In this chapter we use conversation analysis to analyse the use of tag questions by co-participants of people with dementia. Tag questions can function as a ‘current speaker selects next’ technique. They also prefer, and hence put interactional pressure on, the next speaker to produce a response that aligns with the tag-formatted turn. We examine three classes of co-participant-produced tag-formatted actions and analyse how their use is recipient-designed for people with dementia. Tag-formatted assertions and assessments present information that the person with dementia has already been told or might be expected to know, while simultaneously acknowledging that this information is, or should be, within the recipient’s epistemic domain. By eliciting agreement, they co-opt the person with dementia into the co-construction of this topical talk. Tag-formatted challenges are produced in response to an inappropriate turn by the person with dementia and, as well as challenging/complaining about that turn, act to elicit from the person with dementia an acknowledgement of its inappropriacy. We then show how tag questions are used to induce verbal acquiescence to a suggested activity. We discuss how these tag questions encroach into the person with dementia’s territories of knowledge, power and interactional competence, highlighting asymmetries between the person with dementia and the co-participant in these domains.

This introductory chapter notes the expansion of interest in the history of popular science and its role in shaping the relationship between science and society. It outlines the elements needed to understand how science is popularized, including the work of both scientists and media figures. The chapter then shows how historians now interpret the rise of evolutionism, noting that Darwin’s theory of natural selection was at first challenged by rival views of how evolution works with very different implications for the ascent of life, not all compatible with the image of the ‘tree of life’. The application of these ideas to human origins and to ideologies based on social evolution is noted for its potential impact on how the theory was perceived. All of these positions need to be taken into account to understand how the topic was displayed to the wider public.

Taking advantage of what have been learned about “Japanese collectivism,” this chapter theoretically examines cultural stereotype, which is a simplified and distorted image of a culture. The cultural stereotype tends to create the following four basic illusions: uniformity (“The Japanese are all collectivists”), polarity (“The Japanese are collectivists, whereas the Americans are individualists”), determinacy (“Japanese culture causes Japanese collectivism”), and permanency (“Japanese collectivism is immutable”). Contrary to the illusions of uniformity and polarity, actual data typically show large individual difference within each group, and the distributions of individual difference typically have a large overlap between groups. Contrary to the illusion of determinacy, human behavior tends to be affected more strongly by situation than by culture. Contrary to the illusion of permanency, culture as well as human mind and behavior tends to change as a result of intellectual activity and situational change.

This chapter outlines the development of the theory of natural selection and the events surrounding the publication and reviewing of Darwin’s Origin of Species, especially in non-specialist publications. The different responses in Britain and the United States are noted. The role of supporters such as T. H. Huxley in reaching a popular audience is explored, although their reservations about the adequacy of the theory are also taken into account. Conservative efforts to present evolution as the unfolding of a divine plan provided a very different way of understanding the general idea of evolution. Many popular accounts failed to understand the difference between Darwin’s ‘tree of life’ model and older ideas of a linear ascent toward humanity, especially when dealing with the issue of human origins. In this area, popular interest in the gorilla as a potential ancestral form distracted attention from some aspects of Darwin’s model, as shown in more detail in Chapter 3. The early evolutionism of Herbert Spencer is introduced and his relationship to Darwinism explained.

Unicellular phototrophs inhabit ecological niches ranging from extremely cold environments in polar or glacier regions to hot springs. This extremely broad spectrum of temperature tolerance is the consequence of specific adaptation responses acquired during evolution. The molecular mechanisms required to maintain high physiological activity under natural temperature conditions are not completely understood. Temperature adaptation in phototrophs is an important issue in algal biotechnology, as well as in climate prediction, because the algal response to an increased earth surface temperature strongly influences the global carbon budget. In this chapter, the mechanisms of temperature acclimation are summarised to identify potential targets for biotechnology or for improved climate prediction.

Since the middle of the 20th century, manga and TV anime have developed in parallel, borrowing from one another on practically every level from narrative content to expressive devices. Their productive exchange on the level of style has been facilitated by their shared material basis, the line drawing. This material homology could even blur the boundary between the static and the animated image, with anime borrowing and reproducing the dynamism of manga drawings. At the same time, movement inherent in the drawing and movement of the drawing are both intrinsically bound to the graphic style. This chapter addresses the relation between the movement of the anime and manga image and certain stylistic parameters (such as iconic abstraction, visual density, and quality of the line), providing a new vantage point on aesthetic and material connections between the two media forms, as well as on the ongoing evolution of TV anime.

Musicals that opened in November tended to operate in pairs. Annie Dear, a musical comedy starring Billie Burke and produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, opened days before a revival of the play Peter Pan, starring Marilyn Miller and produced by Charles B. Dillingham. Burke was known for her dramatic roles and Miller for her dancing and singing ones, so this was a reversal of norms. Two adaptations of continental European works opened on Anglophone stages: The First Kiss, a transformation of a Spanish zarzuela, in London, and a new version of Madame Pompadour in New York.

Future highlights of the careers of many who appeared on stage in 1924, including Evelyn Laye, Florence Mills and Adele and Fred Astaire, are summarized, as are the legacies of musicals such as Kid Boots, Il paese dei campenelli, Madame Pompadour, Gräfin Mariza, Rose-Marie and The Student Prince on stage and screen.

Many of the musicals that opened in 1923 and played into 1924 hearkened back, somewhat nostalgically, for simpler times, though the stories were often fraught with deceit and sometimes could be a bit salacious. The lead female characters in such works ranged from a young waif who ends up travelling with a circus (Poppy) to a Russian empress (Catherine), a royal mistress (Madame Pompadour) and a young Spanish woman who finds herself in a complex labyrinth of romantic entailments (Doña Francisquita).

More than most researchers, Bernd Heinrich’s research is rooted in his background as a naturalist, and his powers of observation. He knew his study species very well, so he was quick to identify anomalous or surprising phenomena. He was particularly attracted to evolutionary puzzles – traits that on the surface appear to be maladaptive. One example of an evolutionary puzzle discussed in this chapter was an observation of caterpillars tossing parts of leaves down from trees (when they could be eating them). A second example was ravens making a ruckus when they find a large carcass, thereby being forced to share the food bonanza with many other birds they attract to the scene. Both studies show how science is an iterative process, which involves testing and rejecting multiple alternative hypotheses. Heinrich brought his research into the laboratory as well, designing ingenious experiments to explore the mechanisms underlying insect thermoregulation. One theme shaping Heinrich’s research is the connection between the natural environment and how natural selection influences behavioral and physiological patterns.

Threespine sticklebacks, numerous species of disease-causing bacteria, and Darwin’s finches have all shown rapid evolutionary change in response to changing environments. Evolutionary ecologists use a variety of genetic and molecular approaches to study evolutionary change in these and other species. Gene flow, genetic drift, mutation, and natural selection can cause evolutionary change within a population, but natural selection is the only evolutionary process that can lead to adaptation. The benefits and costs of adaptations are environment-dependent and reflect evolutionary tradeoffs, so a trait may be beneficial in one environmental context and costly in a second. Natural selection may lead to speciation when genetic divergence is maintained either by physical barriers to gene flow, or by assortative mating of similar genotypes within a population. Evolutionary ecologists compare morphological, behavioral, and, most commonly, molecular characters in related groups of organisms, and use similarities in these characters to create phylogenetic trees that reflect evolutionary relationships.

Acclimatization and adaptation are two responses of organisms to a changing environment. Each species functions best in a particular thermal environment, and has adaptations that allow it to survive and reproduce successfully in that environment. The range of thermal conditions tolerated will vary with each species. Animals and plants face somewhat different challenges, as plants cannot move to a new environment, but there is also considerable overlap in how animals and plants deal with a variable thermal environment. Organisms must balance their internal water and solute concentrations within tolerable levels. Terrestrial species in dry environments have adaptations for procuring and conserving water, while aquatic species are more likely to be challenged to maintain the proper solute concentration. For many species, the problem of temperature regulation and water regulation are functionally linked, and there may be tradeoffs in how these two critical processes interact. Environmental temperature, water availability, and solute concentration influence species distribution and abundance. Climate change caused by human actions is already significantly affecting species distribution and abundance and ecosystem functioning.

After decades of exponential growth, China has transformed from a stagnant, impoverished autarky to the world’s second-largest economy highly integrated into global supply chains, and numerous Chinese firms have embarked on overseas business expansion on an unprecedented scale. Against that backdrop, many Chinese investors have ventured into the highly competitive, strategically important US market. Though the recent geopolitical confrontation between the two countries has hampered the investment flow, many large Chinese investors have been hesitant to withdraw from the US market. How do Chinese investors negotiate the omnipresent and consequential legal risks and opportunities in the United States? This question, which holds great practical, policy, and theoretical importance, has received scant scholarly attention. This chapter lays out the road map of the book that attempts to provide the answers.