Is a love of art simply a matter of preference, or is there more to it? In this week’s Meeting Talk Monday, psychologist and Boston College professor Ellen Winner discusses “How Art Works,” or the science behind our feelings about art. @bostoncollege.bsky.social https://bit.ly/4fli7wc

What is prosody in linguistics, and how does the Caddo language exemplify it? Nat Thompson, an undergrad at UMass Amherst completing a short term fellowship at the APS, is here researching just that.

Join our team! The APS seeks a detail-oriented and organized Staff Accountant to support the daily accounting operations of the Society. Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/4ffJmrH #Hiring #JobOpening

Congratulations to Xiaowei Zhuang (APS 2019), who was recently awarded the 2026 Dickson Prize in Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. @hhmi-science.bsky.social

“Caution and investigation are a necessary armor against error and imposition.” Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom.

“Instead of just making up solutions to the problem, it would be useful to try to understand the problem first.” Tune in to Useful Knowledge to hear from statistician Joel Cohen on the growth of the human population and his outlook on the coming years. https://bit.ly/3RgrHrX

“In the 17th century, when many grammars of Mesoamerican languages were written, it was common for a grammar to appear as a separate text.” Read the full piece from Nico Barnum, Daythal L. Kendall Short-Term Fellow, now. https://bit.ly/4haZygy

“A book came, and it landed in my hands. It was Dudley Randall: The Black Poets. And it offered me some light.” Reginald Dwayne Betts remembers books as a source of solace as an incarcerated teen. Now, he leads Freedom Reads, an organization that builds libraries in prisons. https://bit.ly/4ybbPb3

This April, the APS inducted 23 Members to the Society, including 3 Members in Class 5 (Professions, Arts, and Affairs): nurse historian Julie Fairman, legal scholar and journalist Jeffrey Rosen, and economist and former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedilla.

Join the APS and the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic for “Civic Engagement in the Revolutionary City, 1776 and 2026,” a discussion of the essential ideas and documents of the American Revolution and their significance and importance to our nation today. https://bit.ly/4vdODpX

Visitors to “These Truths: The Declarations of Independence” are sharing how the Declaration inspires them. Some expressed feelings of patriotism, asserted their belief in equality and kindness, or even their concerns about the future. Others used the platform to share artwork and jokes!

Applications open! The David Center for the American Revolution at the APS invites proposals its 2026–27 seminar series. We welcome papers focusing on any aspect of the American Revolution and its era (1750–1820). Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/4wu6UA6

“The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning.” Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom.

AI has become a fact of life, but it comes with real dangers. This week’s Meeting Talk Monday comes from Ece Kamar, Managing Director of the Microsoft AI Frontiers Lab, who shares how we can meet the challenges and dangers of AI through new methods and collaboration. https://bit.ly/4azUVZs

On the same day the Continental Congress put out the Declaration of Independence, they sent out orders to raise a flying camp of revolutionary troops to defend PA and NJ. Independence had to be secured not only by a document, but an all-out war. https://bit.ly/448qo1b

This year, we’re interested in how Americans 250 years ago viewed the Declaration of Independence. But what about 150 years ago? This broadside published for the 1876 centennial features the house in which the Declaration of Independence was written. https://bit.ly/44KIxlO

The APS is an active learned society with Members across every discipline. This April, we inducted 23 Members to the Society, including 4 Members in Class 4: Humanities. They include David A. Bell, Paul Guyer, Margaret L. King, and Geoffrey Parker. @princeton.edu @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social

Join us at the APS tomorrow for 3 free concerts as part of the WXPN Red, White, & Blue Music Series! Celebrate with us in Franklin Hall on Chestnut Street from 2:15 to 5 p.m. with the Rubble City String Band, Philadelphia Suns Lion Dancers, and Austin Marlow Trio. More info: https://bit.ly/4eGbC7V

“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” Since 1743, APS Members have sustained its mission—speaking out with conviction that intellectual inquiry and critical thought are inherently in the best interest of the public. Check back weekly for their words of wisdom.

Amid 250th celebrations, stop by the APS for our essential exhibition: “These Truths: The Declarations of Independence." Hear Mary Grace Wahl, Associate Director of the APS Museum, share her favorite collection of items from the exhibition and see it for yourself until Jan. 3. amphilsoc.org/museum.

“The Theologia Indorum [...] is the oldest Indigenous language manuscript at the APS,” writes Claire Lavarreda, former APS Library Fellow. Read her blog on the Theologia, and how it “challenges characterizations of Indigenous Americans as passive receptors of colonization.” https://bit.ly/4whwTee

The Declaration of Independence was only the beginning, starting a civil war that upturned the lives of Americans. In this Meeting Monday, Aaron Sullivan and Caroline O'Connell share what the war was like for the “disaffected,” who neither supported nor opposed the war. https://bit.ly/4er9EIu

What’s it like to be a researcher chasing an apex predator in the glaciers of the arctic? Learn all about it in the latest episode of the APS Useful Knowledge podcast with leopard seal researcher Dr. Emily Sperou. Tune in on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.🦭 Find more info here: https://bit.ly/4olv90J

Join our team! The American Philosophical Society seeks a highly organized and professional Events Manager to join its Programs Team.

Congratulations to neuroscientist and cell biologist Kelsey Martin (APS 2026), recipient of the 2026 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience. Martin is a professor at UCLA and Executive President in Autism and Neuroscience for the @simonsfoundation.org

This April, we inducted 23 Members to the APS, including 7 Members in Class 3 (Social Sciences). They include Judge Guido Calabresi, Craig Calhoun, David Card, Sherrilyn Ifill, Robert Putnam, Bertrand van Ruymbeke (@univ-paris8.fr), and Ian Shapiro.

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom.

“The boundary between art and science is much hazier than we often realize,” writes Vincent Femia, Lounsbery Research Assistant at the APS. Read Femia’s exploration of Charles Willson Peale’s artistry and scientific inquiry on the APS blog: https://bit.ly/3SqY4EC

How well do we really know man’s best friend? Learn about dogs and how we can better understand them in this week’s Meeting Monday by psychologist Alexandra Horowitz: “Reading Dogs Reading Us.” Watch the full talk here: https://bit.ly/4esogG7

Congrats to Anne A. Madden who has just received a 2026 Wayfinder Award from the National Geographic Society for her work on microbes and humanity. Madden is the Founder/President of The Microbe Institute and a 2011 APS Lewis & Clark Fund recipient. https://bit.ly/4erj4Cs Image: Darren Pellegrino