From Seed, the deep symbiosis between bacteria and their human hosts is forcing scientists to ask: Are we organisms or living ecosystems?; and is understanding the selfless behavior of ants, bees, and wasps the key to a new evolutionary synthesis? (and more on E. O. Wilson) Tough love for the humanities: Leon Kass delivers Jefferson Lecture, warning that, like the sciences, the humanities seem to have lost their soul. From PUP, the first chapter from Going Local: Decentralization, Democratization, and the Promise of Good Governance by Merilee S. Grindle; and the introduction to What Democracy Is For: On Freedom and Moral Government by Stein Ringen. A review of Objectively Speaking: Ayn Rand Interviewed. With health care and climate change on the agenda, the next hundred are more important than the first — get ready for the Summer of Shove. Cartoon Conservatism: Is "Little Orphan Annie" the key to understanding Obama-phobia? Scott McLemee interviews a scholar in the field of comics studies. The Eternal City: Despite New Yorkers’ powerful nostalgia for the Gotham-that-was, the city’s urban ecology has always thrived on change. From TLS, a review of Fresh: A Perishable History by Susanne Freidberg (and an interview); and a review of books on multicultural food in Britain.
