Carrie Bearden, Ph.D., delves into how sleep patterns and brain activity influence memory and cognitive abilities in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Her research reveals that while these individuals tend to sleep longer, their brain activity shows unique differences, such as reduced slow-wave power, which may limit the cognitive benefits typically associated with sleep. Bearden also spotlights groundbreaking studies using advanced tools like stem cells and brain ...
Dec 16, 2024•34 min
In late September 1941, tens of thousands of people were massacred over two days in a ravine known as Babyn Yar on the outskirts of Nazi-occupied Kyiv. Most of the victims were Jews, though Roma, Crimean Tatars, and Ukrainian and Russian Communists were also among those murdered. In her 2017 book of poems, “The Voices of Babyn Yar,” award-winning poet Marianna Kiyanovska engages with this tragedy as a Ukrainian who learned of the mass killings only as an adult. Kiyanovska is the author of more t...
Dec 16, 2024•55 min
At a global level, Homo sapiens have reshaped the planet Earth to such an extent that we now talk of a new geological age, the Anthropocene. But each of us shapes our own worlds, physically, symbolically, and in the worlds of imagination. This symposium focuses especially on one form of construction, the construction of buildings, while stressing that such construction is ever shaped by diverse factors from landscape to culture and the construction of history embodied in it - and more. After a b...
Dec 15, 2024•24 min
David Hogg, co-founder of March For Our Lives and Leaders We Deserve, is a leading voice in the movement to end gun violence. After experiencing the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Hogg emerged from tragedy to become a national figure, advocating for morally just leadership and increased voter participation. As part of the Burke Lectureship, Hogg talks with Richard Madsen, Sociology Professor Emeritus at UC San Diego, about pushing for civic eng...
Dec 14, 2024•30 min
The symbolic tools we use to design and construct our environments have been transformed by the so-called Cybernetic revolution and the innovations in materials technology that have accompanied them. The integration of computers, the Internet of Things, embedded robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI) supports the development of intelligent/smart buildings where specific levels of automation can be tailored to every type of building use and occupancy. This talk will emphasize smart architectu...
Dec 13, 2024•23 min
This talk explores the needs of the poor and homeless around the world, charting the interplay between formal and informal settlements. The key example for this talk will be the favelas of Saõ Paulo in the context of a broader concern with Latin American urbanism and the role of individual initiative, social forces and politics as agencies of urban transformation. Built environments are to be seen not only as technological artifacts but also as providing a spatial politics for transforming where...
Dec 11, 2024•20 min
In this program, Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, Director of the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology at Washington University and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's 2024 recipient of the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest, discusses his research into the microbiome. Gordon is credited with founding the field of gut microbiome research. His transformative studies have demonstrated that human health and disease are shaped by the communities of microbes that l...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Madeline Oudin, Ph.D., is a scientist and mother on a groundbreaking mission to help her daughter, Margot, who has two de novo mutations in the SCN8A gene, which causes epilepsy. Margot's condition causes frequent seizures and developmental challenges. Determined to make a difference, Madeleine and her team are pioneering a cutting-edge genetic therapy that could one day transform treatment for Margot and others like her. In this heartfelt talk, Madeleine shares how her scientific expertise and ...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Gloria Yiu, M.D., Ph.D., delves into the transformative potential of genetic editing technologies in addressing rare immune disorders, with a focus on CD3δ severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)—a condition characterized by impaired T-cell development and severely compromised immune function. Leveraging her expertise as a physician-scientist, Yiu explores how CRISPR and other precision gene-editing tools can correct genetic mutations at the cellular level, potentially restoring T-cell productio...
Dec 02, 2024•28 min
The site of Göbekli Tepe is well known as a settlement of the transitional phase in SW-Asia, in which the greater mobility of the Palaeolithic increasingly gave way to the more permanent settlement of the Neolithic. This talk uses the example of Göbekli Tepe to explore the linkage of buildings with ecology, climate, economy, cultural, political, symbolic systems, and creation of networks between dwellings. The central question is to what extent it is possible to understand how people in the Neol...
Dec 01, 2024•18 min
Born in the rhythms of Burkina Faso and cradled by the tradition of the griots, Adama Bilorou knows how to transform his heritage into a melody of multiple nuances—a musical journey that crosses continents and cultures. Drawing inspiration from the sights and sounds of his childhood in the Ivory Coast and his later journeys to Italy, France, the United States and Burkina Faso—Adama Bilorou has creatively composed his uniquely beautiful score. Series: "Arts Channel " [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 40...
Dec 01, 2024•7 min
The infections disease landscape is constantly changing - challenging our standard treatments. Can new - as well as ancient - therapies be the answer? Hear from experts on the cutting edge of phage therapy, HIV/AIDS research and cancer care about what is on the horizon to improve human health. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 39982]
Nov 30, 2024•56 min
The ENLACE Summer Research Experience at UC San Diego connects high school and college students from the U.S. and Mexico in hands-on lab work with real research impact. Led by Dr. Olivia Graeve, the program offers a chance to explore new fields, gain lab skills, and prepare for grad school, while building cross-border friendships and collaboration in STEM. Series: "Education Channel" [Education] [Show ID: 38306]
Nov 28, 2024•9 min
Examine how what we eat and how we live can promote wellness, enhance immunity, combat age-related diseases, and promote longevity. Gordon Saxe, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony Lim, M.D., J.D., share a timeless perspective, supported by their own research and clinical experience, on how optimal nourishment, purposeful reflection, health movement, and generosity of spirit can improve age-related conditions and slow the aging process. They present evidence-based recommendations for diet and lifestyle, as...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 40 min
Acclaimed violinist Jeremy Kittel (formerly of the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet), Kittel & Co. (“Kid-dle and Koh”) inhabits the space between classical and acoustic roots, Celtic and bluegrass aesthetics, and folk and jazz sensibilities. The members of Kittel & Co. have collaborated with Béla Fleck, Sarah Jarosz, Chris Thile, and Yo-Yo Ma. Together, Jeremy Kittel, mandolin phenom Josh Pinkham and transcendent guitarist Quinn Bachand coalesce into a singular voice that’s thrilled ...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 22 min
John Dick, Ph.D., F.R.S., explores the role of CD83, a molecule found in blood stem cells, in how these cells respond to inflammation. His team demonstrates that CD83 becomes highly active during inflammation and contributes to the loss of healthy stem cells. Using advanced gene-editing tools, they show that removing CD83 protects stem cells from inflammation-related damage. This discovery highlights CD83 as a potential marker for identifying inflamed stem cells and as a possible target for trea...
Nov 25, 2024•46 min
This presentation will briefly trace 70,000 years of cultural evolution from the ancient crossing from Sunda to Sahul, via the swift continental colonization during the Ice Age, through the severe impacts on survival during the Last Glacial Maximum, and the socio-territorial reconfigurations during Holocene sea-level rise. The Australian Aboriginal world had become characterized by low environmental impact habitation, complex social organization systems anchored within constructed sacred origin ...
Nov 20, 2024•18 min
A glimpse of gospel, jazz, and soul from the great legends is what inspires the sound of pianist Theron Brown’s music. But the reason he plays is to encourage and influence people through his talents. Originally from Zanesville, Ohio, Theron currently resides in Akron, Ohio, where he is Professor of Practice at The University of Akron teaching jazz piano, and the program coordinator for Curated Storefront’s Artist Residency Program at the ‘I Promise School’. Theron also serves as an educator for...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 13 min
Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., discusses pioneering research on cancer and aging in space environments, highlighting how microgravity accelerates cancer cell growth and leads to stem cell exhaustion, genomic instability, and “dark genome” activation. Using innovative tools like nano-bioreactors and artificial intelligence, her team simulates these effects and tracks cellular changes, uncovering how space’s unique conditions drive mutations and alter cellular behavior. They find that stem cells ...
Nov 18, 2024•28 min
The transition from Neolithic villages to early cities marked the greatest social transformation faced by our species before the Industrial Revolution. Our ancestors had to learn how to live in new settlements that had more people, higher densities, and more activities than had been known previously. The new adaptations to urban life involved changes in society and social processes, not just individual learning. Some changes came about through social interactions in a process called energized cr...
Nov 16, 2024•19 min
Through the UniversityLink Medical Science Program (ULMSP), college students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds who aspire to become future health science professionals develop essential academic and professional skills, benefit from long-term mentoring, and build lasting social and professional networks. Dr. Ramón A. Hernandez highlights how the program fosters family support, instills a culture of academic excellence, and emphasizes the importance of community service, showing...
Nov 13, 2024•17 min
Humans construct their physical worlds in part by designing and constructing new tools, habitations, and in due course diverse buildings and, in some cases, towns and cities and construct their symbolic worlds by putting words together to tell stories, articulate plans, tell lies, seek truth, and much more. This talk offers hypotheses that address a key question for anthropogeny: How did biological evolution yield humans with the “construction-ready brains” and bodies that made us capable of the...
Nov 11, 2024•20 min
Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., examines the relationship between telomeres, cellular aging, and metabolic health, highlighting how telomere regulation differs between insulin-sensitive and insulin-resistant individuals. She discusses the effects of environmental factors—like glucose levels, stress hormones, and drugs—on telomere maintenance, which can disrupt cellular coordination and contribute to age-related diseases. Blackburn also shares insights from studies on hibernating lemurs, indicating t...
Nov 08, 2024•45 min
This talk provides a deep time perspective for assessing the behavioural implications of the creation of the earliest known structure and the technologies used in its making. Evidence for the earliest structure appears relatively late, about 500,000 years ago in Zambia, and before the evolution of Homo sapiens. The next oldest structures were made by Neanderthals in Europe, 176,000 years ago. The site in Zambia preserves rare evidence for the shaping and fitting together of two tree trunks to ma...
Nov 06, 2024•21 min
Artist Jeff Koons is renowned for his provocative and often kitschy sculptures that blend pop culture, consumerism, and art history. His works often feature oversized and glossy renditions of everyday objects, from balloon animals to household items, challenging the boundaries between high and low art while eliciting questions about mass production and cultural value. Koons talks with Kathryn Kanjo, director & CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, about his evolution as an artist,...
Nov 06, 2024•57 min
Dennis O. Clegg, Ph.D., discusses treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition that causes vision loss. Clegg explains that while patients often report improved vision after receiving implants, objective tests don't always confirm this. He explores the potential differences in patients' responses based on genetics and disease progression. There is also an ongoing challenge in finding the best ways to reduce immune rejection of these treatments. New trials are underway to te...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 13 min
At a global level, Homo sapiens have reshaped the planet Earth to such an extent that we now talk of a new geological age, the Anthropocene. But each of us shapes our own worlds, physically, symbolically, and in the worlds of imagination. This symposium focuses especially on one form of construction, the construction of buildings, while stressing that such construction is ever shaped by diverse factors from landscape to culture and the construction of history embodied in it - and more. After a b...
Oct 29, 2024•9 min
As distinct from the buildings of termites (interesting though these are), bird nests offer a more apropos point of comparison for human buildings – they are conducted by single vertebrate (or a few) and can be adapted to varied circumstances, with even a small effect of social learning. However, the basic Bauplan remains species-specific, unlike the creativity of the human architect. Since nonhuman primates lack interesting building skills, and so we suggest that bird nest construction may come...
Oct 29, 2024•18 min
Fareed Zakaria, host of the renowned CNN program “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” talks about how to maintain peace in the post-Cold War era. He examines what he calls the geopolitical revolution that's taking place today and compares it with the unusual state of peace that existed from 1989 until the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - a time without constant and sustained geopolitical rivalry and tension. He looks at current state of conflict and tension, especially with China. He is joined by Stephen Hadley, ...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Quetzal is a Grammy award-winning ensemble of highly talented musicians, joined for the goal of creating good music that tells the social, cultural, political, and musical stories of people in struggle. Martha Gonzalez (lead singer, percussionist, and songwriter) calls it an “East LA Chicano @ rock group,” summing up its rootedness in the complex cultural currents of life in the barrio, its social activism, its strong feminist stance, and its rock and roll musical beginnings. Besides being a roc...
Oct 28, 2024•6 min
