Podcast: The Helix Center

Saturday, November 21, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Translation Matters

Why is translation, which formerly referred to a set of restricted technical procedures taking place between two languages, now widely understood to be the basis of all human culture? What is it about this dynamic principle of displacement, exchange, and creative renewal that also links it to the exercise of political power and the possession of linguistic/literary capital?… read more »

Saturday, November 21, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Translation Matters

Why is translation, which formerly referred to a set of restricted technical procedures taking place between two languages, now widely understood to be the basis of all human culture? What is it about this dynamic principle of displacement, exchange, and creative renewal that also links it to the exercise of political power and the possession of linguistic/literary capital?… read more »

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Saturday, November 7, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Speak, Memory

Over the last thirty years, significant progress has been made in our understanding of the various types of memory, the neural processes of consolidation and reconsolidation, and the biochemistry of memory, as well as the malleability and limits of autobiographical memory.… read more »

Saturday, November 7, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Speak, Memory

Over the last thirty years, significant progress has been made in our understanding of the various types of memory, the neural processes of consolidation and reconsolidation, and the biochemistry of memory, as well as the malleability and limits of autobiographical memory.… read more »

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Saturday, October 3, 2015

Understanding Genius

Schopenhauer defined genius in relation to the more conventional quality of talent. “Talent hits a target others miss. Genius hits a target no one sees.” Is originality indeed the sine qua non of genius? Is there, following Kant, a radical separation of the aesthetic genius from the brilliant scientific mind?… read more »

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Understanding Genius

Schopenhauer defined genius in relation to the more conventional quality of talent. “Talent hits a target others miss. Genius hits a target no one sees.” Is originality indeed the sine qua non of genius? Is there, following Kant, a radical separation of the aesthetic genius from the brilliant scientific mind?… read more »

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Saturday, September 12, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Epigenetics at Work

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck might today say, echoing the words of Mark Twain, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Lamarck’s theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, once derided as “soft inheritance,” has been revived through the field of epigenetics: the study of alterations in gene expression or phenotype caused by mechanisms other than primary alterations in nucleotide sequence, and through transgenerational epigenetics, the study of the inheritability of such effects.… read more »

Saturday, September 12, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Epigenetics at Work

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck might today say, echoing the words of Mark Twain, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Lamarck’s theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, once derided as “soft inheritance,” has been revived through the field of epigenetics: the study of alterations in gene expression or phenotype caused by mechanisms other than primary alterations in nucleotide sequence, and through transgenerational epigenetics, the study of the inheritability of such effects.… read more »

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When Darwin wrote The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, published in 1872, the scientific community was still pondering the question: Do other animals think?  The subsequent prodigious scientific study of animal cognition and behavior has answered this question with an emphatic “yes”!… read more »

Saturday, May 16, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Human and Nonhuman Minds: Continuities and Discontinuities

When Darwin wrote The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, published in 1872, the scientific community was still pondering the question: Do other animals think?  The subsequent prodigious scientific study of animal cognition and behavior has answered this question with an emphatic “yes”!… read more »

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Saturday, May 2, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Trauma and its Aftereffects, Part I: War and Genocide

What does it mean to be a survivor of the traumatic violence of war and genocide, as victim or perpetrator—or descendant of either? What are the implications for the individual and collective conscience of doing violence to others sanctioned by the state or consecrated—or condemned—by one’s culture or that of other cultures?… read more »

Saturday, May 2, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

Trauma and its Aftereffects, Part I: War and Genocide

What does it mean to be a survivor of the traumatic violence of war and genocide, as victim or perpetrator—or descendant of either? What are the implications for the individual and collective conscience of doing violence to others sanctioned by the state or consecrated—or condemned—by one’s culture or that of other cultures?… read more »

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Saturday, April 18, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

The Mind of a Child

How does a one-year-old understand the world? A three-year-old? A five-year-old? How does the mental functioning of very young children differ from that of older children and of adults? Recognizing the ways in which children conceptualize the world, remember their experiences, and modulate emotions is crucial in providing both normally developing children and children with developmental disorders, like autism, with optimum care throughout their formative years.… read more »

Saturday, April 18, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

The Mind of a Child

How does a one-year-old understand the world? A three-year-old? A five-year-old? How does the mental functioning of very young children differ from that of older children and of adults? Recognizing the ways in which children conceptualize the world, remember their experiences, and modulate emotions is crucial in providing both normally developing children and children with developmental disorders, like autism, with optimum care throughout their formative years.… read more »

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Saturday, February 21, 2015
Film Screening: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Q&A: 12:30 pm – 1:15 pm
(Intermission)
Roundtable: 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Particle Fever / The Quest

Particle Fever, Mark Levinson’s award-winning 2013 documentary (for which Helix Center Executive Committee member Carla Solomon was a producer), tells the remarkable story of the monumental search for the Higgs boson, the elementary force particle predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.… read more »

Saturday, February 21, 2015
Film Screening: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Q&A: 12:30 pm – 1:15 pm
(Intermission)
Roundtable: 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Particle Fever / The Quest

Particle Fever, Mark Levinson’s award-winning 2013 documentary (for which Helix Center Executive Committee member Carla Solomon was a producer), tells the remarkable story of the monumental search for the Higgs boson, the elementary force particle predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.… read more »

  Watch

Saturday, April 25, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

The Changing Nature of Free Will

Central to Eastern and Western philosophical and theological traditions, the notion of free will, once confined to discussions of human agency, can find application in understanding a broader set of phenomena. How are advances in genetics and neuroscience influencing our concept of voluntary, individual choice, and what are the implications for jurisprudence?… read more »

Saturday, April 25, 2015
2:30-4:30 pm

The Changing Nature of Free Will

Central to Eastern and Western philosophical and theological traditions, the notion of free will, once confined to discussions of human agency, can find application in understanding a broader set of phenomena. How are advances in genetics and neuroscience influencing our concept of voluntary, individual choice, and what are the implications for jurisprudence?… read more »

  Watch