The butterfly people, and their impacts on the creatures they love

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 21-23).Humans have been entranced by butterflies for thousands of years. This thesis parses apart the complex interactions between humans and butterflies, focusing specifically on people whose lifestyles are significantly intertwined with butterflies. On-site research observing butterfly collectors, breeders, museum curators, photographers and conservationists was conducted, along with historical and biological research. The effect of humans on butterflies was also analyzed, and it was discovered that enthusiasts often have unexpected impacts on butterfly populations.by Sarah Mae Yu.S.M.in Science Writin

From Sanitation to Soybeans: Kitchen Hygiene and Nutritional Nationalism in Republican China, 1911–1945

This article investigates evolving expectations for Chinese individuals to clean, cook, eat, and nourish in their private kitchens, and how certain diseases became urgent touchstones for the change in public health priorities. Reformists promoted personal responsibility and popular interest in kitchen and dietary hygiene, which increased as Chinese audiences became exposed to globally- circulating ideas of sanitation and nutrition in individual homes. Furthermore, this occurred in tandem with increased institutionalized government developments for improved infrastructure. This article also highlights Chinese participation in the transnational dietary science movement of the early twentieth century, as reformists developed methods for beriberi and tuberculosis prevention that drew on both “traditional wisdom” and “modern science.” By the 1940s, nutrition had become the corporeal counterpart of kitchen hygiene, and the pursuit of kitchen hygiene had become a way in which every individual could easily and patriotically participate in progress