Bonnie L. Bassler, E. Peter Greenberg, and Michael R. Silverman are awarded the 2023 Canada Gairdner International Award for their discoveries of how bacteria communicate with each other and surrounding non-bacterial cells, providing a new paradigm for how microbes behave and yielding novel avenues for therapeutics against infectious diseases.

Lynn Margulis, Stephen Buhner, and John Seed speak to a crowd at Amherst College in 2005.

This episode of the documentary television series, Explained, looks into the ways that humans measure the intelligence of non-human animals. Featuring the researchers Frans de Waal, Laurie R. Santos, and Peter Godfrey-Smith, and narrated by Hilary Swank, “Animal Intelligence” explores the history of human inquiries into the animal mind.

In this episode, the LOAF hosts are joined by Frans de Waal, a renowned primatologist and ethologist. de Waal is known for his groundbreaking research on the behavior and social intelligence of primates, particularly chimpanzees and bonobos. His work has significantly contributed to our understanding of empathy, morality, and social behavior in animals, challenging long-held beliefs about human uniqueness. Is human nature good or bad? Throughout their discussion, de Waal shares profound insights on the nature of empathy in animals, providing compelling examples of inherent morality and cooperation among species.

Do fish have personalities? Marine biologist Even Moland’s research has taken him around the world, from the Great Barrier Reef to Skagerrak, Norway. In studying the behaviour and movement of fish and lobsters–how they live, where they hide, which ones are caught by fishers, and which ones escape to obtain large sizes and old age–he’s also learning how marine populations can be protected. Moland and his colleagues are using diving, tagging and tracking to study the movement, life and fate of marine animals.

Arne Naess coined the term “Deep Ecology.” He had been professor of philosophy at Oslo University, and his early interests included Spinoza and the philosophy of meaning.

This video is from the Awe & Resilience Symposium, a partnership between the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). In this video, Dacher Keltner (Co-Director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley) provides the keynote address. Prior to his presentation, NYPD Police Commissioner and John Mann (CUMC) provides welcoming remarks. Following the keynote, expert panelists Chief Kristen Ziman (Chief of Police, Aurora, Illinois) and Linda Rosenberg, MSW (CUMC Department of Psychiatry Director of External Relations and former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Behavioral Health) provide their insight on the keynote presentation and ask Dacher Keltner (Co-Director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley) for further information.

This video is from the Awe & Resilience Symposium, a partnership between the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). In this video, Michelle “Lani” Shiota (Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University) and Jennifer Stellar (Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto–Mississauga) provide presentations on their awe research. Following the presentations, expert panelists Neil Gang, Chief of Police, Pinole (CA) Police Department and Randy P. Auerbach, Co-Director, Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression (CUMC) provide their insight on the research shared and ask the presenters for further information.

Why do science? Why explore the world? In this inspiring short film, scientists describe how their fascination with the beauty and complexity of nature informs their vocations, and how their observations of the natural world cause them to reflect on the bigger questions of life. Exploration of the world evokes a sense of awe and wonder for these men and women, and this emotional response to nature often leads to an exciting journey of scientific discovery. The scientists discuss the way in which problems and failures spur better science, and how one of the great joys of science is to explore the questions and puzzles inherent in the world around us. This video was produced by the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program as a part of its Science for Seminaries project.

​​The SUGi Project used the Miyawaki Method to create three ultra-dense biodiverse forests of native species in the Berkeley Unified School District, California. The Pocket Forest gives local children, their families, teachers, and neighbors access to lessons in biodiversity.

Birds may have small brains, but many of them are just as smart as primates. Human understanding of bird brains and intelligence has grown tremendously in the last couple decades. Thanks to countless scientific studies, it is now known that many bird species are highly intelligent. Some of them perform better than primates, dogs, and young children on certain cognitive tests. This episode looks at how intelligence is defined and some evidence for it in birds. Also considered is the avian brain and how intelligence evolved in birds.

Can a snake recognize a specific human? A research paper published in 2021 explores snake discrimination between humans. Reptiles and Research offers a scientific breakdown of the subject.

As research continues, the term “bird brain” no longer carries a negative connotation. Avian researcher John Marzluff showcases a few amazing, problem solving (and sometimes vindictive) feats accomplished by crows in order to break down common misconceptions about avian intelligence.

A recording from the final mainstage session of the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2023 meeting. Themed around curiosity, wonder, and awe, this session features presentations by researchers on awe: Lani Shiota, Dacher Keltner and others.

Manuel De Landa speaks about the importance of Gilles Deleuze in the 21st century and the fundamentals of materialism in a seminar entitled Gilles Deleuze and Science at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Questioning the role of structuralism and the postmodern position in philosophy, De Landa argues for a view of a materialist world autonomously removed from the concepts of our own mind. His challenge, he says, is to remove a transcendental plane from material objects, that is to remove the concept of essence from the world, without giving rise to a metaphysical position. Towards this, De Landa used the analogy of the battlefield as an example of the social material space to illustrate a plane of existence of extreme materiality. Public open lecture for the students and faculty of the European Graduate School EGS Media and Communication Studies department program Saas-Fee Switzerland.