SPOTLIGHT

Rules of Reciprocity

True empathy might be possible only if we can first get out of our own way

By David Galef Monday, September 14, 2026

SPOTLIGHT

Rules of Reciprocity

True empathy might be possible only if we can first get out of our own way

By David Galef Monday, September 14, 2026

Article

Welcome to the Bioemporium

Brain-dead bodies hold great promise for medical education and research, but how do we calculate the ethical cost?

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Portals to Eden

The gates on college campuses provide beauty and security, but they can also take on symbolic importance in times of campus tumult

Asturias Days

Doughnuts

PBK at 250

The Two Ladies of Vermont

In 1875, the debate over whether to induct women into Phi Beta Kappa exposed a crack in the foundation of Western education

Read Me a Poem

“Ithaka” by C. P. Cavafy

Poems read aloud, beautifully

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Smarty Pants Podcast

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Asturias Days

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Asturias Days

Want to, Have to

Read Me a Poem

“Wild Nights—Wild Nights!” by Emily Dickinson

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Tuning Up

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This is what can happen when you’re abandoned in a war zone

Article

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Smarty Pants Podcast

The Translator Stuck

Amanda L. Andrei on her relationship with the Romanian language and her Romanian father

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current issue

PBK at 250

The Revolutionary Scholar

Meditations on Phi Beta Kappa and the futures we imagine

PBK at 250

The Two Ladies of Vermont

In 1875, the debate over whether to induct women into Phi Beta Kappa exposed a crack in the foundation of Western education

PBK at 250

A Life in Stanzas

How Phi Beta Kappa shaped one poet’s beginnings

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Exploring the complexity of a life with Carl Van Vechten, on the centennial of his most notorious work

Book Reviews

Our Energetic World

Life is not an accident but an inevitable result of physical laws

PBK at 250

The Revolutionary Scholar

Meditations on Phi Beta Kappa and the futures we imagine

PBK at 250

The Two Ladies of Vermont

In 1875, the debate over whether to induct women into Phi Beta Kappa exposed a crack in the foundation of Western education

PBK at 250

A Life in Stanzas

How Phi Beta Kappa shaped one poet’s beginnings

Article

Love the Blood
loading

Exploring the complexity of a life with Carl Van Vechten, on the centennial of his most notorious work

Book Reviews

Our Energetic World

Life is not an accident but an inevitable result of physical laws