Past Events

Microbial ecosystems sustain all forms of life -including humans—in all environments. However, there are many unknowns about how these diverse and complex communities form, evolve and survive. The study of microbial ecosystems requires biology –and a lot of physics and chemistry, all combined. Dr. Cordero’s lab is a leading force in this field. Dr. Cordero explains the physics and chemistry involved in the formation of these amazing -and essential- ecosystems. This is one of the most fascinating (and demanding) areas of science today.

In recent years, Latin America has experienced a wave of changing political trends, both domestic and international. From a left-wing surge, as evidenced by recent elections, to the rise of the non-alignment stance, these developments will have a lasting impact on the region and the rest of the world. Join WorldBoston for a timely discussion of this topic featuring Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Global Fellow at The Wilson Center. The program features expert remarks from Ambassador Heine and live audience Q&A.

Dr. Fedorenko's lab specializes in unusual language-related adaptations and capacities. She discusses a case of normal first language acquisition despite the absence of the left temporal lobe, a brain region necessary for language development and processing. In this case, the right brain compensated for the missing temporal lobe in the left brain. The child proved exceptional in language skill. Dr. Fedorenko also describes other work in her lab's _Interesting Brains Project_

The old adage about the free lunch fits plastic perfectly – there there is no such thing. Yes, at first it was shiny, bright and inexpensive and seemed like it could be used for almost anything – until we got the price tag. And now it might be too late to fix it. 100 years down the road the world is discovering the myriad unintended consequences of plastic which far outweigh its cheap convenience. Almost daily, scientific research brings us fresh horrors about plastic; it is no longer just turtles or whales choking on the stuff, now it has invaded us. Microplastics are in our blood, human breastmilk and even our brains. Little did we know that when we put plastic into medical devices and food packaging, it would leach into those syringes and water bottles causing dangerous health consequences intrinsically and extrinsically. Only 5% of plastic can be recycled so that means 95% is being dumped into our oceans, landfills and bodies at an unremitting pace. What can be done to break our toxic addiction to plastic, and to terminate its lethal global legacy? To help us understand the scale of the problem and see what steps California and other countries are already taking with the Global Plastics Treaty – **Cambridge Forum** speaks to Dr. Roberto Lucchini, who edited the special edition of "Global Health" on the findings of the Minderoo Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, John Hocevar, Greenpeace’s Oceans Campaign Director and Veronique Greenwood, a science journalist and essayist who frequently contributes to the New York Times, the BBC, and National Geographic. ### Resources [Plastic actually isn't cheap - Veronique Greenwood - Boston Globe](Plastic actually isn’t cheap - Veronique Greenwood - Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/11/opinion/plastic-isnt-actually-cheap/) [Link to the report of Minderoo-Monaco Commission](https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/collections/the-minderoo-monaco-commission-on-plastics-and-human-health) [Trying to live a day without plastic- New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/style/plastic-free.html) [Plastic pollution could be slashed by 80% by 2040, UN says](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/16/plastic-pollution-could-be-slashed-by-80-by-2040-un-says) [Plastic Free President Coalition](https://www.plasticfreepresident.org/#coalition) [Greenpeace report (May 2023) on toxic hazards of recycled nlastic](https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/new-greenpeace-report-calls-out-toxic-hazards-of-recycled-plastic-as-global-plastics-treaty-negotiations-resume-in-paris/)

The story Coakí - William Wildcat- tells, begins 800,000 years ago. There does not appear to be a break in the lineages of humans and our ancestors Neanderthal and Homo Heidelbergensis using fire and hand tools to create forest clearings to select for plants and animal habitats for food, medicine, and materials important to countless groups of people. These forest gardening practices are our collective heritage and are a defining feature of our identity as a species. We call our ancestors and many of our living relatives “Indigenous” to distinguish them from those of us who have recently lost these practices. We see these practices disappearing around the world as we continue the deforestation of the planet. Our ancestral forest gardening practices are not lost, however. They are still practiced in many surviving traditions, such as the dehesas of Spain and other Mediterranean forest gardening and silvopasture practices, and the ancient form of milpa still practiced in Mesoamerica. It is from a marriage of these ancient agroforestry practices and modern ecology science that a powerful regenerative agriculture system called syntropic agroforestry was born. Syntropic agroforestry restores ecosystems and local economies, creates food security and a diversity of nutrient dense foods, and protects cultures from globalization as it heals human relationships with the forests. Coakí lives in the Mimbres watershed near the Gila wilderness area, in the unceded lands of the living Chiricahua peoples, of the Brown bear, of the Jaguar, and of the forests and wetlands which stood there 400 years ago. He studies, practices, and teaches these modern and ancient technologies there. He is in conversation with Jessica Alvarez Parfrey, Executive Director of Transition US. ### Resources [The Lost Forest Gardens of Europe](https://www.shelterwoodforestfarm.com/blog/the-lost-forest-gardens-of-europe) [Illustrated Guide to Agroforestry](https://agroflorestaemquadrinhos.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/final-english-22-10-under-revision-1.pdf) [Life in Syntropy Documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSPNRu4ZPvE) [Modern Farmer Article on Syntropic Agriculture](https://modernfarmer.com/2023/05/syntropic-agriculture-boosts-soil-vitality-using-the-wisdom-of-the-forest/) [Anastassia Makarieva Biotic Pump 1: Global Cooling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcDvVQOTuOw) [Anastassia Makarieva Biotic Pump 2: Water Cycles](https://forum-network.org/lectures/no-trees-no-rain/)

** A “fast-paced and highly absorbing” (Wall Street Journal) history of the fierce final chapter of the "Indian Wars," told through the lives of the two most legendary and consequential American Indian leaders, who led Sioux resistance and triumphed at the Battle of Little Bighorn**. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull: Their names are iconic, their significance in American history undeniable. Together, these two Lakota chiefs, one a fabled warrior and the other a revered holy man, crushed George Armstrong Custer’s vaunted Seventh Cavalry on June 25, 1876. Both had grown to manhood on the High Plains of the American West, in an era when vast herds of buffalo covered the earth, and when their nomadic people could move freely. The Battle of Little Bighorn was the beginning of the end for their treasured and sacred way of life. Drawing on a wealth of previously ignored primary sources, award-winning author Mark Lee Gardner delivers the definitive chronicle, thrillingly told, of these extraordinary Indigenous leaders. _The Earth Is All That Lasts_ is a grand saga, both triumphant and tragic, of their struggle to maintain the freedom of their people against impossible odds. Presented by the American Inspiration Series from American Ancestors/NEHGS in partnership with GBH Forum Network. ### Resources - Books _Witness: A Hunkpapha Historian's Strong-Heart Song of the Lakotas_ by Josephine Waggoner (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013) _The Crazy Horse Surrender Ledger_, edited by Thomas R. Buecker and R. Eli Paul (Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1994) _The Sitting Bull Surrender Census: The Lakotas at Standing Rock Agency, 1881_ by Ephriam D. Dickson III (Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2010) _Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy_ by Ernie LaPointe, Great-Grandson of Sitting Bull (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2009)

It's been more than a year since Russia launched its devastating invasion of Ukraine. The conflict has challenged the world order and fueled geopolitical and economic uncertainty around the world. We examine the U.S. role in the War in Ukraine, providing more than $30 billion in military aid since the conflict began, but stopping short of deploying American forces. Panel of experts discusses how to continue to support Ukraine without inching closer to a direct U.S.-Russian confrontation and if we are at risk of World War III. Photo credit : Envato

> “A masterpiece! I have not read anything as moving, imaginative and informative about my great-great-grandparents since I first heard our family story from my mother when I was a child in the 1940's. When I finished the book, I felt uplifted and quite emotional, as if I had indeed shared not only their life-long freedom journey but had also borne personal witness to the tumultuous period in history through which they had not only lived, but had survived.” – Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely, poet, activist, Freedom Rider, and great-great-granddaughter of Ellen and William Craft Embark on one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history, the journey to freedom of Ellen and William Craft, told by author Ilyon Woo in her latest book, Master Slave Husband Wife, at Belmont Books on Wednesday, May 17 at 7 pm. 2023 is the 175th anniversary of the Crafts’ escape from slavery in Georgia in December 1848: one month later, they would arrive in Boston. Sustained by their love as husband and wife, the Crafts posed as master and slave, with Ellen Craft—the daughter of her first enslaver—passing as wealthy, disabled white man traveling with his enslaved valet. Long past the 1,000 miles they originally traveled to the North, the Crafts were required to flee several thousands miles more to England, in order to truly be free. Ilyon Woo brings the Crafts to life in her vivid narration of their adventures, with meticulous research and stunningly gorgeous writing. Basing her story upon the Crafts’ published narrative of their escape from Georgia, she turned to other sources—letters, deeds, travelogues, newspapers, diaries, paintings, and more—to tell parts of the story the Crafts never wrote about, including their crisis in Boston and their celebrity as abolitionist speakers, both in America and abroad. Ilyon Woo is the author of The Great Divorce : A Nineteenth-Century Mother’s Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers and Her Times. Her articles have appeared in publications such as The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal, and she has received support for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Ilyon Woo is in conversation with Christian Walkes, Associate Director of Education and Interpretation Museum of African American History — Boston | Nantucket to know more about this outstanding journey. This talk is presented by Belmont Books, The Museum of African American History and GBH Forum Network.

Drs. Huber and Orcutt explain the vital role of marine microbial ecosystems as the foundation for all other ocean life. They lead some of the most important research on this intricate marine relationship. Problematic technologies such as deep-sea mining and ocean carbon sequestration will create serious disruptions on these ecosystems, and the impact will inevitably extend to many other lifeforms in the marine universe. Image:WHOI

What was Cambridge like back when it was called Newtowne and even before that? A new history book, ostensibly for kids, aims to paint a more multi-dimensional view of the area charting its cultural influences and history starting back 10,000 years ago, when indigenous people farmed, fished and built communities there. The Massachusett tribe were the first documented humans known to have lived on this land. Art Historian **Suzanne Preston Blier**, Harvard Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies has just published “_The Streets of Newtowne: A Story of Cambridge, MA._” Blier, a Cambridge civic activist, serves as President of the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, a group she helped to found in 2017. Joining her to help amplify our understanding of Newtowne’s diverse past are **Nicola Williams**, President of The Williams Agency, located in an historic building on Story Street. Once a boarding house run by former slave Harriet Jacobs, who self-published her book, “_Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl_” Jacobs went on to become an abolitionist, activist and suffragette. Williams serves on the board of the Sustainable Business Network of Boston. Also **Sage Carbone**, Community Programs Director for the Fenway Community Development Corporation. Sage is a descendant of the Massachusett tribe and a resident of Cambridge, where she is active in the collective Cambridge City Growers which distributes thousands of seedlings to urban gardeners. Augmenting the historical discussion will be **Daniel Berger-Jones**, in the guise of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who delivered his famous “American Scholar” address in the church in 1837. This speech was referred to as America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence” by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Turn up in person or sign up now to register for the event. ### Resources [ Winthrop Park – Cambridge’s first Puritan settlement and the first Planned City in North America is under the care of the Winthrop Park Trust: ](https://www.winthropparktrust.org/) [The Vassal-Craigie-Longfellow House on Brattle Street (National Park Service)](https://www.nps.gov/long/index.htm) [Ned Blackhawk’s new book “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History”](https://www.portersquarebooks.com/book/9780300244052) [Link to Cambridge Day article on MIT and Indigenous People genocide ](https://www.cambridgeday.com/2023/05/08/an-indigenous-look-into-mit/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-indigenous-look-into-mit) Impage copyright: Envato