Over 200,000 years of evolution has shaped your brain into a well-oiled perceptual machine, allowing you to efficiently perceive the word around you. These eons of selective pressure have modified you perception into something that is far removed from true reality. In this class we will use methods of scientific inquiry to ask how these perceptual modifications work, probing questions about how your biology determines your reality.

The earth's climate changes. But why? And how? In this course, we will explore how the earth's climate works, investigating past climates, the current climate system and projections into the future. We will discover what a changing climate has meant for life on earth, for people, and the rise and fall of civilizations. Through mini-lectures, activities, discussions and assignments we will discover what's in store for our own future, and if/how can we deal with it.

More than 1,500 products on the market are advertised as being nanotechnology-based. With applications in electronics, medicine, fashion, and food, you are surrounded by nano-based products! What makes nanomaterials so unique and desirable? Are nanomaterials harmful to our health or the environment? In this seminar, students will learn the basic principles, the applications, and the risks of nanomaterials. Students will also have the opportunity to make nanoparticles, change their properties, and observe them under an electron microscope.

How hot is lava? How can volcanic eruptions be predicted? Learn the answers to these questions and more as we jump into the hot topic of volcanology. This course will begin covering the basic geologic context of volcanoes including where, why, how and what volcanoes erupt. Other topics will include monitoring of active volcanoes, their impact on climate, and the huge range of hazards to society that volcanoes present. Did you know that human evolution hit a bottleneck around 70,000 years ago? It's believed that was due to a supervolcano eruption!

How hot is lava? How can volcanic eruptions be predicted? Learn the answers to these questions and more as we jump into the hot topic of volcanology. This course will begin covering the basic geologic context of volcanoes including where, why, how and what volcanoes erupt. Other topics will include monitoring of active volcanoes, their impact on climate, and the huge range of hazards to society that volcanoes present. Did you know that human evolution hit a bottleneck around 70,000 years ago? It's believed that was due to a supervolcano eruption!

In this seminar, students will examine texts and works of art that have profoundly shaped the world we live in. The course is divided into four units: Models of Inquiry; the Impact of Science and Technology; Social Philosophy and Civic Engagement; and Art in the World. The course is supplemented with a plenary lecture by a distinguished honors faculty speaker.

In this seminar, students will examine texts and works of art that have profoundly shaped the world we live in. The course is divided into four units: Models of Inquiry; the Impact of Science and Technology; Social Philosophy and Civic Engagement; and Art in the World. The course is supplemented with a plenary lecture by a distinguished honors faculty speaker.

Not available at this time

Relations among the major world powers - the U.S., Europe, China, Russia, Japan - have been relatively stable since the end of the Cold War but recently have turned more fractious, a result, in part, of growing assertiveness on the part of China and Russia.  How to respond to these states has become a major concern for American policymakers, with some favoring a more combative approach to one or another (or both) and some a more cooperative stance.