Discover how small observations led to big breakthroughs on deciphering honey bee behavior. Cornell University biology professor Thomas D. Seeley discusses how he and his colleagues solved long-standing mysteries of honey bee nature. He tells how worker bees function as scouts to choose a home site for their colony, furnish their home with beeswax combs, and stock it with brood and food while keeping tens of thousands of colony inhabitants warm and defended from intruders.
A picture is not only worth a thousand words: It can sometimes inspire a whole invented world. Art historian Heidi Applegate explores the art, artists, and factual backgrounds behind three works of historical fiction—Rules of Civility by Amor Towles; The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt; and The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz. It’s a “novel” way to explore the arts. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
Whether their fortunes were old or new, members of Gilded Age society reveled in hosting and attending teas, cotillions, lawn parties, luncheons, and formal dinners—all of which had their own codes of dress and manners. Even picnics were served on fine china. Food historian Francine Segan highlights the variety of foods, elaborate etiquette, and entertainments enjoyed by the period’s upper crust.
The human mind is very good at discerning patterns in nature: shapes, symmetries, repetitions. But why do we see hexagons in beehives, mud puddles, ice crystals, and lava flows, but not sand dunes, rose bushes, or comets? Geologist Callan Bentley explores formations from branches and braids to waves and wiggles and explains the science behind each. By decoding some of nature’s formations—from prosaic to sublime— we can better understand our ability for pattern recognition.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost from 1667 is generally considered to be the greatest epic poem in the English language. Literature professor Joseph Luzzi explores Milton’s relation to ancient literature, rewriting of religious doctrine, and place in the political and social upheavals of his era. He also discusses Milton’s blindness and his role as a pamphleteer.
The Washington, D.C., area is becoming a greener urban environment. Bill Keene, a lecturer in urban studies and architecture, spotlights innovative approaches to the environment and sustainability that have taken root—sometimes literally—in many types of buildings around town.
With the 2024 presidential race in full swing, many Americans are troubled by the caustic nature of today's campaigns. The reality is vitriol has been at play from the beginning of the Republic. Drawing on his career as a journalist specializing in presidential coverage, veteran White House correspondent and author Ken Walsh explores the history of poison politics in America and highlights the figures that helped shape the modern landscape.