Creepy, Fascinating, and True!

This talk explores how the violence of premodern culinary technique left traces not only in the recipes of late medieval England, but also in its imaginative poetry. It looks closely at several typical medieval recipes and then shows how their violent culinary poetics extends beyond the kitchen to inform the writing of literary character, with particular attention to the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. Content warning: This talk touches upon violence done to both animals and humans as well as medieval antisemitism.

Lisa H. Cooper is Professor of English at UW-Madison, where she specializes in the literature and culture of late medieval England. She is the author of Artisans and Narrative Craft in Late Medieval England (2011) and many articles about the relationship of literature, labor, and technology in the medieval period. Currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities (2023-27), she is completing a book entitled The Poetics of Practicality in Late Medieval England.

Bed bugs may be a creature of nursery rhymes, but they can also be a thing of nightmares. Join in as we explore the biology of bed bugs and shine some light on these nocturnal blood-feeders.

Patrick (PJ) Liesch is an Extension entomologist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a science communicator, and the director of the UW Insect Diagnostic Lab.  PJ provides entomology-related outreach throughout the state of Wisconsin and beyond, including regular appearances in television, radio, and newspaper stories.

In this episode, Dr. Jack Nitschke explains neuroplasticity in the human brain; how we can essentially teach our brain better thinking and better habits.

Jack Nitschke is a psychologist and neuroscientist, as Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  The first 20 years of his career were dedicated to brain imaging research on anxiety and depression. The last 12 years have been spent as a full-time clinician providing psychotherapy to patients with a wide range of mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Jack earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  His professional interests include neuroscience, neuroplasticity, trauma-informed care, wellness, and the etiology and treatment of anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

John Hawks has traveled across Africa, Europe and Asia in his research into our origins and evolution. He helped to show that our evolution has rapidly accelerated during the last 10,000 years, and is now investigating the genomes of ancient people including the Neanderthals. His weblog reaches more than 100,000 people worldwide every month, and he is teaching one of the first UW massively open online courses next year. Professor Hawks has been with UW–Madison since 2002.