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The Future of Cinema
Since its inception in 1885 with the Lumiere Brothers’ public screening of La Sortie de l’Usine Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon), cinema has been a collective experience, the modern equivalent of gathering around the campfire for storytelling. It continues to shape our perceptions, our attitudes, and the larger culture by…
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The Art and Science of Atmospheric Rivers and the Changing Hydroclimate of the West
California’s unique geography, with some of the continent’s highest mountains situated close to the broad expanse of the Pacific Ocean helps make California’s precipitation regime the most volatile in the country. This volatility, characterized by large natural swings between drought and extremely rainy years make water resource management in California notoriously difficult. Global climate change…
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China and Latin American Energy
The People’s Republic of China has become a major investor, lender and actor across the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. Indeed, loans and investments from China have financed an impressive array of projects in infrastructure, energy and mining. With more than $58 billion invested between 2000 and 2019, China has clearly staked…
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The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis
The steady and alarming rise in antibiotic resistance poses one of the greatest challenges to public health and modern medicine. The U.S. CDC estimates that drug-resistant bacteria sicken more than 2 million people annually, causing 23,000 deaths and resulting in $20 billion in excess health-care costs and an additional $35 billion in lost productivity. The…
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Homeland Security in the Post-Trump Era
The Biden-Harris administration faces an evolving mix of foreign and domestic threats. Repairing the damage done to domestic security agencies and returning public confidence is at the core of this conversation among four former leaders of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, served as Secretaries of the Department under President…
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Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II
In the midst of World War II ethnomusicologist Moisei Beregovsky led a group of scholars who discovered songs written by Jewish Red Army soldiers, refugees, victims, and survivors of Ukrainian ghettos and camps. These were people whose voices are rarely heard in reconstructing history; none were professional writers, poets, or musicians, but nevertheless all were…
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Radiation Oncology
Cancer treatments are advancing at an astounding pace, with newer therapies providing better outcomes, longer life, and greater chance for cure. Radiation therapy uses carefully targeted doses of high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue. The goal is to use high-dose X-rays to remove the cancer, keep it from spreading,…
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When the Drug is Alive
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing global health issues of the 21st Century. In 2016, epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee was involved in a remarkable case where she and her colleagues revived a hundred year old forgotten cure – bacteriophage therapy – which saved her husband’s life from a deadly superbug infection. Strathdee and her…
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Criminal Justice Reform in California
For decades California’s incarceration rate mirrored that of the nation, increasing five-fold between the early 1970s and the mid-2000s. Since 2010 California has slowly turned away from mass incarceration through a series of criminal justice reforms, including changing criminal sentencing and law enforcement practices to reduce prison populations. What has California done right in this…
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Fighting Cancer with Your Immune System
New findings on the relationship between the immune system and cancer is bringing a new era of treatment for patients and opening up interdisciplinary collaboration for researchers and clinicians. In this engaging conversation, Ezra Cohen, MD, and Judy Varner, PhD, highlight emerging research and clinical strategies using precision immunotherapy and stem cell techniques. Dr. Cohen…