Past Events

Learn about the fascinating world of mushrooms and fungi, their role in Nature and in evolution. Mushrooms do not get much media attention, but they serve an important function in many ecological systems.

Amistad Maupin, author of the bestselling _Tales of the City_ series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to free-wheeling San Francisco and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer. Maupin recalls his losses and life-changing experiences with humor and unflinching honesty and brings to life flesh-and-blood characters as endearing and unforgettable as the vivid, fraught men and women who populate his enchanting novels. - [HarperCollins Publishers](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062391223/logical-family "") (Image: Forum Network)

In Masha Gessen's latest book, The Future Is History, follow the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. In this talk filmed at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Alexandra Vacroux, Executive Director at theDavis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies talks with Gessen about Russia's history, identity narrative, and the current political climate. (Image: book cover)

Harvard Kennedy School professor Kathryn Sikkink explores the reasons we should aspire to guarantee human rights and in her new book "Evidence for Hope" she demonstrates with years of fieldwork how human rights work has been effective over time. Photo: [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-person-photo-227578/ "")

The western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some of the most dramatic climate change on the planet and is a natural laboratory for studying how ocean ecosystems respond to climate. Rapid ocean-atmosphere warming, melting of coastal glaciers, and reductions in seasonal ice cover all echo throughout the marine food web from seawater chemistry, plankton, and krill to top predators, including penguins and marine mammals. Using the wealth of data from the **Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)** programs, Dr. Doney will highlight key lessons from field expeditions, autonomous robots, satellite remote sensing, and models regarding changing conditions in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic.

September's BostonTalks is all about coming together. Listen to three speakers share the way their careers and research focus on the exploration and making of connections. First, Dr. Matt Peterson ([@mfpetersmit](https://twitter.com/mfpetersmit "@mfpetersmit")) of MIT studies how our brains make connections allowing us to know and understand others instantly through facial recognition. Learn about connecting real food to the restaurant table from Chef Chandra Gouldrup, owner of the Farmer's Daughter in Easton, MA. Then, go behind the blue paint with Lyle Blaker ([@BMGBoston](https://twitter.com/bmgboston?lang=en "@BMGBoston")) of Blue Man Group, and hear how he connects with his audience without saying a word.

Two hundred years after Henry David Thoreau’s birth in Concord, MA a distinguished panel considers Thoreau’s lessons for today’s world. How have Thoreau’s writings and ideas informed environmental policy, civil disobedience and contemporary writings on the human relationships with the natural world? Part of the Series “Boston is Thoreau Country: A Multimedia Series Celebrating Thoreau’s Legacy in the Hub,” Co-Presented by Old South Meeting House, The Thoreau Society, and the Boston Literary District This program is made possible with funding from the Lowell Institute.

Drawing from years of experience reporting on troop movement, war and diplomacy since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, _Wall Street Journal_ correspondent Nancy Youssef talked about national security under a Trump Administration during her recent visit to the Shorenstein Center in Cambridge. [](http://news.wgbh.org/2017/09/29/news/nancy-youssef-talks-journalism-national-security-and-north-korea "") **» SEE ALSO:** [Nancy Youssef's interview with WGBH News.](http://news.wgbh.org/2017/09/29/news/nancy-youssef-talks-journalism-national-security-and-north-korea"")

As Saudi Arabia struggles to adjust to its drastic decline in oil revenue, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman attempts to bring new ideas and a new future to his country. These changes include focusing on younger generations and potentially bringing change to old customs, including allowing women to drive. During this transition of power and ideas, from one leader to another, how will Saudi Arabia cope with the rapidly changing base of its society? How will the U.S. continue its relationship with the changing country, taking into consideration their many common interests, but also vast amounts of differences and limitations, in order to seek productive change? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Karen Elliott House addresses some of these questions. Photo: The White House from Washington, DC. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Political scientist Danielle Allen turns her attention to the U.S. justice system, looking closely at the predicament of young, black men behind bars. Allen's interest in this enormous, uniquely American problem is personal. Her cousin Michael died at the age of 29 after being caught up in a cycle of violence on Los Angeles streets and in the U.S. prison system. She shares some of her family tragedy and Michael's writings with the audience and asks us to consider what could have been done differently for him and for the hundreds of men like him that can still be helped?