Jacques Derrida, the famous philosopher, thought the advent of digital word processing meant the end of the draft. Thorsten Ries and a team of researchers are proving him wrong — and pushing the boundaries of digital forensics in the humanities.
Features
The Oracle of the Enlightenment
How did one of the 18th century’s greatest students of Rome become its foremost voice for balance and moderation in the construction of the modern state?
The McCrackenaissance
A few things to know about Elizabeth McCracken: She’s hilarious on Twitter. She likes to spend her mornings swimming in Austin’s Barton Springs Pool. She’s not wild about the term “autofiction,” and her new book, “The Hero of This Book,” is definitely a novel, not a memoir.
Blog
A Classics Podcast Gets Greek Greats Onto Your Phone
The idea for Deborah Beck’s podcast burst forth from her head like the goddess Athena from the head of Zeus. That moment of inspiration has turned into three seasons and counting of “Musings in Greek Literature,” a podcast on classical Greek texts hosted by Beck and a rotating cast of her advanced undergraduate students.
The End of the Line: “Endlings” and what their stories tell us about the planet, its inhabitants, and ourselves
Here is the basic anatomy of a story: there’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. But what can stories tell us about “endlings,” the last known individuals of their kinds?
Sparking joy through entrepreneurship: Q&A with COLA student Haley Jústiz
COLA student Haley Jústiz, a partner in the Austin-based startup FreeWater, talks about her journey from book blogger to entrepreneur and what she thinks the liberal arts can bring to business.
The Science of Teaching Science: A UT Austin-Thinkery Partnership is building better science education for kids and communities
Cristine Legare studies how children learn and how to make informal learning exhibits more engaging and impactful for people of all ages.
Books
Creating Human Nature: Government professor Benjamin Gregg delves into the fraught politics of genetic engineering
For Benjamin Gregg, professor of government at The University of Texas at Austin and author of the new book Creating Human Nature: The Political Challenges of Genetic Engineering, the potential of gene editing technologies is too great to leave it to ad hoc reactions, either from a skittish public, a sensationalistic media, or a heavy-handed state.
Book Excerpt: How and How Not to Be Happy
Could happiness lie in health, wealth, responsibility, or pleasure? Should we settle for imperfect happiness? What would it even mean to attain perfect fulfillment? In his new book, J. Budziszewski separates the wheat from the chaff, exploring how to attain happiness—and just as importantly, how not to.
Commentary
Jeffrey Abramson
Supreme Court poised to put Boston Marathon bomber back on death row
In a legal marathon running alongside the real Boston Marathon, the Supreme Court heard oral argument this week about whether to re-instate the on-again, off-again death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, for his role in planting the deadly bombs near the 2013 Marathon finish line.
Art Markman
Changing your mind about something as important as vaccination isn’t a sign of weakness – being open to new information is the smart way to make choices
Culturally, this is an era in which people are held in high esteem when they stick with their beliefs and negatively labeled as “flip-floppers” or “wishy-washy” when they change what they think.
Sahotra Sarkar
When human life begins is a question of politics – not biology
A Texas law that aims to eliminate almost all abortions in the state is part of a long-standing nationwide movement to restrict the right to abortion.