When the twentieth century arrived, artists had every reason to believe that …
When the twentieth century arrived, artists had every reason to believe that they were entering a totally new and unique modern age. Philosophers like Henri Bergson were expanding and collapsing our concept of time, and Sigmund Freud’s theories were opening new paths to uncharted segments of the human mind. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century brought modern conveyances in its wake like the automobile, the airplane, and the electric elevator, which went hand-in-hand with steel-and-glass construction in birthing the skyscraper—the emblem of the modern city. Life had never been faster.
This heady moment, evidenced in both intellectual and popular culture, truly led artists to believe that they were part of a project to both invent a new visual idiom for the modern world and to simultaneously question preexisting ideas of what art could and should be. Often, this stance was further radicalized by historical events and the encroachment of political affiliation. In Russia, the Soviet Revolution of 1917 changed the tenor and motivation of an already nascent avant-garde. In Mexico, the Revolution of 1910–20 was the catalyst for an entirely new movement. In Germany, the Weimar Revolution of 1918 opened an ideological space for the Bauhaus to form. The Great Depression in the United States diminished the purchasing ability of certain art-buying patrons and created new conditions for art in the 1930s. And, of course, World War I (1914–8) and World War II (1939–45) had staggering repercussions for art and life across the globe. As our lecture on Art Since 1950 (Part I) largely generates in the post-WWII sphere, chronologically, this lecture ends closer to 1945.
Detailed analysis of the biochemical mechanisms that control the maintenance, expression, and …
Detailed analysis of the biochemical mechanisms that control the maintenance, expression, and evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. Topics covered in lecture and readings of relevant literature include: gene regulation, DNA replication, genetic recombination, and translation. Logic of experimental design and data analysis emphasized. Presentations include both lectures and group discussions of representative papers from the literature.
Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from …
Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His creatures are designed to move -- and even survive -- on their own.
Pakistani educator Ziauddin Yousafzai reminds the world of a simple truth that …
Pakistani educator Ziauddin Yousafzai reminds the world of a simple truth that many don’t want to hear: Women and men deserve equal opportunities for education, autonomy, an independent identity. He tells stories from his own life and the life of his daughter, Malala, who was shot by the Taliban in 2012 simply for daring to go to school. "Why is my daughter so strong?” Yousafzai asks. “Because I didn’t clip her wings."
Jay Walker, curator of the Library of Human Imagination, conducts a surprising …
Jay Walker, curator of the Library of Human Imagination, conducts a surprising show-and-tell session highlighting a few of the intriguing artifacts that backdropped the 2008 TED stage.
Pick up a book, magazine or screen, and more than likely you'll …
Pick up a book, magazine or screen, and more than likely you'll come across some typography designed by Matthew Carter. In this charming talk, the man behind typefaces such as Verdana, Georgia and Bell Centennial (designed just for phone books -- remember them?), takes us on a spin through a career focused on the very last pixel of each letter of a font.
As America becomes more and more multicultural, Rich Benjamin noticed a phenomenon: …
As America becomes more and more multicultural, Rich Benjamin noticed a phenomenon: Some communities were actually getting less diverse. So he got out a map, found the whitest towns in the USA -- and moved in. In this funny, honest, human talk, he shares what he learned as a black man in Whitopia.
The main goal of this seminar will be to study the nervous …
The main goal of this seminar will be to study the nervous system from the perspective of neuron-glia interactions. In each class, we will focus on one type of glial cell and discuss its origin, classification and function within the nervous system. Current findings concerning diseases associated with each type of glial cell will be discussed. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.
The first lesson on photography generally comes after the Romanticism lesson, determined …
The first lesson on photography generally comes after the Romanticism lesson, determined by the date of photography’s public announcement in 1839. You might begin class with a discussion that bridges a review of Romanticism with the introduction of photography. For example, students might debate the question “why was photography invented in the 1820s and 1830s when the camera obscura had been known for centuries?” This open-ended discussion might address a variety of key issues: the desire for optical realism and illusionism in art, previous use of optical devices by artists, Enlightenment advances in science, and the Romantic notion of the supremacy of subjective experience of the world.
Every time we scientists think that we have dissected the precise biological …
Every time we scientists think that we have dissected the precise biological nature of a process, an incidental finding, a brilliantly designed experiment, or an unexpected result can turn our world upside down. Until recently thought by many to be cellular "junk" because they do not encode proteins, non-coding RNAs are gaining a growing recognition for their roles in the regulation of a wide scope of processes, ranging from embryogenesis and development to cancer and degenerative disorders. The aim of this class is to introduce the diversity of the RNA world, inhabited by microRNAs, lincRNAs, piRNAs, and many others. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.
ESL teachers teach language and life skills to adults and children who …
ESL teachers teach language and life skills to adults and children who don't have English as their first language, such as students from other countries or immigrants. For more information on this occupation see www.alis.alberta.ca/occinfo.
Occupational asthma, also referred to as work-related asthma, is the most common …
Occupational asthma, also referred to as work-related asthma, is the most common occupational lung disease in the United States. According to OSHA, “An estimated 11 million workers in a wide range of industries and occupations are exposed to at least one of the numerous agents known to be associated with occupational asthma.
Designer Ross Lovegrove expounds his philosophy of "fat-free" design and offers insight …
Designer Ross Lovegrove expounds his philosophy of "fat-free" design and offers insight into several of his extraordinary products, including the Ty Nant water bottle and the Go chair.
The course introduces formal theories of context-dependency, presupposition, implicature, context-change, focus and …
The course introduces formal theories of context-dependency, presupposition, implicature, context-change, focus and topic. Special emphasis is on the division of labor between semantics and pragmatics. It also covers applications to the analysis of quantification, definiteness, presupposition projection, conditionals and modality, anaphora, questions and answers.
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