All upcoming Daytime programs

Not everyone is aware that the health care system scoops up our most intimate medical secrets to sell commercially to companies that have nothing to do with our treatment or billing. Adam Tanner, author of Our Bodies, Our Data: How Companies Make Billions Selling Our Medical Records, examines how this lucrative international business extends to doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and insurers—and even labs that test blood and conduct other deeply revealing tests. He offers insights into how we can best balance the promise big data offers to advance medicine and improve lives while preserving the rights and interests of every patient.

Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev: Russia has provided us with some of the most exciting and original music in the repertoire today. Vibrant colors, explosive energy, and passionate emotional drive characterize the works of these composers. As she explores their riches, concert pianist Rachel Franklin combines lecture and piano demonstrations to survey the growth of this tradition and the turbulent historical movements that acted both as backdrop and engine for it its expansion.

From the late 19th century to the present, American glass has undergone remarkable transformations. Art historian Jennie Hirsh explores this dynamic history, focusing on the influential contributions and enduring legacies of key figures such as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright, Harvey Littleton (often regarded as the father of the Studio Glass Movement), Dominick Labino, and Dale Chihuly. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface, immerse yourself in the colors, light, and forms of Claude Monet’s exquisite The Japanese Footbridge to explore the bridge as a metaphor for the thresholds and journeys of our lives. Designed for writers of all levels, and for the curious, the workshop invites you to look outwardly at art and to look inwardly through writing.

Over the 2,000 years since many European roads were built, they have been walked by crusaders, dictators, writers, refugees, and artists. Historian Catherine Fletcher reveals how these roads have functioned as channels of trade and travel and routes for conquest and creativity, transforming cultures across Europe. Fletcher tells the stories of her travels from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and Rome, sharing histories of nations and empires that have risen and fallen.

In 1888 William T. Hornaday, chief taxidermist at the Smithsonian Institution, set off to hunt some of the very last remaining American bison to create a museum display before they vanished forever. Yet far from hastening its extinction, he became integral to saving the species. Wildlife filmmaker Steve Nicholls examines how such a once-abundant creature could stand on the brink of extinction and how a few influential individuals such as Hornaday helped save the bison.

Three decades ago, a buried treasure trove of megaliths was discovered at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, some dating back more than 11,000 years—far older than any similar structures found elsewhere. These intricately carved pillars were adorned with images that suggest a complexity of thought and artistry previously unimagined for the Neolithic era. Since then, surrounding sites including Karahan Tepe have begun to share their secrets. Turkish tour guide Serif Yenen delves into the captivating stories of Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, and neighboring stone hills.

A deep connection between literature and visual art characterized the Renaissance, with the written word significantly shaping painting and sculpture. Epic poems, classical texts, humanist treatises, and folk stories provided the period’s artists with themes, narratives, and philosophical foundations. Art historian Elaine Ruffolo delves into these literary sources and uncovers the intricate connections between text and image. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Chamber music, perhaps the most subtle and intimate form of musical expression, has inspired many great composers to create some of their most sublime compositions. In a five-session series, classical music expert Saul Lilienstein explores and analyzes some of the chamber repertoire’s masterworks by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Shostakovich, and others.

Horses altered the course of human history, says archaeologist William T. Taylor. He traces their origins and spread from the western Eurasian steppes and discusses their domestication, the invention of horse-drawn transportation, and the significant shift to mounted riding. Drawing on archaeozoology, Indigenous perspectives, ancient DNA, and other new research, Taylor highlights the discoveries that have placed the horse at the inception of globalization, trade, biological exchange, and social inequality.