4 December | Cajsa Sjöberg – Latin for fun and pleasure(in Swedish)
What are the reasons for learning Latin, which is not anyone's mother tongue today? And how can learning and knowing Latin be so much fun? This is the subject of this lunchtime lecture, which also briefly presents the basic grammatical structure of Latin.

20 November 2024 | Maria Graziano – The role of gestures in face-to-face communication
Face-to-face communication is inherently multimodal. Regardless of linguistic or cultural background, speakers frequently accompany their speech with gestures. In this presentation, I will illustrate some aspects of the interaction between these two modalities.

23 October 2024 | Lovisa Brännstedt – Lightning and thunder, magical wonders (in Swedish)
Ancient Rome was a place where plants could predict the future, animals began to speak and you never knew when lightning would strike next. But it was a matter of interpreting the signs correctly, how would you know when nature had something specific to say and when it was just behaving naturally? This lunchtime lecture takes Rome as its starting point and moves to the present day to explore the idea of nature as animate, and what it really wants to tell us.

9 October 2024 | Peter Gärdenfors –How do humans, animals and robots think?(in Swedish)
Human intelligence is made up of different skills and there is still a long way to go before artificial intelligence can match human intelligence. AI technology provides us with useful tools, but it cannot think like humans do. Our intelligence is a broad palette of many abilities and understanding this makes the idea of AI less daunting.

25 September 2024 | Johan Östling – Discussing the main lines of the university's history (in Swedish)
Johan Östling, professor of history, has recently published Kunskapens stora hus: Huvudlinjer i universitetets historia. The book focuses on three overarching academic models that have dominated certain periods: the Latin university, the German university and the American university. At this lunch seminar, the author will discuss his book with Per Mickwitz, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research.

3 April 2024 | Emma Severinsson – "A little paraffin here and a plastic surgery there" – the history of early beauty procedures (in Swedish)
Today, various types of beauty procedures such as botox and fillers are increasing, something that is being widely discussed. More and more men choose to undergo beauty procedures. Already 100 years ago, beauty surgeries were performed and paraffin was injected to smooth out the skin or reshape noses. At that time, both women and men were equally inclined to try the new methods. In the early 1920s, the new possibilities to change the appearance of the body were celebrated, but soon criticism arose because the injections turned out to be dangerous.

20 March 2024 | Ulf Zander – Raoul Wallenbergs life and legend (in Swedish)
The Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg's humanitarian efforts in Budapest during World War II, combined with the uncertainty about what happened to him at the end of the war, still fascinate us today. His deeds and fate have inspired countless films, TV series, and books over the years. Streets and squares bear his name. But what did his life really look like? And where does the legend begin?

13 March 2024 | Martin Lembke –  Does God Exist? (in Swedish)
Which option is more likely: that God exists or that God does not exist? One thing is certain, however: on both sides of this age-old question, we find thought-provoking arguments. These arguments become particularly interesting when they relate to modern scientific findings. For example, does the Big Bang, approximately 13.8 billion years ago, suggest the existence of a supernatural creator of the universe? Or does the blood-stained history of evolution rather imply the opposite? In short, we will focus precisely on this: the best arguments throughout world history for and against the existence of God.

28 February 2024 | David Larsson Heidenblad – Take Your Time: Do Less, but Better (in Swedish)
Is it possible to achieve more important things by working less? Historian David Larsson Heidenblad believes so. He argues that the art of prioritizing, taking breaks, and safeguarding one's own and others' focus is the key to a better and more productive work life. In conversation with Martin Degrell, he provides insights into techniques and mindsets that are directly applicable for students and researchers.

13 December 2023 | Aaron James Goldman – Donald Trump, Conspiracy Theories, and Professional Wrestling

Why have American right-wing conspiracists, such as QAnon, treated Donald Trump as a religious hero? Aaron James Goldman argues that the answer involves the theatrics of American professional wrestling.

22 November 2023 | Claes Lindskog – Artificial intelligence and academic writing (in Swedish)

AI is swiftly changing our idea of what academic writing is and should be. But where are we heading? What are we afraid of that AI will do with university studies over the next hundred or five hundred years? And what are we hoping for?

25 October 2023 | Matthew Tompkins – The Haunted History of Experimental Psychology

On Sunday the 18th of November 1877, at 3pm in the afternoon, Wilhelm Wundt the ’Founder of Experimental Psychology’ joined a renowned group of physicists to witness a series of ‘miracles’ conjured by a spiritual medium. This talk will explore how magic, mysticism, and fraud influenced the establishment of psychology as a scientific discipline.