You might have seen someone point to a bag of chips or candy and say: "oh, don't eat that... it's full of chemicals." But the reality is that all of our food—everything from bread to beef to bananas—is made of chemicals! In this class, we'll talk about the tasty science behind food: what different kinds of molecules do different foods contain? How do those molecules change and react when we cook food? And how do our bodies sense different molecules through taste? You'll never look at food in the same way again... :)

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in the history of the French language. His work brought about the beginnings of modernity in French art, and his poetry collection Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) is now celebrated for its revolutionary ideas on the poetics of Beauty and Death. Yet Baudelaire's poetry was less widely embraced during his lifetime: when The Flowers of Evil was first published in 1857, it was met with horror and scandal—even leading some of its poems to be formally censured by a French court. In this class, we'll discuss and analyze a handful of poems from The Flowers of Evil and also talk about Baudelaire's tempestuous personal journey from his rocky childhood up until his death in poverty and sickness. *Quick Note: Baudelaire's poetry often explicitly speaks to topics that some might find difficult to discuss, such as death and sexuality.*

Homer: "Do you want the job done right, or do you want it done fast?" Marge: "Well, like all Americans… fast!" Homer's Life Coach: "You have what made America great: no understanding of the limits of your power and a complete lack of concern for what anyone thinks of you." Homer: "If you don’t like your job, you don’t go on strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed—that’s the American way." Though The Simpsons may—on its surface—appear to be a silly, carefree show about couch gags and steamed hams, a closer look reveals intelligently planned plotlines that offer poignant, satirical takes on modern life in the U.S. Over the years, they've tackled sensitive topics like gun ownership and religion—all while bringing the laughs. In this class, we'll talk about the ways in which American culture influenced The Simpsons and, of course, the ways in which The Simpsons influenced American culture.

We often think about science and art as two conflicting forces with two conflicting perspectives on the world: one rational and steeped in logic, the other creative and steeped in emotion. But an in-depth examination of artistic traditions, both antiquated and modern, reveals that many scientific themes and ideas are much more "poetic" in nature than you might otherwise think. In this class, we'll search for scientific themes in the oeuvres of major poets, read poetry written by major scientists of the last few centuries, and discuss the deep philosophical relationships between these two domains of knowledge.

Yes, you read that right! Toki Pona, a constructed language created by Canadian linguist Sonja Lang in 2001, can be learned extremely quickly thanks to its small vocabulary. While most languages have hundreds of thousands of unique words—the Oxford English Dictionary has 171,476 entires!—Toki Pona has only 120. This not only makes Toki Pona very easy to learn but also adds a puzzle-like element to the language: since Toki Pona doesn't have words for most real-world objects or actions, you have to create words yourself based on those 120 building blocks. Thus, when you're learning Toki Pona, you're solving a puzzle with every word you speak. mi wile pana sona e sina toki pona! (I hope to teach you Toki Pona!)

To put it simply: flags are everywhere! We see the American flag almost every day—in classrooms, in people's homes, and on uniforms—and you can probably recognize the flags of at least a few foreign countries. (Can you picture the maple leaf on Canada's flag? The spoked wheel on India's flag? The eagle on Mexico's flag?) Flags are all around us, but we rarely stop to think about where they come from—or what they mean. In this class, we'll talk about vexillology (the study of flags) and the history and meaning of these powerful symbols. We'll also look at recent efforts to redesign flags around the world and even propose some designs of our own!

Did you know that horseshoe crabs have blue blood? That's not to say that they're of noble birth... their blood really is blue! That's because their blood contains hemocyanin, a metalloprotein that transports oxygen using cobalt atoms—and it's cobalt that makes horseshoe crab blood blue. In contrast, our blood uses hemoglobin for oxygen transport; hemoglobin contains iron, making our blood red. So why do cobalt and iron produce different colors? In this course, we'll talk about the chemistry of color (what is color, really, and how is it produced?) and the chemistry behind color-changing reactions, both those seen in a lab and those seen in everyday life. We'll also discuss some applications of this chemistry and why color matters!

You might have seen someone point to a bag of chips or candy and say: "oh, don't eat that... it's full of chemicals." But the reality is that all of our food—everything from bread to beef to bananas—is made of chemicals! In this class, we'll talk about the tasty science behind food: what different kinds of molecules do different foods contain? How do those molecules change and react when we cook food? And how do our bodies sense different molecules through taste? You'll never look at food in the same way again... :)