be more transparent and easier to access than ever before. So why...
Jay Gargus, “Autism: A Genetic Perspective” (Open Agenda, 2021)
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Autism: A Genetic Perspective is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Jay Gargus, Professor of Physiology, Biophysics an...
Uta Frith, “Exploring Autism” (Open Agenda, 2021)
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Exploring Autism is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and one of the world’s leading experts on autism Uta Frith, Profe...
Michael Friendly and Howard Wainer, "A History of Data Visualization and Graphic Communication" (Harvard UP, 2021)
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Statistical graphing was born in the seventeenth century as a scientific tool, but it quickly escaped all disciplinary bounds. Today graphics are ubiq...
Chris Frith, “In Search of a Mechanism: From the Brain to the Mind” (Open Agenda, 2020)
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Search of a Mechanism: From the Brain to the Mind is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Chris Frith, Emeritus Profe...
Matthew Flisfeder, "Algorithmic Desire: Toward a New Structuralist Theory of Social Media" (Northwestern UP, 2021)
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most fundamental aspects of modern life is that much of it is lived on and through social media. We create profiles, post pictures, update ...
Carol Anderson, "The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout American history to the twenty-first century, regardless of the laws, court decisions, and changing political environment, the Second Amend...
Craig Robertson, "The Filing Cabinet: A Vertical History of Information" (U Minnesota Press, 2021)
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The history of how a deceptively ordinary piece of office furniture transformed our relationship with information The ubiquity of the filing cabinet i...
Jonathan Brill, "Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change" (McGraw-Hill Education, 2021)
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to Jonathan Brill about his new book Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change (McGraw-Hill E...
Barbara Fredrickson, “The Science of Emotions” (Open Agenda, 2020)
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Science of Emotions is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Barbara Fredrickson, Director Positive Emotions & Psycho...
James W. Cortada, "IBM: The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon" (MIT Press, 2019)
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Retired from life after 38 years in several roles at IBM, the prolific academic production of James W. Cortada now continues telling his side of the s...
Raghav Rajagopalan, "Immersive Systemic Knowing: Advancing Systems Thinking Beyond Rational Analysis" (Springer Nature, 2020)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, we speak with Ragav Rajagopalan about his book, Immersive Systemic Knowing: Advancing Systems Thinking Beyond Rational Analysis, out...
Mark L. Johnson and Don M. Tucker, "Out of the Cave: A Natural Philosophy of Mind and Knowing" (MIT Press, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Plato's Allegory of the Cave trapped us in the illusion that mind is separate from body and from the natural and physical world. Knowledge had to be e...
Jonathan E. Robins, "Oil Palm: A Global History" (UNC Press, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oil palms are ubiquitous—grown in nearly every tropical country, they supply the world with more edible fat than any other plant and play a role in ...
Charles Foster, “Defined By Relationship” (Open Agenda, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Defined By Relationship is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Charles Foster, who is a writer, traveller, veterinarian...
Lee McIntyre, "How to Talk to a Science Denier" (MIT Press, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change is a hoax--and so is coronavirus. Vaccines are bad for you. These days, many of our fellow citizens reject scientific expertise and pre...
Leslie Anne Hadfield, "A Bold Profession: African Nurses in Rural Apartheid South Africa" (U Wisconsin Press, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first African nurse was certified in the Ciskei region of South Africa during the early decades of the twentieth century. Since then, African nurs...
P. J. Boczkowski and E. Mitchelstein, "The Digital Environment: How We Live, Learn, Work, and Play Now" (MIT Press, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Increasingly we live through our personal screens; we work, play, socialize, and learn digitally. The shift to remote everything during the pandemic w...
Benjamin R. Cohen et al., "Acquired Tastes: Stories about the Origins of Modern Food" (MIT Press, 2021)
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The modern way of eating—our taste for food that is processed, packaged, and advertised—has its roots as far back as the 1870s. Many food writers ...
Victor Ferreira, “Speaking and Thinking” (Open Agenda, 2021)
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Speaking and Thinking is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Victor Ferreira, Professor of Psychology and Principal Inv...
Mikkael A. Sekeres, "When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia" (MIT Press, 2020)
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you are told that you have leukemia, your world stops. Your brain can't function. You are asked to make decisions about treatment almost immediat...
Nita Farahany, “Neurolaw” (Open Agenda, 2021)
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Neurolaw is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nita Farahany, Robert O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law and Pr...
Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther, "When Maps Become the World" (U Chicago Press, 2020)
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are maps of the Earth’s landmasses, the universe, the ocean floors, human migration, the human brain: maps are so integral to how we interact ...
Beronda L. Montgomery, "Lessons from Plants" (Harvard UP, 2021)
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Lessons from Plants (Harvard University Press, 2021), Dr. Beronda Montgomery connects the science of plants to the behavior of people. She unpa...
Chiara Marletto, "The Science of Can and Can't: A Physicist's Journey Through the Land of Counterfactuals" (Viking, 2021)
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There is a vast class of things that science has so far almost entirely neglected. They are central to the understanding of physical reality both at a...
Artur Ekert, “Cryptoreality” (Open Agenda, 2021)
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cryptoreality is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Artur Ekert, Professor of Quantum Physics at the Mathematical Inst...
John Davies and Alexander J. Kent, "The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World" (U Chicago Press, 2017)
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union conducted an ambitious yet clandestine programme to map the world - from big cities like New York and Toky...
Peter B. Kaufman, "The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge" (Seven Stories Press, 2021)
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of Peter Kaufman, Program Manager in Strategic Initiatives and Resource Development at MIT Open Learning and author of Th...