Great Minds Gather Here (Video)

Dr. Talmadge King, Jr. is Dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs at UCSF. Dr. King is an internationally known expert on interstitial lung diseases. In the interview with current chair of UCSF’s Department of Medicine, Dr. Bob Wachter, Dr. King describes his remarkable journey from a small town upbringing –including segregated schools –to the pinnacle of academic medicine. Dr. King is the recipient of several major honors, including the Trudeau Medal, the highest honor of the American Thoracic Society. Prior to assuming his role as dean, he was chair of UCSF’s Department of Medicine and Chief of the Medical Service at San Francisco General Hospital. Series: "Great Minds Gather Here" [Health and Medicine] [Business] [Show ID: 32874]

Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the country’s preeminent constitutional scholars and dean of the University of California, Berkeley’s law school, looks at the intersection of the First Amendment and higher education in this talk sponsored by Student Affairs, the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, and the Law and Society Program at UC San Diego. Series: "Great Minds Gather Here" [Public Affairs] [Education] [Show ID: 33388]

A legendary director noted for his uncompromising passion, Werner Herzog joins Carsey-Wolf Center Director Patrice Petro for a discussion about his 1979 film “Nosferatu The Vampyre” which he says is a tribute to the classic 1922 film "Nosferatu” by F.W. Murnau. Herzog also discusses his career and the film’s significance as a bridge to the masterworks of interwar cinema. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33062]

In 2013 the price of Bitcoin surged to over $1100 causing central banks around the world to take notice. Four years later, the price of Bitcoin is twice as high as its previous peak and central banks around the world are exploring the benefits of issuing crypto-based digital representations of fiat monies, more commonly known as central bank digital currencies. Rod Garratt, UCSB Professor of Economics, describes his work on a project to build a proof of concept for a wholesale interbank payment system that facilitates payments of central bank digital currency using a distributed ledger. Series: "Great Minds Gather Here" [Business] [Show ID: 32757]

Our neurons talk to each other but the language they use can change depending on what is happening in the environment around them. If the brain can adapt to our world in this way, what are the bigger implications? Nick Spitzer, Division of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego, explains neurotransmitter switching and how that process impacts our physical abilities, disease processes, and more. Series: "Great Minds Gather Here" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 32521]

Robert Bjork, Distinguished Research Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychology, shares insights from his work as a renowned expert on human learning. Bjork has been studying learning and memory for more than four decades. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 30574]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, for a discussion of his research on the brain. Professor Ramachandran describes his formative experiences, the richly textured methodology that forms his approach to the study of the brain, insights he has gained from studying phantom limbs, mirror neurons and synesthesia. He concludes with speculation on the origins of creativity and consciousness. Series: "Conversations with History" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 30562]

The amazing advances made in mapping the human genome don’t alter one longstanding fact: when it comes to unlocking the scientific secrets of life, fruit flies rule. Uptal Banerjee, Chair of the the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at UCLA, explains that most principles that have been laid out in developmental biology — from mechanisms of stem cell maintenance to how a head differs from a tail — came from work in Drosophila. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 30565]

Arch Getty explores the intriguing details surrounding Lenin’s body, which was embalmed shortly after his death in 1924 and has been on public display ever since in a mausoleum on Moscow’s Red Square. Getty is a Distinguished Professor in the UCLA Department of History. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 30567]

Efrain Kristal explores the shadow war cast over the life and writings of the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges whose family found itself comfortably stranded in neutral Switzerland during World War I, whose translations introduced the Spanish-speaking world to German expressionist poetry from that era and who later monitored the rise of Nazism with dismay. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 30566]