We're the official podcast of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Arts and Science. We talk about ideas, innovation and inventions with professors, students and alumni. Join the conversation.
Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto
The Arts & Science community was saddened to learn of the death this week of Professor Emeritus Calvin “Kelly” Gotlieb. The “Father of Computing in Canada,” Gotlieb was part of the first Canadian design team to construct a digital computer. He also established Canada's first undergraduate and graduate courses in computing, and he worked on the design of the Avro Arrow and the St. Lawrence Seaway. This episode of Planet Artsci is an excerpt from an interview with Gotlieb from 2015. See here for full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-16-memoriam-professor-emeritus-kelly-gotlieb-1921-2016-transcript/
Steve Batiuk, a Research Associate in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations and the Archaeology Centre, discusses the role wine and wine-making played in the played in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia 8,000 years ago. And he also makes a few suggestions for contemporary Georgian wines you might want to try. For full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-15-wine-making-ancient-world-transcript/
Scott Schieman, the chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, discusses work – why we love our work, why we hate it, and how stress and our level of workplace engagement impacts not only our job performance but our personal lives as well. See here for full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-14-work-life-balance-greedy-institution-transcript/
Kumar Murty, the Chair of the Department of Mathematics at U of T, explores how mathematics is inescapable – it’s a part of everything around us, kind of like The Matrix – and that we shouldn’t be afraid. In fact, math is about more than numbers and letters strung together like alien hieroglyphics. Math is music, it’s art, it’s philosophy, it’s romance. So, I invite you to take the red pill, stay in Wonderland and let Kumar show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-13-mozart-mathematics-kung-fu-panda-world-cyber-security-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
Joe Wong, a political scientist at the Munk School of Global Affairs, discusses how the current state of global poverty is shifting: while there are fewer poor people in the world today than there were 25 years ago, there are more poor people from countries that we don’t ordinarily consider to be poor. In fact, the majority of the world’s poorest of the poor are living in middle income countries. But it’s not all bad news. There’s an exciting program that is bringing financial aid to the poorest people in the poorest regions of Brazil, for example. Joe and a group of his undergraduate students recently travelled to Brazil to conduct research to determine how this program, called Bolsa Familia, works. And what the rest of the world can learn from it. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-12-changing-face-global-poverty-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
U of T physicist AW Peet uses Lego to explain String Theory, the building blocks of the universe, gravitational waves, black holes, Monty Python and Yahoo Serious. Seriously. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-11-lego-batman-explains-string-theory-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
Professor Bryan Gaensler, director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, explains how magnets impact the lives of people and animals in mysterious ways, how a powerful new radio-telescope project is set to give us unprecedented views of the cosmos, and whether or not there’s intelligent life in the universe beyond ourselves. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-10-magnets-aliens-dog-poops-circles-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
U of T medievalist Michael Gervers discusses medieval codes of honour, his obsession with churches carved out of rock faces and the importance of the ancient Ethiopic language of Ge’ez. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-9-medieval-chivalry-rock-cut-churches-ancient-language-geez-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
Victoria College alumnus and Oscar-nominated director and producer Norman Jewison (The Thomas Crown Affair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Moonstruck, The Hurricane) chats about his days putting on U of T variety shows, how race relations in America have influenced his work, what Robert Kennedy said about In the Heat of the Night, and what it was like to work with Harry Belafonte and Steve McQueen. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-8-filmmaker-norman-jewison-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
PhD candidate Pamela Wong is combining leading-edge scientific techniques with traditional Inuit knowledge to better our understanding of the impact of climate change on polar bear populations. She can also tell you what to do if a hungry polar bear knocks on your door in the middle of the night. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-7-polar-bears-climate-change-inuit-knowledge-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
Professor Sali Tagliamonte, a sociolinguist who is heading up the Ontario Dialects Project, talks about how not only are there multiple dialects in Ontario, but that the way Ontarians speak changes as you move farther and farther away from Toronto. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-6-making-sense-ontario-dialects-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
U of T psychology professor Nick Rule explains how the split-second judgements we make about other people based upon their face and facial features affect how we treat them.To learn more about Nick Rule’s research, visit uoft.me/nickrule. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-5-understanding-nonverbal-communication-gaydar-donald-trump-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
U of T astronomy professor Roberto Abraham explains how galaxies form and how his Dragonfly project is exploring galaxies in a way never dreamed possible. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-4-taking-photographs-galaxies-far-far-away-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
In this episode, behavioural economist Dilip Soman discusses how the hundreds of conscious and unconscious choices we make every day — from what size coffee we drink to when we go to bed — impact our health, and how these decisions can be manipulated by crafty marketing. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-3-the-architecture-of-healthy-choices-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
U of T statistics professor Jeffrey Rosenthal calculates the odds of the Prime Minister Stephen Harper being re-elected, the Blue Jays winning the World Series and whether or not you’ll win the lottery. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-2-probability-politics-and-the-toronto-blue-jays-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/
U of T English professor emeritus Rosemary Sullivan reads an excerpt from her award-winning biography, Stalin’s Daughter. Click here for a full transcript: http://alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/planet-artsci-episode-1-stalins-daughter-transcript/ Connect with us! Twitter: twitter.com/planetartsci Facebook: facebook.com/ArtsandScienceAlumni Instagram: instagram.com/uoftartsci Website: alumni.artsci.utoronto.ca/