Humanities (Audio)

Plants have evolved the capability to convert atmospheric CO2 into biopolymers and therefore represent distributed systems for carbon removal that are highly scalable. Can we harness the power of plants today to help mitigate climate change? Wolfgang Busch, Ph.D., Associate Professor Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, explains the possibilities. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Show ID: 32990]

In "Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying: A Citizen's Handbook for the Trump Era and Beyond," author and Literature professor emeritus Roddey Reid traces the origins of the current toxic environment back some 30 years to a culture of abuse in the workplace, media and the political arena. In conversation with sociologist Akos Rona-Tas, Reid reviews the strategies and dynamics of contemporary bullying: how it works, the danger it causes, and the lessons to be learned in pursuit of a more civil public life. Reid is presented by the Division of Social Sciences, the Division of Arts and Humanities

along with the Program in Jewish Studies and the Department of Literature at UC San Diego. Series: "The Library Channel" [Show ID: 33230]

Father Gregory Boyle, Jesuit priest and bestselling author of Tattoos on the Heart, is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. He shares what three decades of working with gang members has taught him about faith, compassion, and the enduring power of kinship. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society" [Show ID: 32868]

Celebrate the launch of the Women Waging Peace Network at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego as emcee and US Ambassador Swanee Hunt leads a panel of peacemakers marking the success of the more than 1,000 women from around the world who have joined together to serve as negotiators, experts, advocates, policy makers, and other roles crucially needed in peace processes. The Women Waging Peace Network was founded by Ambassador Hunt and developed into a preeminent global network of women leaders by Hunt Alternatives and the Institute for Inclusive Security. Series: "Peace exChange -- Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego" [Show ID: 33137]

Author and Boston University law professor Pnina Lahav discusses her forthcoming biography, "Golda Meir: Through the Gender Lens." She explores the first and only woman prime minister of Israel, and her complex relationship with her role as a female leader in a man’s world. During the course of her legal career, Pnina Lahav has published nearly 50 journal articles and three books, including the critically acclaimed 'Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century'. Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Show ID: 33257]

Screenwriter Vanessa Taylor talks about co-writing "The Shape of Water" with Guillermo del Toro. The film set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America circa 1962. Taylor started out in television, writing for Alias, Everwood and Jack & Bobby before working on HBO’s Tell Me You Love Me, and later, Game of Thrones. Her first produced feature, Hope Springs, was released in 2012, and she has since gone on to write the Divergent movie and The Shape of Water. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 33232]

Billy Wilder's "Some Like it Hot" is one of the great comedies of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder was an Austrian-America filmmaker who moved to Paris then Hollywood after the rise of the Nazi party. David Mandel (Veep, Seinfeld) joins Carsey-Wolf Center Director Patrice Petro to discuss the film that starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon posing as women after witnessing a mob massacre in Chicago. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 33183]

Vienna-born Fritz Lang’s first American film "Fury" was released in 1936 after he left Germany for Hollywood. Fury raises issues about race, technology, mob violence, the corruption of political and legal institutions that remain remarkably current. Harvard Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures Eric Rentschler, and Carsey-Wolf Center Director Patrice Petro sit down for an in-depth discussion of the film and Lang. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 33184]

Join the co-directors of the documentary "Nostalgia for the Future," Avijit Mukul Kishore and Rohan Shivkumar, in conversation with UCSB Professor of Film and Media Studies Bhaskar Sarkar. The film looks at Indian modernity, the making of the citizen and the architecture of the home. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 33185]

Just ten years ago, questions about editing genomes of the next human generation were largely hypothetical. The prospect of erasing fatal or debilitating diseases was seen as a goal worth pursuing, even as some worried about the slippery slope of using this technology to create “designer babies.” Since then, the science has progressed rapidly. We now have a variety of tools that move these possibilities from theoretical to plausible. Based on his own research, as well as knowledge of the findings of others conducting stem cell research, Evan Y. Snyder, MD, PhD, FAAP will describe some of these tools and lead a discussion addressing key questions such as: Do we want to do this at all? If we are editing human genomes, then should this be done in vitro, in utero, or after birth? Are there some things we should not do? Who decides? Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Show ID: 32989]