FALL 2012 Magazine 2 tufts magazine fall 2012 TO DYE FOR. When Diren Pamuk, G11, introduced her Biochemistry II students to the “art of the hydrophobic effect,” they not only learned about fatty acids, chromophores, cellulose, and gels, they created a gallery of visual delights as well. Using materials and equipment available in the lab, Pamuk, an adjunct lecturer, taught the students traditional paper marbling (called ebru in her native Turkey). “Our medium was nothing but a water-gelatin mixture, completely fluid,” she says. “Dyes we used were either oil paints diluted with various organic solvents to reach a low density, or pigments dissolved in natural oils.” Students used implements to drag the oily liquids across the aqueous surfaces, generating patterns. Then they blotted the surfaces with desiccated paper and washed the paper to remove excess liquid. The results—some of which you can see here and at the back of the magazine—were marbled endpapers worthy of the finest leather-bound volume. fall 2012 tufts magazine 1 CONTENTS TUFTS MAGAZINE FALL 2012 VOL. XX, NO. 1 22 Downton Abbeys BY HUGH HOWARD, A74 Upstairs,downstairs,andallaroundthegreatcountryhousesof England,ahistorianimmerseshimselfinanorderedworldnowfaded. FALL 2012 L.A. Makeover 34 MAGAZINE BY DAVID MENCONI “Agashthroughthecity”ishowMia GuttfreundLehrer,J75,describesthe concrete-linedriverthatbisectsLos RIDING THE DRAGON. The Angeles.Herarchitecturalmaster hair-raising journey that left the cofounders of Dragon Systems— planwouldturnitintoanEdenof the pioneering speech recognition firm—“Speechless” (page 16). parksandgreenwaysthatbring Illustration by Amanda Duffy peopletogether. 28 DEPARTMENTS 4 The Editorial We Put in one’s place—by a puppet In the Company of Animals 5 Letters BY BRUCE MORGAN 6 Planet Tufts Filmmakers play hardball 6 Thedoctorisonhisway,buthis Crosswords and the brain 9 Brilliant! (Jumbo startups) 10 patientsappearnottonotice.They Racing across continents 11 aretoobusygrunting,clucking, Poetry by Isa Milman, BSOT71 12 Eureka (sci/tech) 13 slithering,lollingontheirsides, Laurels 14 hoppingfromperchtoperch,or 42 Creations stampingtheirhugefeet. German cuisine meets Italian 45 News & Notes 64 Advancement 16 S peechless 68 Take It from Me B CY MI HAEL BLANDING Your tips on private schools, learning to draw, editing multi- DragonSystems,thefirmstartedbyJanetMacIver author books, and more Baker,J69,andherhusband,Jim,crackedoneofthe 70 Afterimage mostintractableproblemsincomputing—speech Imaginary Travel #7 recognition.Then,justasthebusinesswaspoisedto growworldwide,theBakerswatchedasitsnewparent companywentbust,takingalloftheirtechnology, employees,andmoneywithit. THINK TANK 38 THE HUMAN ANIMAL Beauty’s archetypes BY phILIP STARKS 39 GUEST THINKER Balancing sports and academics BY WILLIAM GEHLING, A74, G79 40 SCHOLAR AT LARGE The false tranquility of 1912 BY SOL GITTLEMAN 41 NEGOTIATING LIFE 16 Making the deal come true BY JESWALD W. SALACUSE THE EDITORIAL WE The Magic Bear Magazine when i was four, my favorite tv show featured a hand puppet named Sooty, a mischievous bear VOLUME XX, NUMBER 1 who performed magic by waving a wand or sprin- Editor kling “oofle dust.” I could scarcely believe my eyes David Brittan on Christmas morning when I looked inside my [email protected] stocking. There, gripping his apparently real magic Editorial Director Karen Bailey wand, was Sooty. After some minor disappointment [email protected] over his limited powers—not only couldn’t he make Design Director my brother disappear, but to make even a coin van- Margot Grisar [email protected] ish, he would have to palm it—Sooty began charming my mother and father with his Design Consultant silent antics, and I was happy. If only my friend Stephen could see. 2communiqué In our vigilant age, it’s hard to envision a parent letting a small child cross the street [email protected] alone, dressed only in pajamas and a plaid flannel dressing gown, at six-thirty or seven News & Notes Editor Kristin Livingston, A05 on a chill Christmas morning. But my parents did. Stephen McMurray’s was the gray [email protected] stone house opposite ours. It was set well back from the road, approached by a long Contributing Editors gravel driveway, at the foot of which stood a pair of stone gateposts. Sooty and I hid Beth Horning Kara Peters behind one of the gateposts (the left one, because I am right-handed) and prepared to put on a puppet show for Stephen’s family. Columnists Nicholas Dodman Mr. McMurray would be the first to notice. He would be having his coffee as Steven Sol Gittleman Ronald Pies opened presents. When he glanced out the window and down the hundred-foot drive- Jeswald W. Salacuse W. George Scarlett way, he would glimpse a tiny yellow bear peeking out from behind a pillar, waving Philip Starks a magic wand. “Good heavens!” he would say. “Stephen, see who’s come to visit!” Contributing Writers Stephen would put down whatever new toy he was playing with, and the McMurrays David Levin Phil Primack, A70 would gather at the window, staring open-mouthed as Sooty, come miraculously to life, bobbed and darted and then revealed himself to be me. Class Notes Megan O’Toole, A12 With the first tentative flip of his wand, Sooty and I felt shivers of anticipation. I peered around the post. The house was quiet. A minute later Sooty sprang up like Tufts Magazine (USPS #619-420, ISSN #1535-5063) a jack-in-the-box, and I reconnoitered again. Still nothing. He grew more insistent, is published three times a year by the Trustees of Tufts University. Direct magazine calls to 617.627.4287. bouncing up and down the post, his wand flapping frantically. Could there ever, I Send correspondence to Tufts Magazine, Tufts Publications, 80 George Street, Medford, MA 02155, thought, have been a family more oblivious than the McMurrays? The bear and I or email [email protected]. trudged home. In the movie version, the camera zooms out and the ground recedes Tufts Magazine is distributed without charge to alumni, parents of current undergraduates, and other members until you see the curvature of the earth and then the earth shrinks to a point before of the Tufts community. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA, and additional mailing addresses. disappearing in a whoosh of stars. Postmaster: Send address changes to Development Records, It was a hard lesson, but a valuable one. I’ve often felt there is a Sootiness about Tufts University, 80 George Street, Medford, MA 02155. many human endeavors: our certainty that we will be seen, heard, read, noticed, or © 2012 Trustees of Tufts University discovered, when in fact we have mistimed our efforts, misread our audience, and http://go.tufts.edu/magazine overestimated our reach. No amount of oofle dust can fix that. Tufts Prints Green david brittan Printed on recycled paper by Lane Press, Inc., South Burlington, VT editor Please recycle. 4 tufts magazine fall 2012 PHOTO: ALONSO NICHOLS LETTERS SCIENCE DENIALISM been consistently wrong. Our models will no A STITCH IN TIME I n each controversial case mentioned in doubt improve, but climate is an incredibly Kudos to Patty Elwin Davis, J51, for “Fabric “Science Denied,” by Phil Primack, A70 complex system, and we must remind our- of Time” (Summer 2012). I myself have long (Summer 2012), what is bemoaned is a lack selves that computer models should not be been fascinated by the history of women in of complete genuflection to a proposed public mistaken for reality. textiles. In fact, I have published a book on policy, not science. Scientists are welcome to T ERRY FRANKLIN, A75 it: The Threads of Time, the Fabric of History: believe that global warming will result from AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS Profiles of African American Dressmakers and combustion of carbon-based fuels. What the Designers from 1850 to the Present (now public is dubious about is the practicality of A PROFESSOR TO CHERISH available on Kindle from Amazon). In it, I pro- stopping said practice and whether it would I t was with great sadness that I read of the file women in millinery, quilts, and clothing make a difference, were it even possible. death of Professor George Marcopoulos in design. I was so excited to see that Davis has Regarding fluoridated water and vaccines, the “In Memoriam” section (Summer 2012). joined me in touting women’s textile skills. individuals are perfectly Professor Marcopoulos RSM O E ARY E. REED MILLER SUMMER 2012 free to receive both for taught European history WASHINGTON, D.C. themselves and their fami- with such enthusiasm and lies. And regarding evolu- animation that I declared DANGEROUS DELUSIONS MAGAZINE tion, you have much more myself a history major as a I understand the sentiment expressed in the to fear from your neighbors sophomore. He showed his editorial “Spare Me My Illusions” (Summer if, through public indoctrina- students how to enter a dy- 2012), but I profoundly disagree. I would tion, you convince them that namic world of people and have nothing against people cherishing their they are soulless omnivores events that connected the delusions if the effects of this were limited in an amoral world than you past to our present world. to themselves. However, delusions can influ- would if they spent their Over the course of six se- ence people’s votes, and votes have an ef- lives seeking to conform to mesters, I took courses in fect on public policy. In our troubled times, the Ten Commandments. European and Byzantine we need a clear view of the challenges that Stick to data, ye scientist. history with him and always we are facing. M ARK BOURCIER, D93 found him engaging. I was especially en- ALN EXA DER VILENKIN WILBRAHAM, MASSACHUSETTS grossed by his explanations of how the history DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF COSMOLOGY of each nation is reflected in the genealogy of L. AND J. BERNSTEIN PROFESSOR OF Primack suggests that the Sierra Club’s op- its monarchical dynasty.