Past Events

Author Poupeh Missaghi in discussion with Sheida Dayani regarding her new book "Trans(re)lating House One." Her book covers the aftermath of Iran’s 2009 election, as a woman undertakes a search for the statues disappearing from Tehran’s public spaces. A chance meeting alters her trajectory, and the space between fiction and reality narrows. As she circles the city’s points of connection–teahouses, buses, galleries, hookah bars–her many questions are distilled into one: How do we translate loss into language? Image: Book Cover

David Rand gives an overview of his work assessing various interventions against misinformation and “fake news” on social media. He starts by discussing the limitations of two of the most commonly discussed approaches: warnings based on professional fact-checking, which are not scalable and can increase belief in misinformation which is not flagged; and emphasizing publishers, which is ineffective because untrusted outlets typically produce headlines that are judged as inaccurate even without knowing the source. He offers two promising approaches: nudging social media users to think about accuracy, which he shows increases the quality of news shared in a field experiment with over 5000 Twitter users who previously tweeted Breitbart links, and using crowdsourcing to identify misinformation, as he shows that crowds of laypeople produce judgments that are highly aligned with professional fact-checkers. Image: Pexels.com

Head brewers from three Massachusetts beer makers — Idle Hand’s Craft Ales in Malden, Portico Brewing Company in Ipswich, and Exhibit A Brewing in Framingham — discuss all things beer and brewing. Atwood’s Interview Series is hosted by Arjun Singh and spotlights a wide array of guests, including journalists, authors, local politicians, artists, musicians and specialists of all sorts.

The Town of Brookline took a bold step towards curbing carbon emissions when its Town Meeting members voted to ban fossil fuel combustion in new construction and gut renovations. While Brookline is the first municipality on the East Coast to adopt such a measure, similar initiatives are gaining momentum in other Massachusetts communities, and already design and development professionals are demonstrating that such regulations are possible and practical with energy efficient, all-electric buildings. The Boston Society for Architecture, Green Ribbon Commission and Massachusetts Climate Action Network host a discussion with Town Meeting members who voted for the Brookline petition. Learn how they got to a yes vote on the bylaw and what should be considered for all-electric building aspirations and regulations. Image: Federico Beccari/[Unsplash](http://unsplash.com/photos/ahi73ZN5P0Y)

The Boston Society for Architecture, Green Ribbon Commission and Massachusetts Climate Action Network host presentations from designers, architects, engineers and leading practitioners and firms who share their “know how” in planning and constructing electric projects, passive houses and net zero buildings. Hear the lessons learned in these practical solutions grown from past projects.

Image: Unsplash

Vox co-founder and editor-at-large Ezra Klein discusses his book "Why We're Polarized" with Harvard Law professor and former U.S. Presidential candidate, Lawrence Lessig. Image: Book Cover

Renowned American journalist Scott Simon is recognized by the New England Historic Genealogical Society at the Lenox Hotel in conversation with Margaret M. Talcott, curator of the American Inspiration author series. Simon has reported from all fifty states, five continents and ten wars. Photo Wikicommons

Artist, sculptor, and creative technologist Mac Pierce talks about his interactions with technology and how he uses digital methods to produce objects and interactions. Photo courtesy of **Mac Pierce**

Communities across America are divided over politics, culture, identity, and the direction of the country. Are religious congregations any different? How do religious leaders today navigate deeply divisive issues — like the Middle East, gay marriage, abortion, the immigration crisis — in their own communities? We'll look at the intersection of faith and politics and discuss religious leaders views on engaging in social activism. We’ll examine the role religious leaders play in such partisan times.

The microbiome market is one of the hottest areas for innovation in the life sciences space. We are seeing an uptick in both research and venture capital dollars going into the microbiome industry—both in humans and plants. As a result, the global microbiome market is expected to grow from $235.8 million in 2018 to $521.23 million by 2022. Hear presentations by some of Boston’s most innovative companies in this space to learn about the science behind the microbiome, the utilization of emerging technologies, and various perspectives on the future of the industry. Photo credit: NIH Image Gallery, Human Microbiome Project (HMP)