This is an introduction to the rich and growing field of medical anthropology, its theories and methods, as well as its clinical, public health, and policy applications. It will focus on how ethnographic research and social theory can enrich our understanding of medicine in both its traditional and modern forms, and it will assist students in understanding key issues in health and medicine that are often left out of standard approaches.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are evolving computerized tools that greatly facilitate describing, modeling, and managing our natural resources. In this course, we will learn GIS tools, specifically ArcGIS and Google Earth, necessary to map and analyze natural resources, focusing on the Hampshire College campus. We will learn about making and using maps, using technology ranging from counting footsteps to satellite navigation (Geographic Positioning Systems, GPS). We will learn how to create new GIS data as well as find appropriate existing data.

Calculus provides the language and some powerful tools for the study of change. As such, it is an essential subject for those interested in growth and decay processes, motion, and the determination of functional relationships in general. Using student-selected models from primary literature, we will investigate dynamical systems from economics, ecology, epidemiology and physics. Computers are essential tools in the exploration of such processes and will be integral to the course. No previous programming experience is required.

Do you have an idea for a science fiction story? Can it be developed into a short film? In this course students will develop science fiction short films that have a basis in scientific ideas from the fields of biology, astronomy, physics, or scientific ethics. Students are expected to work in small groups towards a goal of producing short films and writing an individual paper justifying the science used in their film. Students with some experience in science, film, or creative writing are welcome. Prerequisite: one science OR film OR creative writing course.

NS 248 is an introduction to the principles and practice of epidemiology and the use of data in program planning and policy development. The course covers the major concepts usually found in a graduate-level introductory course in epidemiology: outbreak investigations, study design, measures of effect, internal and external validity, reliability, and causal inference. Assigned readings are drawn from a standard textbook and the primary literature.

This course will examine the structures and processes that contribute to the inner-workings of the cell. This knowledge helps to inform many other fields, and is vital in understanding our bodies. We will develop this knowledge through paired seminar and laboratory sections. Students will complete independent research projects to examine one aspect of the cell, and will communicate the results in oral and written formats.

This introductory course will explore the process of doing scientific research in a molecular biology lab. Students will learn numerous techniques in the lab, including DNA isolation, PCR, gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme mapping, cloning, and basic microscopy. Additionally, we will investigate the historical and conceptual aspects of these approaches. Students will engage in semester-long research projects where they design and carryout experiments, collect and analyze data, and report their conclusions in written and oral formats.

Through a series of guided explorations, and assuming no background in mathematics, chemistry or physics, we will study the ways different plants grow, adapt, flower and set seeds. After all, Charles Darwin had no formal science background and wrote some of the most interesting and penetrating studies of plant growth. We will learn what plants require to grow well and how they adapt to different temperature, water and light regimes. Topics will include seed saving for gardening and farming, propagation from seeds, cuttings and bulbs, plant nutrition, and trophic and nastic responses.

With humans as our primary model system, we will cover cellular and general tissue physiology and the endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, and renal organ systems. Primary emphasis is on functional processes in these systems and on cellular and molecular mechanisms common across systems. Students will engage in class problems, lectures, and reading of secondary science literature. Basic knowledge of and comfort with biology, chemistry, and math is necessary.

This course is an introduction to the structure, properties, reactivity, and spectroscopy of organic molecules, as well as their significance in our daily lives. We will first lay down the groundwork for the course, covering bonding, physical properties of organic compounds, stereochemistry, and kinetics and thermodynamics of organic reactions. We will then move on to the reactions of alkanes, alkyl halides, alcohols and ethers, alkenes, and alkynes, emphasizing the molecular mechanisms that allow us to predict and understand chemical behavior.