University of California Video Podcasts (Video)

This talk considers the effects of the most aggressive ants on the environment, arguing that certain invasive species resemble humans in their capacity for global conquest and environmental destructiveness.  Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37772]

Charlie L. Morales' parents came to San Francisco from El Salvador. He and his siblings spent their time exploring the city and enjoyed a deep sense of community. When it came time to go to college, Morales applied to UC San Diego sight unseen. Arriving on campus the night before orientation, he had nowhere to live, no financial aid, and no support system. Determined to succeed, he learned the ins and outs of college, found mentors, and created a path that was uniquely his. Now he is a college counselor in his hometown helping students like him shape their futures. Series: "Education Channel" [Education] [Show ID: 37619]

Bruce Nauman's "Vices and Virtues" for the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego consists of seven pairs of words superimposed in blinking neon, which run like a frieze around the top of the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory. Seven vices alternate with seven virtues: FAITH/LUST, HOPE/ENVY, CHARITY/SLOTH, PRUDENCE/PRIDE, JUSTICE/AVARICE, TEMPERANCE/GLUTTONY, and FORTITUDE/ANGER.

The virtues flash sequentially clockwise around the building at one rate; and the vices circulate counterclockwise at a slightly faster rate. At brief intervals, all seven virtues and all seven vices flash together. The progression of the two repeating cycles playing off each other allows all possible combinations of the words to be displayed. This complicated performance, generated by the mechanical sequencing of a simple moral dichotomy, dramatizes the instability of any ethical judgment. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 37810]

Dr. Javier Birchenall, associate professor of Economics at UC Santa Barbara, discussed the impact of disease for long-run economic development, the interaction between population and the economy, and the labor market. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37870]

Michele De Luca, MD, shares his research in gene therapy for epidermolysis bullosa and cell therapy for ocular burns. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 37671]

Terry Allen's diverse talents and experiences are highlighted in his first outdoor project, "Trees," for the Stuart Collection. He remarks upon the continual loss of natural environment at UC San Diego by salvaging three eucalyptus trees from a grove razed to make way for new campus buildings. Two of these trees stand like ghosts within a eucalyptus grove between the Geisel Library and the Faculty Club. Although they ostensibly represent displacement or loss, these trees offer a kind of compensation: one emits a series of recorded songs and the other a lively sequence of poems and stories created specifically for this project. At the entrance to the Geisel library the third tree of Allen's installation remains silent - perhaps another form of the tree of knowledge, perhaps a reminder that trees must be cut down to print books, perhaps a dance form, or perhaps noting that one can acquire knowledge both through observation of nature and through research. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 37807]

Farmers in Cambodia have started to grow more vegetables to meet rising consumer demand, supported by innovations from a team led by UC Davis researchers. With help from Cambodia’s Royal University of Agriculture, farmers adopted "nethouses" to protect crops from pests without the use of chemical pesticides and packinghouses to better care for their crops after harvest. Series: "UCTV Prime" [Agriculture] [Show ID: 37826]

Eric Roth, screenwriter of Dune, discusses the film with moderator Matt Ryan. Roth talks about how he tackled adapting Frank Herbert’s novel to the screen, and his collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve. He also talks about various details of his process, such as how he approached portraying the characters of Paul and Lady Jessica, and bringing the world of Dune to life with his portrayal of the Fremen and the sandworms. Roth elaborates on working with the Herbert family early on to make sure that the legacy of the novels was properly respected. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37862]

In The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century, Moisés Naím, former Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy, turns to the trends, conditions, technologies and behaviors that are contributing to the concentration of power, and to the clash between those forces that weaken power and those that strengthen it. Naím concentrates on the three “P”s—populism, polarization, and post-truths. All of which are as old as time, but are combined by today’s autocrats to undermine democratic life in new and frightening ways. The Revenge of Power shows how power has not changed but the way people go about gaining it and using it has been transformed. Series: "Institute of the Americas" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 37831]

Finlay created a one-word poem installed at one edge of the north playing field at UC San Diego. "UNDA" consists of five stone blocks into which are carved, in various sequences, the letters U, N, D, A, and an S-like mark which is the editor's notation for "transpose these letters." The letters on each block in the sequence carry out the transpositions indicated by this curved mark so that regardless of the order of the letters, each block ultimately spells out UNDA. In the course of the multi-part sculpture, the wave sign rolls through UNDA, the Latin word for wave, while the tops of the stones are aligned with the distant horizon of ocean. A literary cycle is identified with the cycle of the natural wave, an association that the artist relates to the velocity and flow of language. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 37809]