The evolution of separate sexes (dioecy) has occurred numerous times across the tree of life. Nevertheless, the evolutionary forces that promote and maintain dioecy remain elusive. Here we found evidence for at least 133 transitions between sexual systems in mosses, representing an extremely high level of sexual lability. In sharp contrast to predictions, the transition rate from hermaphroditism to dioecy was twice as high as the reverse transition. These results have important implications for understanding the genomic and macroevolutionary consequences of hermaphroditism and dioecy.

The "Silk and Bamboo" (sizhu 絲竹) ensemble music of Shanghai is generally known as a traditional Chinese genre. Its sounds are commonly celebrated as embodying the Chinese ideals of harmoniousness and blendedness. Despite these traditional images, however, the genre established its present-day urban identity largely through modern developments in the early twentieth century, when Shanghai grew as a semi-colonial metropolitan. In this period, especially during the interwar decades, musical reformers of diverse visions and backgrounds were gathering increasing social and political capital to pursue their modernity agendas. Those who advocated Western classical music as the foundation of modern Chinese music clashed with those who defended the validity of native musical establishments and sounds. Many of the latter, whom I describe as defenders in the politics of Chinese musical modernity, drew from "Silk and Bamboo" music and ideals to maintain a refined Chineseness in the rapidly changing soundscape of modern China. But these defenders also embraced selected Western musical practices to pursue their modernity interests. In the lecture, I will examine the development and discourses of "Silk and Bamboo" music as a constitutive force of Chinese musical modernity. Development of the genre after 1949, especially in the past two decades, will also be discussed.

Lecture is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

This lecture is organized in conjunction with

Performance by Chamber Ensemble of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra

Presented by University Musical Society, sponsored by the Confucius Institute at U-M. Friday, February 10 | 8 pm Rackham Auditorium For tickets to the performance, please visit www.ums.org

Juan R. I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. For three decades, he has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context. His most recent book is Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, March, 2009). He has been a regular guest on PBS's Lehrer News Hour, and has also appeared on ABC Nightly News, Nightline, the Today Show, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper 360, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, the Colbert Report, Democracy Now! and many others. He has written widely about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. He has commented extensively on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Iraq War, the politics of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Iranian domestic struggles and foreign affairs. Cole commands Arabic, Persian and Urdu and reads some Turkish, knows both Middle Eastern and South Asian Islam. He lived in various parts of the Muslim world for nearly 10 years, and continues to travel widely there.”