September 2016
NYBG Humanities Institute and Fordham University: Biduum Latinum: a Celebration of Roman and Medieval Botany
The general public is warmly invited to a unique Biduum Latinum: a two-day celebration of Roman and Medieval Botany, including a lecture, book-viewing, and botanical walking tour, organized jointly by Fordham University and The New York Botanical Garden’s Humanities Institute. Please refer to the following schedule: Friday, Sept. 30, 3-5 pm. Location: Humanities Institute—LuEsther T. Mertz Library, The New York Botanical Garden, Library Building, 6th floor 3:00 pm Welcome and Introduction: Vanessa Sellers, Coordinator Humanities Institute, NYBG, and Susanne Hafner, Director…
Find out more »Symposium – The Materiality of Scientific Knowledge: Image–Text–Book
Throughout the long history of scientific investigation, knowledge was formulated, shared, legitimated, and disseminated in manuscript and printed text, as well as in paintings, drawings, and engravings. These material factors —the conditions of writing, printing, and image making —underwrite the exchange and dissemination of scientific knowledge from classical antiquity to the nineteenth century. This cross-disciplinary symposium will investigate the myriad, often contradictory, vocabularies we use to analyze images and text in scientific writing. Its goal is to promote more fruitful…
Find out more »October 2016
Horst Bredekamp – Symbiosis of Nature and Art: A new Neo-Mannerism?
This event is part of the Lionel Trilling Seminar series. Speaker: Horst Bredekamp, Professor of Art History, Humboldt University Berlin Respondents: Pamela H. Smith, Seth Low Professor of History; Director of the Center for Science and Society, Columbia University Peter N. Miller, Dean of the Bard Graduate Center and Professor of Cultural History, Bard Graduate Center Free and open to the public ― first come, first seated. Please see the Heyman Center website for more details.
Find out more »Beyond Circulation: Non-Western Universalisms and Global Histories of Science – Day 1
This workshop aims to encourage greater dialogue between the history of science on the one hand, and intellectual and cultural history on the other.
Find out more »Beyond Circulation: Non-Western Universalisms and Global Histories of Science – Day 2
This workshop aims to encourage greater dialogue between the history of science on the one hand, and intellectual and cultural history on the other.
Find out more »A University Symposium: Promoting Credibility, Reproducibility, and Integrity in Research
Columbia University and other New York City research institutions* are hosting a one-day symposium to showcase a robust discussion of reproducibility and research integrity among leading experts, high-profile journal editors, funders and researchers.
Find out more »Mark A. Rothstein – The Complex Challenges of Genetic Discrimination
Ever since the launch of the Human Genome Project in 1990, there has been considerable concern about genetic discrimination in employment, health insurance, and other areas. The federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and numerous state laws have been enacted, but it is not clear that these legislative responses have been well considered or appropriate. This talk will address the conceptual and practical challenges in preventing genetic discrimination. This event is part of the Seminar on Ethical, Legal and Social Implications…
Find out more »John D. Lantos – Fifty Shades of Genomics: Assessing the Pain and the Pleasure of Genomic Testing
The talk will begin with a brief discussion of the FDA’s reasoning in their decision to forbid “23&Me” from offering interpretations of genetic results. Dr. Lantos will then examine the hypothetical harms that might arise from genomic information (depression, anxiety, unnecessary medical interventions, harmful medical interventions) and argue that genomics is much more similar to other sorts of medical testing, that many people want the information, even if it is risky, and that we will need to live with some…
Find out more »Aditya Bharadwaj – Local and Global Dimensions of Precision Medicine
This event is part of the Columbia Precision Medicine Initiative’s series, Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture. Speaker: Aditya Bharadwaj, The Graduate Institute, Geneva Precision Medicine—an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person—raises a myriad of cultural, political, and historical questions that the humanities are uniquely positioned to address. As part of its overall Precision Medicine Initiative, Columbia is undertaking a broad based exploration of questions that…
Find out more »The Idea of Freedom of Choice in Neuroscience and History
Speakers: Sophia Rosenfeld (Yale), Sheena Iyengaar (Columbia), David Barack (Columbia). Being "free to choose" has arguably become a stand-in for broader concepts of freedom in many parts of the world today. What do Neuroscientists and Historians think of this?
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