We have a way of talking about STEM fields as the opposite of the humanities–but it’s hard to have one without the other. Debbie Sterling of Goldieblox believes that combining reading and engineering is the best way to get young girls interested in the subject. And if you’ve ever tried to put Ikea furniture together, you know how important it is that working engineers learn to communicate. Mohamed Gad-el-Hak (Virginia Commonwealth University) has designed a writing course specifically for engineering students. According to Daniel Becker, (University of Virginia) a focus on reading and writing makes better doctors, too. He’s a doctor and a writer, as well as mentor to Nitin Ahuja (University of Virginia) and Laura Kolbe (University of Virginia). Plus: It’s almost impossible to imagine modern life without the zipper. Yet for thirty years after its invention, it was so mechanically awkward that it had no real advantage over hooks and buttons. Robert Friedel, author of Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty, examines how new things become part of and actually shape our daily lives. Friedel and Professor of Business Administration Alexander Horniman–both with the Batten Institute at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business–show how the zipper illustrates the limitations and expectations of technology. The zipper, they say, is a wonderful example of technology looking for meaning: “Our technologies do not themselves contain their meaning. We impose meaning on our technology.” -