Conversation 1
考古学教授答应帮学生的Graduate School Application写推荐信,但是学生查邮箱没有收到,下周立马有一所学校申请截止,所以焦急的找assistant问详情。这位教授期末有书稿截止、并且安排去澳大利亚沙漠实地研究,虽然她一贯行事缜密(on top of everything),但这件事确实疏忽了。Assistant答应给教授邮件联系,确保推荐信不耽误之后的学校,且建议学生另找其他教授,以防万一。
Conversation 2
学生过来跟教授讨论关于short paper和long paper两个的内容把握,关于Benjamin Franklin这个多才多艺的人物,到底细节添加把握到什么程度。
教授建议,小论文,可以注重到富兰克林和Post Office的渊源;大论文可以扩宽内容,比如电力等其他方面的贡献。
Lecture 1
Astronomy
讲Saturn的一个planet,重点讲述其可能有有机生命体存在,证据如下:
Unlike other planets with craters all over its surface, the surface of this planet is crater free, which indicates internal activities. Its southern polar has those cracks referred to by scientists as the “tiger stripes”. This region lets out vents of vapor and is high in temperature.
There are several explanations for the high temperature. The first being radioactive elements emitting the heat causing it to remain warm, but considering the size of this planet, it could not have contained enough radioactive materials within to sustain the high temperature. The second being the gravitational pull and the force from the planet creates the friction, but according to calculation, it is still not quite enough, still 5% off.
This discussion is valuable for astrological exploit, because it is more likely to contain extraterrestrial life than Europa and Mars.
Lecture 2
Art History
Andy Warhol——The artist that challenges the authenticity of art.
Unlike other artists who work in studios, he creates painting in factories mainly using silk-screening to mass-produce many pages of the same paintings.
The argument lies in, if his factory workers make the paintings, and Warhol only signed them as the last procedure, is it really him that created the painting?
Student 1: Like teachers leave painting assignments in class, every students hand in pieces of flowers, the teachers cannot sign the copy can call it his own.
Student 2: Like Renaissance workshop, apprentices do part of the work according to the artists instruction, the artist signed the painting. It is still legitimate for Warhol to be the owner of those art, because he contributes the notion.
Professor: It is worth discussion, and remains to be seen,
Lecture 3
Female Mule Deer respond to fawn’s cry even though the fawn is not her own, for its cause there are several explanations:
Recognizable error, the mule deer cannot tell the difference between the cry of her own fawn and other fawn. Not likely.Experiment: when a female mule deer’s fawn is right in from her, when she hears the cry in the microphone, she will also rush there immediately;
Bedded Fawn Theory, because their fawn is lying in the burrow, so they are concerned when they hear the cry.Not true.The deer with bedded fawn and the deer with active fawn (fawn standing outside) reacted the same when hearing cry, no difference in intensity.
Reciprocal altruism, expecting other mule deer would do the same for their fawn.
Lecture 4
Impulse Buying