The Routledge Handbook of Neuroethics, edited by L. Syd M Johnson (HU) and Karen S. Rommelfanger (Emory University) has been published by Routledge. The handbook offers an informed view of how the brain sciences are being used to approach, understand and reinvigorate traditional philosophical questions, as well as how those questions, with the grounding influence of neuroscience, are being revisited beyond clinical and research domains.
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A visit and lecture by author Daniel Tammet is the one highlights of Orientation Week at Michigan Technological University. Tammet, author of the bestselling “Born on a Blue Day” will speak to students as part of the Reading As Inquiry program.
Now in its 14th year, Reading As Inquiry asks first year students to read a specific book. Tomorrow, students will attend an address by the author and engage in a discussion with fellow students and a staff facilitator. “Born on a Blue Day,” this year’s required reading, is a memoir of Tammet’s life with Asperger syndrome and savant syndrome and was named “Best Book for Young Adults” in 2008 by the American Library Association.
Possessing an incredible memory and aptitude for math and numbers, Tammet holds the European record for reciting pi from memory to 22,514 digits and has the ability to learn languages in short periods of time.
Robert Johnson, professor of rhetoric, composition and technical communication in Tech’s Humanities department, explained why “Born on a Blue Day” was chosen. “The program is called ‘Reading as Inquiry,’ so we look for books that will inspire conversation,” Johnson says. He says there’s more to choosing the summer reading than whether it’s a good book. “We also have to consider their qualities of a public speaker, their availability during Orientation Week and, frankly, the cost of getting them here.”
L. Syd M Johnson (HU) presented “Creating Transgenic Pigs as Organ Donors: A High-tech Solution to a Low-tech Problem?” at the 10th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, in Seattle, WA on Aug. 21. She co-chaired the conference session “Ethical Considerations for New Technologies Using Animals.”
Dana Van Kooy recently attended two conferences: the British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS) in York, England (July 27-30), where she presented her essay, “Configurations of Jamaica: The Modern Narrative of Diminishing Returns.”
She then attended the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR), which met in Ottawa, Ontario (Aug. 10-13). There, she presented a paper entitled, “Reanimating the Decorporializing Logics of Modernity and Capitalism.” Both essays contribute to her current book project about how modernity emerged from the nexus of human and environmental catastrophe: plantation slavery.
L. Syd M Johnson (HU) was interviewed by Big Think in “CRISPR-Cleaned Piglets Have Been Cloned for Organ Donation,” on the ethics of research that advances the potential to use genetically modified pigs to grow human organs for transplantation. See here.
Michigan Tech’s Cyndi Perkins (UMC) and M. Bartley Seigel (HU) are among the writers scheduled to be on hand during the 2017 Upper Peninsula Authors Book Signings—on the porch at Grandpa’s Barn Books in Copper Harbor.
The book signing is in conjunction with Copper Harbor’s Art in the Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 19-20). Grandpa’s Barn is owned by Lloyd Westcoat (GLRC). Seigel, one of the contributors to “And Here:100 Years of Upper Peninsula Writing, 1917-2017,” will be on the porch from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Perkins will sign copies of her novel “More Than You Think You Know,” from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday. A total of 17 writers and artists will be on the porch during the two days.
Grandpa’s Barn is located behind Copper Harbor’s one-room school and is adjacent to the Grant Township Park.
L Syd M Johnson (HU) was interviewed by Big Think about the ethical implications of the recent development in gene editing of human embryos using CRISPR-Cas9. See here.
PhD student Nancy Henaku has just been elected to the board of the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language & Gender. Says Henaku, “I am honored to be selected to the board of an intellectually enriching organization such as the OSCLG. This unique opportunity is both important and exciting to me.”
RTC PhD alumna Roxane Gay’s opinion piece on HBO’s upcoming series “Confederate” was published in the New York Times. Gay is an associate professor at Purdue University, and a best-selling author. See here.
Jennifer Daryl Slack (HU) and her book “Cultural Studies 1983: A Theoretical History (Stuart Hall: Selected Writings),” are discussed in a New Yorker article about Stuart Hall. See here. The story was spotlighted in First Bell, the American Society for Engineering Education newsletter.