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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…