Have you ever wondered how plant based burgers can look, smell, and taste just like real burgers? Are you concerned about your gut health and what probiotics can or maybe can?t do for your health? Or maybe you are worried about GMOs and the potential harm or benefit they can have for society. In this seminar we will explore many of these topics, ranging from plant based foods, lab grown meat, nano technologies in foods, 3-D printed foods, and many more! How do these technologies benefit our society? Why are there some hesitations about these new technologies?

Have you ever wondered how plant based burgers can look, smell, and taste just like real burgers? Are you concerned about your gut health and what probiotics can or maybe can?t do for your health? Or maybe you are worried about GMOs and the potential harm or benefit they can have for society. In this seminar we will explore many of these topics, ranging from plant based foods, lab grown meat, nano technologies in foods, 3-D printed foods, and many more! How do these technologies benefit our society? Why are there some hesitations about these new technologies?

Natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions are the topic of news stories, Twitter threads, and movies. How can the media be harmful or helpful when disseminating information about hazards? How does social media facilitate the spread of misinformation? Can exaggerations of natural disasters in movies lead to unnecessary public panic? We will explore these topics while discussing natural hazard risk and mitigation you may encounter in New England and when vacationing or relocating.

Natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions are the topic of news stories, Twitter threads, and movies. How can the media be harmful or helpful when disseminating information about hazards? How does social media facilitate the spread of misinformation? Can exaggerations of natural disasters in movies lead to unnecessary public panic? We will explore these topics while discussing natural hazard risk and mitigation you may encounter in New England and when vacationing or relocating.

Dams are everywhere. Did you know that our local Connecticut River Watershed has over 1,000 dams? The largest of these dams have powered everything from paper mills to supercomputers, and are celebrated as being a renewable resource. Dams may even appear to be part of the natural landscape. But what is nature? Are our rivers truly renewable? And what do the histories of hydropower teach us about the direction of energy development today? In this course, we will explore the uses of large-scale dams, their environmental impacts, and the role they may play in powering our renewable energy future.

Dams are everywhere. Did you know that our local Connecticut River Watershed has over 1,000 dams? The largest of these dams have powered everything from paper mills to supercomputers, and are celebrated as being a renewable resource. Dams may even appear to be part of the natural landscape. But what is nature? Are our rivers truly renewable? And what do the histories of hydropower teach us about the direction of energy development today? In this course, we will explore the uses of large-scale dams, their environmental impacts, and the role they may play in powering our renewable energy future.

Climate change will profoundly affect our lives in many ways, even down to the very food we eat. Food is essential for survival and our complex food system, and all that depends on it, faces a big threat with climate change. We will explore the links between the food system and our changing climate with an emphasis on systems thinking. In science we tend to segregate, looking at just one part of a system, while systems thinking looks at the whole picture.

Climate change will profoundly affect our lives in many ways, even down to the very food we eat. Food is essential for survival and our complex food system, and all that depends on it, faces a big threat with climate change. We will explore the links between the food system and our changing climate with an emphasis on systems thinking. In science we tend to segregate, looking at just one part of a system, while systems thinking looks at the whole picture.

Recent scientific estimates suggest that half of the cells in the human body aren?t even human! They come from the communities of tiny organisms that live within us. These communities of microbes are known as the microbiome. What do these ?invisible? communities do? How do we study the invisible in the first place? How have microbial communities shaped life on Earth? In this course, we will explore these questions by investigating microbial communities, from the first colonies of single-celled organisms to the microbes fermenting our food.

Recent scientific estimates suggest that half of the cells in the human body aren?t even human! They come from the communities of tiny organisms that live within us. These communities of microbes are known as the microbiome. What do these ?invisible? communities do? How do we study the invisible in the first place? How have microbial communities shaped life on Earth? In this course, we will explore these questions by investigating microbial communities, from the first colonies of single-celled organisms to the microbes fermenting our food.