This course is a research seminar offered in partnership with the Mass General Brigham Postdoc Association (MGBPA) Science Communications Committee. Each week, two research fellows (MDs or PhDs) at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School will deliver a presentation on their ongoing research and its practical implications. Informative talks will be followed by interactive Q&A sessions with class participants. The far-ranging topics will cover a variety of fields in medical research, including neuroscience, oncology, cardiology, and epidemiology. No prior scientific knowledge is expected from course participants,…

Join us as we explore mayhem, murder, and mischief in the “Hub of the Universe”— our own Boston, Massachusetts. The course presentations will cover the Great Fire of 1872, the Police Strike of 1919, the arson spree of the 1980s, the 1999 Deer Island Tunnel tragedy, and the 1917 Halifax Explosion (and why it means Boston receives a free Christmas tree every year). We will visit the Boston Athenaeum’s special collections to view materials related to the Great Fire, and we will enjoy a private tour of the…

The four lectures in this seminar will explore how British artists Edward Burne-Jones and Evelyn Pickering de Morgan pursued beauty—both tangible and metaphysical—through their paintings. Burne-Jones was a leading figure of the later Pre-Raphaelite movement, and his younger contemporary De Morgan was a pioneering woman artist within the movement’s orbit. Both artists drew deeply on imagery from antiquity and the Renaissance, and they shared many of the aesthetic ideals first championed by earlier Pre-Raphaelite painters such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and Marie Spartali Stillman. Their…

Marking what would have been her 100th year in 2025, this course offers an in-depth exploration of the short fiction of Flannery O’Connor, one of the most distinctive voices in American literature. Known for her piercing wit, Southern Gothic style, and theological vision, O’Connor’s stories confront readers with characters caught in moments of violence, revelation, and unexpected grace. Through close readings of key works, the class will examine O’Connor’s use of irony, symbolism, and grotesque imagery to illuminate complex themes of morality, redemption, race, and the limits of…

Winslow Homer’s artistic journey carried him from a widely admired illustrator to one of the most influential painters in American art. Beginning with works such as Sharpshooter on Picket Duty (1863, Portland Museum of Art) and extending to late masterpieces like Driftwood (1909, MFA Boston), Homer continually reinvented his approach and deepened his vision. Originally sent by Harper’s Weekly to document the Civil War, he focused on the human dimensions of conflict rather than battlefield heroics. In the 1870s he began to explore watercolor, a medium that opened…

Any one of Jerry Herman’s hit Broadway shows – Hello Dolly, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles – would guarantee his Broadway immortality, but his career extended beyond this trio of hits. Herman was a throwback to an earlier era when showtunes had a life beyond the theatre. This was especially true of any songs that were easily hummable, and Herman was a master of the very melodic, yet high quality, tune. We’ll also explore themes from his shows that resonated at the time but might be controversial…

Who was Leonard Cohen? He had many identities: novelist, poet, lyricist, musician, Jewish mystic, Buddhist monk, Canadian, Montrealer, lover (but never a husband), father, and perhaps above all, a man searching for something we might call meaning or truth in the world he inhabited. Did he find it? By exploring his identities, we will interpret what Cohen left behind, from a “lullaby for suffering” to the broken Hallelujah of a “manual for living with defeat.” We will begin with a documentary film, I’m Your Man, that includes many…

Ann Petry’s novel The Street was written in 1946 during the “blue period” of Black American literature. The “blue period” begins in the late 1940s and ends before the Black Power Movement of the 1960s. One of the characteristics of this period is alienation. It is in this backdrop that Petry introduces us to Lutie Johnson, a young Black mother raising Bub, her eight-year-old son on 116th Street in Harlem, New York. In order to support her family, Lutie works in the homes of wealthy Connecticut suburbanites. She…

A brilliant, witty, and prophetic chronicler of North American life over the past 65 years, Margaret Atwood is, without doubt, one of our greatest living authors. She has written an extraordinary body of work that continues to expand, from early novels like The Edible Woman to the famous Handmaid’s Tale and haunting short story collections. We will look at the development of her craft as we read stories from her early book Wilderness Tips (1991) and the more recent publications Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales (2014 ) and…

Most experts agree that a manned mission to Mars will occur within a decade by the mid-2030s. It is estimated that the trip will take 9 months in each direction with 3-6 months on the Martian surface. Physicians are already aware of the physiological consequences of prolonged microgravity. These sequelae include fluid redistribution, cardiovascular impairment, visual changes, immune system alterations, risk of urolithiasis, psychological challenges, sleep disruption and nutritional needs. Martian astronauts will also experience increased radiation exposure. Interesting data is already available from Senator Kelly of Arizona…

Aging is transforming both our personal lives and the fabric of society. This timely two-session course explores the medical and social forces shaping longer lifespans—and the challenges that come with them. In the first week, we will examine the “Four Horsemen of Aging,” the major diseases that dominate later life. Through discussion, we will explore cardiac disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia and Parkinson’s, and diabetes—how these conditions develop, why they become more common with age, and what current research suggests about prevention, treatment, and management. Week…

More than three decades ago, two thieves slipped out of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with 13 priceless works of art—treasures now valued at roughly half a billion dollars. The FBI launched a massive investigation, and the museum’s trustees put up a $10 million reward for their safe return. Yet more than 35 years later, not a single piece has resurfaced, and no arrests have ever been made. Why not? This unsolved heist remains an immense loss to the art world and the city of Boston, and a…

Puerto Rico (Borinquén), originally inhabited by the Taíno people, was a colony of the Spanish Empire for more than 400 years (1492–1898). It was then seized during the Spanish-American War and became a colony of the United States in 1898. The Foraker Act (1900) referred to Puerto Rico as “the acquired country” and extended selected provisions of the U.S. Constitution to the island. In 1902, the U.S. Treasury Department issued new immigration guidelines that reclassified all Puerto Ricans as “foreigners.” In this course, we will offer a fresh…

In this seminar series, local scientists, researchers, medical experts, and industry professionals will share their passions and lead lively, interactive discussions. You’ll hear a unique blend of compelling historical anecdotes and entertaining modern stories about the discoveries and innovations shaping the future of science and medicine. In addition to offering fresh perspectives on well-known topics, the series will also highlight intriguing niche subjects you may never have encountered before but which have a surprising and meaningful impact on our daily lives. Favorite topics explored in the past have…

Social Security, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, the 40-hour workweek, the abolition of child labor, and workers’ compensation are all part of our lives today. These protections exist in large part because of Frances Perkins. As one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s closest advisors—and a key recruiter of talent for his administration—Perkins helped design and implement many of the policies that transformed the American workplace. This course will explore how she became a passionate advocate for workers and how her long partnership with the Roosevelt administration led to…

How were the dreams and disappointments of the Russian Revolution, the utopias it promised and dystopias that often resulted, reflected in Soviet science fiction films? During this five-session (with an optional sixth session) course, we will explore the evolution of these films over five key periods in Soviet history – from the heady post-revolutionary 1920s through the authoritarian Stalin regime, the thaw of the Khrushchev era, the stagnation of the Brezhnev era, and, finally, the collapse of the USSR during the regime of Mikhail Gorbachev. We’ll begin with…

Dearly Beloved – We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a devoted friend. She has given us all so much over the years. But, in the end, she simply could not survive the ceaseless clamor of the modern world. There is no need for an autopsy: We have killed her. With our own two hands. Some with the right. And some with the left. The death of reading is already having a profound effect on society. Even at elite universities, students are no longer being…

Five centuries ago a Spanish soldier-courtier was felled by a French cannonball. During his lengthy convalescence Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola was spiritually transformed, dedicating his life to Christ. After a Holy Land pilgrimage and some street preaching, he studied at the University of Paris where in 1534 he gathered six companions into a company bound by religious oaths. In 1540 this company received papal sanction as a new religious order. Over the ensuing decades this Society of Jesus grew rapidly and spread throughout Catholic Europe and…

“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven far journeys after he sacked Troy’s sacred city. Many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of, many the pains he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea, struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions.” So begins the Odyssey, the extraordinary and monumental epic of the long-suffering, shrewd Odysseus who, ten years after the fall of Troy, longs to return home where his wife is fending off suitors…

Everyone recognizes the grunting, green movie monster. Few, however, know the original story of Dr. Frankenstein and his poor nameless creature. Using the splendid Norton Critical Edition, we will read the novel, then meet Mary Shelley and the Romantic geniuses who helped inspire her. We'll learn how the creature is the true tragic hero, and how stage and screen adaptations turned him into one of the great modern myths. Join us, and I feel certain that you will be surprised and delighted to discover the real Frankenstein.  …

It is almost impossible to take the heat out of a discussion of Donald Trump’s economy, but it’s worth a try. Concurrent with the drastic changes he has imposed, other equally if not more powerful forces are at work. Our country has never seen economic shifts so deeply disruptive, and yet ultimately encouraging, operating at the same time. In this course we will try to better understand the numbers behind five of the most important current developments: Trade and the deification of the tariff Exploding deficits and debt…

Once relatively uncommon, investigations and prosecutions of white-collar crimes have become an important part of modern legal practice. But this development has sometimes stretched the criminal law to — some would say beyond —the breaking point. Again and again, it has thrown up vexingly difficult questions as to how the law should distinguish between permissible business or business-related conduct and conduct that can lead to years in jail. This course will examine a number of these thorny questions and the manner in which our legal system has grappled…

Inequality in the distribution of income and wealth in the United States is both high and rising—and exceeds that of all other advanced industrial nations. In this seminar, we will explore the economic and political forces driving this inequality, as well as its consequences for political polarization, public health, and social mobility. Although related to poverty, inequality is a distinct phenomenon with its own far-reaching effects. Today, it is eroding democratic values and institutions and fueling antidemocratic populism and autocratic tendencies. We will also examine how economic and…

William Butler Yeats’s poetry ranges from the intensely lyrical to the overtly nationalistic. This course will trace those influences in two twentieth-century Celtic poets who followed him. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas inherited Yeats’s flowing lyricism, drawing on the landscapes and rhythms of his native country, yet he also addressed broader concerns of the 1930s and 1940s through his influential radio broadcasts. Seamus Heaney likewise absorbed Yeats’s example: his early work is deeply rooted in Irish rural life while remaining alert to the political tensions surrounding Ireland’s struggle with…

The Golden Age of Science Fiction flourished against a stark backdrop of the Cold War and rising political and economic tensions. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and John Christopher’s The Death of Grass, ask the chilling questions of ‘what if?’ in an era of rising authoritarianism, thought control, censorship, and attacks on creativity. These novels predict the dangers of social media and isolationism, economic and climate collapse, and what happens to society when crops fail and resources are limited. By placing these works within both their historical moment and…