A&S in the News: December 20, 2022 – January 7, 2023

E.O. Wilson

E.O. Wilson on the foundations of ethics: Philosophy Now

Can gene-culture evolution, rather than philosophy, answer our deepest ethical questions? …Torin Alter teaches philosophy at The University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa.

Three Gorges Dam

China’s Three Gorges Dam: How it relates to Nostradamus’s prophecies and will the dam collapse: The BL – Dec. 30

… David Shankman is a geographer at The University of Alabama who studies Chinese flooding. He told Reuters, “One of the major justifications for the Three Gorges Dam was flood control, but less than 20 years after its completion, we have the highest flood water in recorded history … The fact is that it cannot prevent these severe events.” 

Trope-ification

TikTok figured out an easy way to recommend books. The results were dubious.: Slate – Dec. 31

… “There’s this pleasure of the familiarity, which is part of what makes for an intimate, easy type of reading experience,” Catherine Roach said in an interview. Roach is a professor of gender and cultural studies at New College at The University of Alabama, who has also written romance novels under the pen name Catherine LaRoche.

School Shootings

Recent threats of school shooting in Puerto Rico part of worrying trend in Latin America: Latino Rebels – Jan. 4

… Comparatively, the United States had 23,260 and a rate of 6.9. But the United States has six times its global share of mass shooters, according to studies done by Dr. Adam Lankford, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at The University of Alabama.

Speaker of the House

UA political science professor comments on Speaker of the House election: WVTM 13 – Jan. 5

Today, we spoke with Dr. Joseph Smith, department chair of political science at The University of Alabama, about what the stalemate means. “We may not notice this for the next couple of days, but if there are things that have to be done, bills that have to be passed or if a crisis were to come up, then this could become a real problem.” All of Alabama’s representatives have voted along party lines.
Fox 6

Traditional Earth Oven Cooking

Choctaw Cultural Center to share past with earth oven cooking demo: North Texas e-News – Jan. 6

… Mike Fedoroff, PhD student at The University of Alabama specializing in southeastern archaeology, will facilitate the Traditional Earth Oven Cooking Demonstration.

Charleston Harbor

After 40 years at museum, Zierden’s archaeology still filling in the gaps of history: The Post and Courier – Jan. 7

When researchers from The University of Alabama wanted to study the history of pollution in Charleston Harbor, it was The Charleston Museum and Martha Zierden they reached out to. The researchers analyzed oyster shells dating from 150 to 200 years ago from the museum’s archaeological collection and compared them with modern oysters.