Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences

09/16/2026

Researchers found the strongest evidence yet of developmental cell reprogramming in bilaterally symmetrical animals, where one side of the body mirrors the other.

A Stanford-led study of a marine worm’s metamorphosis found surprising signs that the original larval cells didn’t just die or assume the same role in the a

08/24/2026

Browse the latest books written by H&S faculty, including Rose Salseda, Adrian Daub, and Chang-rae Lee here: https://brnw.ch/21x5aat

08/11/2026

Both fireflies and plankton get their glow when a molecular square of carbon and oxygen atoms breaks. New research shows that mechanical force can cause that break to happen in a different way than was previously known.

Stanford-led research on the molecule that creates the glow of fireflies and plankton has identified how mechanical force produces this type of light without he

07/27/2026

See the latest awards and honors earned by H&S faculty, including Rose Salseda, Isaac Sorkin, and Emmanuel Candès:
humsci.stanford.edu/news/faculty-awards-and-honors

07/14/2026

Researchers found that two swordtail fish species had mostly merged into one hybrid group when they lived in polluted river water downstream of a town. The study implicates human influence as a threat to biodiversity if the two distinct species are lost through hybridization.

In contaminated water, swordtail fish often chose mates from the wrong species, producing hybrid offspring. This implicates human influence in the loss of biodi

03/26/2026

Can proportional representation solve party conflict?

"Okay. A lot of that stuff is gonna happen in a, in a proportional representation system too, okay? Um, so these deeper problems are not gonna go away just because you've changed the rules (laughs) in one of the houses of Congress. And you don't change the Senate, and you don't change the presidency, okay?

—Bruce Cain, the Charles Louis Ducommun Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and professor of political science at Stanford

Part of the Democracy and Disagreement 2026 series.

See more at the "Events" link in our bio.

03/25/2026

Couldn't make it in person? Catch up with Democracy and Disagreement: Ending the Russia–Ukraine War here:

Tue, Mar 10 2026. Debra Satz, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Paul Brest, former dean and

03/23/2026

Should universities regulate protests?

"Precisely because rallies and demonstrations are organized by dedicated political, moral, and social activists who are pre-committed to a cause and wish to draw attention to their urgent demands, they frustrate the basic academic right of students and faculty to cooperatively debate and discuss controversial ideas."

—Richard Shweder, the Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Human Development at the University of Chicago

Part of the Democracy and Disagreement 2026 series.

See more at the "Events" link in our bio.

03/19/2026

Is the TAKE IT DOWN ACT enough or too much?

"Um, I would describe the 'let's do something approach' as the opposite of evidence-based policymaking. So when we think about what our regulators are doing, they're in this back room cooking up ways to protect constituents. We think of them as looking for, for ways to connect the dots between the problem and the solution."

—Eric Goldman, a professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law

Part of the Democracy and Disagreement 2026 series.

See more at the "Events" link in our bio.

03/17/2026

Does a fetus have legal rights?

"The question for me is not whether that life has value or deserves dignity—it does—but rather how should law treat that life vis-a-vis other rights-bearing persons? As many scholars have articulated, "person" is a legal term of art that designates when an entity has rights. . ."

—Rachel Rebouché, the G. Rollie White Teaching Excellence Chair in Law and professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin

Part of the Democracy and Disagreement 2026 series.

See more at the "Events" link in our bio.