Citizen science is when members of the public get involved in science, often by helping scientists collect samples or data. But can citizen scientists really do good research? Won't untrained people make mistakes or be biased by their preferences and political opinions? Although these are legitimate worries, I will present some reasons why citizen science is just as good as regular science.

I will talk about forests from a historical perspective based on my book "The Green Power of Socialism" (The MIT Press, 2024). The talk will discuss forests at the intersection of nature and economic services showing how societies have changed their attitudes toward green cover.

We often feel more engaged outside—but does nature actually help us learn? This talk explores what research says about learning in outdoor settings, and how we can study it. From memory to motivation, we’ll look at how nature might shape our minds—and how science tries to find out.

Climate change dries up fields, but it also dries up marriage prospects. In many regions, young men rely on farming to earn enough to marry. As climate shocks ruin harvests, they fall behind. Add polygyny, where rich men take multiple wives, and you get a marriage market squeeze. This talk reveals how these forces push some men toward violence, and how marriage norms shape public conflict.