X
“Immunology and cell biology share at least one profound common origin. Around
the turn of the 19th century, Elie Metchnikoff discovered ‘innate immunity’ by
demonstrating the ability of phagocytes to detect, engulf and kill invading microbes.
His definition of this fundamental principle of immunology was wholly enabled
by paying close attention to the cell biology of how phagocytes worked. ... Yet
today, like Amanda and Elyot, the divorced couple in Noel Coward’s play ‘Private
Lives,’ immunology and cell biology now find themselves with new spouses
in adjacent hotel rooms, realizing that there had been something wonderful in
their previous relationship.” §
“[I]n times of trouble, a company needs a leader who has the courage and
the conviction to make some hard decision — and make it quickly. This means
that leaders sometimes have to act on their own without necessarily building
consensus. Yet in other circumstances it is that very consensus-building
that is key to success. The skill is in knowing the difference. ... Being a great
leader means that you have the strategic vision to reinvent yourself and your
business depending on what the times require.” §
“[P]eople often do ask how these birds, who are from warm climates, survive
up here. People should remember that there are high mountains in South America
too, so the birds know what they’re doing. ... North America did once upon
a time have its own abundant parakeet, the Carolina Parakeet, which apparently
did not range as far north as New England, but was certainly found in New York
State. ... They obviously knew how to deal with the cold too, but not with the
destruction of sycamore and cypress forests, nor the front end of a shot gun.
The last one went dead in about 1918 or thereabouts.” §
“Innovation for innovation’s sake may be a great engine of our economy,
but it takes away at least one kind of choice: the choice to be loyal to the
things we grew to love. Those things had at least the longevity to collect memories
around them. ... The fluidity of the world of things we once depended on seeps
into other things we depend on, other beliefs, other ways of measuring trust
and worth. It’s not as if Shakespeare’s advice, spoken by Polonius
to his son, Laertes, in Hamlet, is any less meaningful: ‘To thine own self
be true.’ Yet the continual revamping and disposability of the daily stuff
that fills our lives is making it harder and harder to remember what ‘true’ is.” §
“Neither [we baby boomers] nor Reagan, who assailed us as governor of California,
saw that in sloughing off the bad old repressions [in the 1960s] we weren’t
just liberating the better angels of our natures but riding swift market currents
that have since turned much of society into a free-for-all: citizens have morphed
into customers who, no longer internalizing moral codes, succumb increasingly
to road rage, lethal stampedes at store openings, cage fighting, rising violence
at sporting events, school shootings, a groping pornification of private lives
and public spaces, bread-and-circus entertainments, and myriad addictions, including
gambling and, in ‘public discourse,’ talk shows and Fox News.” §
“Indian sugarcane was introduced to China by monks who sucked lumps of
sugar to cut their fast-induced hunger pangs. Even China’s own product,
tea, was popularized in the country by monks who drank it to stay up late to
pray. (Around the same time in another part of the world, Islamic preachers popularized
coffee-drinking for the same purpose — to stay awake to pray. Born in Ethiopia,
spread through west Asia, coffee was often called ‘Islamic wine’).” §
“When it comes to our behavior from moment to moment, the big question
is, ‘What to do next?’ Well, we’re finding that we have these
unconscious behavioral guidance systems that are continually furnishing suggestions
through the day about what to do next, and the brain is considering and often
acting on those, all before conscious awareness. ... Sometimes those goals are
in line with our conscious intentions and purposes, and sometimes they’re
not.” §
“What has happened in Indian education is that everybody is busy plucking
the fruit off the trees and no one is planting the trees. The most executives
can see is ‘We can pick up the smart kids and give them two months of training
so they can do a job in a cubicle.’ But unless they recognize the need
to invest in the educational system, that is not going to last.” §
“People have given up control of their sleep. There’s no sleep hygiene.
People find the time to do everything but sleep. A lot of effective sleeping
is a matter of routine. Going to sleep is a task that needs to be learned. … It’s
much easier if you learn good sleep habits early.”
T H I S
— Ira Mellman, Sterling Professor of Cell Biology and professor of immunobiology,
in his article, “Private Lives: Reflections and Challenges in Understanding
the Cell Biology of the Immune System,” Science Magazine, Aug. 2007.
— Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean and the Lester Crown Professor
in the Practice of Management, and Ed Kopko in their article, “What’s
in a Leader?” Forbes.com, Aug. 7, 2007.
— Mark Aronson, chief paintings conservator at the Yale Center for British
Art, “Attack of the Parakeets,” New Haven Independent, Aug. 9, 2007.
— Steven Henry Madoff, senior critic at the School of Art, in his article, “Something
of Ourselves Is Lost when Things Change,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 19,
2007.
— Jim Sleeper, lecturer in political science, in his review of John Patrick
Diggins’ book “Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom and the Making of History,” “Gip,
Gip, Hooray!” The New Haven Review of Books, Aug. 2007.
— Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobalOnline and director of publications
at the Center for the Study of Globalization, in his article, “Globalization:
The Ties that Bind,” Korea Herald (South Korea), Aug. 14, 2007.
— John A. Bargh, professor of psychology, “Who’s Minding the
Mind?” The New York Times, July 31, 2007.
— Shyam Sunder, the James L Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics and
Finance, “Future Shock,” Workforce Management (CA), Aug. 2007.
— Dr. Sumit Bhargava, assistant professor of pediatrics, “Start Now
To Wake On Time,” New Haven Register, Aug. 23, 2007.
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale, Peru forge ‘model’ collaboration on Machu Picchu
Foster + Partners to design new SOM building
NIH grant aims to speed development of alcoholism treatment
‘Quiet on the set!’: Scenes for DeNiro-Pacino movie shot in employee’s home
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
Anderson comes to Yale as Lanman Professor
Harries appointed as first Ragen Professor
Nägele is first incumbent of Mohr Professorship
Smith has been named to Wells Professorship
Scholars named to joint posts at MacMillan Center
Abigail Rider to manage Yale’s real estate
Exhibit chronicles slavery and emancipation in Jamaica
Activist and author Gloria Steinem to visit as Chubb Fellow
Art, music of Tibetan monks to be featured in campus events
Architect-designed housewares produced by Swid Powell . . .
Award-winning play about conjoined twins to be presented
Brownell: Food addiction and nutrition
Part one of two-part conference will explore ‘Frontier Cities’
Tribute to Cleanth Brooks examines the topic ‘What is Close Reading?’
Show features paintings of city scenes by Constance LaPalombara
Getting saucy
Look at ‘Past Year in Admissions’ . . .
Campus Notes
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