September 13, 2012 at 11:13 am
Dr. Jelle Atema of the BU Department of Biology, will be joining the course faculty in CC106: Biodiversity this coming spring. His areas of research interest include sensory biology and biometic robotics, and he is currently involved in studies of the chemical ecology of lobsters, the dispersal of larvae in reef fishes, and navigation in sharks. This last topic attracted the attention of BU Today’s Sue Seligson, who profiled Prof. Atema in an article published today:
In Atema’s lab, odor plumes are manufactured from the pungent contents of a pile of squid stashed in the laboratory fridge. Although all available science suggests that it’s a myth, no one, he jokes, has actually tested the popular assertion that sharks can sense a single drop of blood a mile away. But there’s another bit of shark lore swimming around on the internet: for every two humans killed by sharks, humans kill two million sharks. That one, says Atema, just might be true.
Those of you interested in learning more about Prof. Atema’s work with sharks can read this interview he did with Discovery.com,where he explains a shark’s view of the world.
FUN FACT. You may have seen The Secret of Lobsters (Harper, 2005) in bookstores; the author of this best-seller, Trevor Corson, has been a research collaborator of Prof. Atema.
By CAS Core Curriculum
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Posted in Core Authors, Core Lecturers, In the News, Interviews
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Tagged biology, BU Today, CC106, faculty, Jelle Atema, Science
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September 12, 2012 at 9:15 am
Core students may be interested in attending the installation of the "Gilgamesh" sculpture at Harvard's Museum of Natural History this Thursday, September 13th starting at 5:30 pm. The unveiling will be accompanied by a reading from translator David Ferry. Visit http://www.geomus.fas.harvard.edu for more information regarding the event.
By zakbos
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Posted in Activities, Announcements, Art, Core Authors
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Tagged CC101, David Ferry, Gilgamesh, Harvard, sculpture
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September 10, 2012 at 3:40 pm
For the week of September 9, 2012
- CC101: Professor Gillman: "Genesis: God in Search of Man" 9/11 (Tsai Auditorium)
- CC105: Professor Marsher: "Motions on the Earth" 9/11 (CAS 522)
- CC105: Professor Marsher: "Motions in the Sky" 9/13 (CAS 522)
- CC201: Professor Nelson: Machiavelli's The Prince 9/11 (CAS 522)
- CC203: Professor Barfield: "The Desert and the Town: Comparative Sociology" 9/13 (CAS 522)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- The Core Writing Center is now open in CAS 129. Students can sign up for appointments in CAS 119.
- CC101 students: Make sure to bring your BU ID cards to lecture so that you can swipe-in for attendance credit.
EVENTS THIS WEEK
- The Core Performance Series has been organized to offer Core students some highlights of Boston's great music, theatre and dance scene. To kick off the series, Core has purchased a limited number of tickets for the opening night of the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, September 22nd. This all-Beethoven concert is sure to be special, so put on your suits and dresses and take advantage of this opportunity. Tickets are first come-first-serve and can be acquired by signing up in the Core office, CAS 119. A $10 dollar deposit is required which will be returned when you pick up your ticket at the BSO on the night of the concert. No refunds for unclaimed tickets.
MEET THE CC105 MENTORS
- Students in CC105 are invited to an orientation session with Core mentors Gayle and Nate, this Wednesday, September 12th from 6:30-8:30 PM. Pizza and refreshments will be served. This orientation is an opportunity to hear about their experiences last year and understand the challenges you might face this semester. You will also get some tips on the study habits that will make you a successful student. Kenmore Classroom Building (KCB), Room 201, 565 Commonwealth Ave. Please RSVP using the form on the CC105 Blackboard site, under the Course Information tab.
COMING UP
- On Thursday, September 27th there will be an all-Core Integrating Forum on the question, "How We Know What We Know?" Tsai Auditorium, 7 PM.
- Professor Hamill is looking for actors! If you have the acting bug and you would like to perform in a scene for her CC101 lecture on Hecuba in November, please email kyna@bu.edu for more information.
- If you have ideas or suggestions for Core activities, email Professor Hamill at kyna@bu.edu.
GET CONNECTED WITH CORE
By CAS Core Curriculum
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Posted in Announcements, e-bulletin
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Tagged e-bulletin
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September 7, 2012 at 4:06 pm
All Core alumni are invited to "Aristophanes' Assemblywomen: An all-Humanities Alumni Event", a very-adult reading and interpretation of Professor Jeffrey Henderson's translation of Aristophanes' 'Assemblywomen' by various Humanities' Faculty at BU's Alumni Weekend later this month. Audience members are encouraged to jeer, join in, or just sit back and enjoy. The reading will feature professors Stephanie Nelson, Jeffrey Henderson, Patricia Johnson, Stephen Scully, David Eckel, Kate Snodgrass, and others. Food, drink, and lively conversation will immediately follow the show.
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2012
Time: 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Location: George Sherman Union Conference Auditorium (775 Commonwealth Ave., Room 228)
Cost: Free
To register for this event, please visit
http://www.bu.edu/alumniweekend/aristophanes-assemblywomen-an-all-humanities-alumni-event.
Alumni are also welcome (and encouraged) to play a role themselves! Anyone who would like to participate 'on stage' should contact Professor Nelson at nelson@bu.edu.
By zakbos
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Posted in alumni
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Tagged alumni, Aristophanes, classics, Events, theater
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September 4, 2012 at 3:44 pm
For the week of September 2, 2012
Welcome to the first edition of the Fall 2012 Core E-Bulletin. This email will be sent out every week to keep you updated about Core lectures and activities. If you have any ideas or comments about Core activities, email Professor Kyna Hamill at kyna@bu.edu.CORE LECTURES
- CC101: Professor Eckel on the Epic of Gilgamesh 9/4
- CC105: Professor Jackson gives a course overview, and considers the question -- Why does science matter? 9/4
- CC105: Professor Jackson on the Copernican Revolution 9/6
- CC201: Professor Redford on Petrarca 9/4
- CC203: Professor Corgan on 'The Ancient World & Social Science' 9/6
EVENTS THIS WEEK
- Core-in-the-City Scavenger Hunt, Sunday, September 9th at 12 PM. Students meet in the Core office (CAS 119). Teams of 2-3 will set out by foot, bike or take the T to locate and photograph literary sites of interest in Boston based on clues. The first team to return with photos of all 8 correct locations will win Barnes & Noble gift certificates. Sign up in the Core office this week.
- The Great Fruit Drop and Ice Cream Social, Sunday September 9th at 2 PM. In this annual Core tradition, faculty will climb the fire escape behind CAS to reenact Galileo's apocryphal experiments with gravity. Ice cream will follow. Attendance in required for students in CAS 105. All other Core students and alumni are encouraged to come and chat with faculty and welcome new students to campus.
COMING UP
- Next week Core will be launching its performance series for the fall which will include trips to the ballet, theatre and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. So get your calendars ready!
- Professor Hamill is looking for actors! If you have the acting bug and you would like to perform in a scene for her CC101 Hecuba lecture in November, please email kyna@bu.edu for more information.
GET CONNECTED WITH CORE
By zakbos
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Posted in e-bulletin
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Tagged e-bulletin
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September 1, 2012 at 5:56 pm
... the art for the invitation to the sophomore Core Banquet from 1997. Are there any alumni who remember this event?
By zakbos
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Posted in alumni, Art, Events
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Tagged alumni, Events
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August 16, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Postmarked August 1, from Cambodia --
Phnom Penh is amazing! So much to see and do and Cambodians are incredibly friendly! I hope all is well at the Core office!
- Abby Simon, Core '06, CAS '09
By zakbos
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Posted in alumni, Postcards
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Tagged alumni, Asia, postcard
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August 1, 2012 at 9:51 am
But the anti-authoritarians demand that the authoritarian political state be abolished at one stroke, even before the social conditions that gave birth to it have been destroyed. They demand that the first act of the social revolution shall be the abolition of authority. Have these gentlemen ever seen a revolution? A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon -- authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionaries.
- Friedrich Engels, as appears in the essay "On Authority" (The Marx-Engels Reader, pg 732-3, ed. Robert Tucker)
By zakbos
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Posted in Analects
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Tagged Analects, CC203, Engels, revolution, social sciences
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July 31, 2012 at 9:51 am
From Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan:
Aristotle and other heathen philosophers define good and evil by the appetite of men; and well enough, as long as we consider them governed every one by his own law. For int eh condition of me that have no other law but their own appetites, there can be no general rule of good and evil actions. but in a commonwealth this measure is false. Not the appetite of private men, but the law, which is the will and appetite of the state, is the measure. And yet is this doctrine still practised, and men judge the goodness or wickedness of their own and of other men's actions, and of the actions of the commonwealth itself, by their own passions, and no man calleth good or evil but that which is so in his eyes, without any regard at all to the public laws (except only monks and friars, that are bound by vow to that simple obedience to their superior to which every subject ought to think himself bound by the law of nature to the civil sovereign). And this private measure of good is a doctrine, not only vain, but also pernicious to the public state.
By zakbos
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Posted in Analects
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Tagged Analects, CC203, Hobbes, social sciences
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Dr. Jelle Atema of the BU Department of Biology, will be joining the course faculty in CC106: Biodiversity this coming spring. His areas of research interest include sensory biology and biometic robotics, and he is currently involved in studies of the chemical ecology of lobsters, the dispersal of larvae in reef fishes, and navigation in sharks. This last topic attracted the attention of BU Today’s Sue Seligson, who profiled Prof. Atema in an article published today:
