Science and Science-Related Issues

If you are interested in crime solving and courtroom drama, this course provides the opportunity for you to live in the roles of crime scene investigators and forensic scientists who have worked on historical criminal cases ranging from violent crimes to art forgery. In class hands-on activities allow you to learn and apply the rules and modern scientific techniques of crime scene processing and forensic science.

What is creativity? Is it an inborn trait parceled out to the lucky few, or is it a process that all of us can tap into and develop in a meaningful way? How are the processes and products of science and art similar? This course will have both a rigorous intellectual component and a time-intensive experiential component. We will examine the philosophical roots underlying current conceptions of creativity, as well as delve into modern psychological theories concerning its wellspring and expression.

Why are peppers spicy? Did you know that the male and female sex hormones are almost identical in their chemical structures? What do TNT and sunscreen have in common? To answer these questions, we will take a look at the molecules that make up the everyday world. These molecules have shaped history, started wars, and made some great meals. In this seminar, we will also come to a better understanding of how much chemistry influences us and how to think scientifically about these interesting questions.

Medicine and nursing are disciplines at the intersection of illness, wellness, caregiving, and science. In this course, we’ll begin by exploring the many ways that doctors and nurses make a difference in the world, through such diverse topics as cancer research, the organization Doctors Without Borders, and end of life care. Through a variety of texts and documentaries, we'll learn more about career possibilities in these disciplines.

Given that Alan Turing’s work breaking the German code was significant in defeating Nazi Germany in the Second World War, and given that you are likely reading this on a computer, Alan Turing is a part of your world. The course is an exploration of the life and work of Alan Turing and a course that will ask you to consider Turing’s best known legacy: the concept of artificial intelligence. We will consider who Turing was through biographical, fictional, and film versions of his life.

In the life sciences there is always someone who was the first to describe the world we see around us.  In a world of increasing environmentalism, everyone experiences ecology, but most people know very little about how or why we know the things we do about the world we live in.   In a globally connected world, understanding how these discoveries influenced our modern environmentalism is crucial to becoming an ecologist.

What sort of neighborhood did you just move into? The goal of this class is to provide you with a broader, regional understanding of the distinctive neighborhood you inhabit during your time at St. Lawrence and some insight into how human populations are impacting these one-of-a-kind places.

Consider this – while at SLU you are only:

~80 miles from the Great Lakes (specifically Lake Ontario), the largest group of freshwater lakes, holding 21% of the world's surface fresh water;

Is $4 gas here to stay? Should we still drill in the Alaskan wilderness after what we just saw happened in the Gulf of Mexico? What are the consequences of buying oil from OPEC? Why are there so many new wind farms in the North Country? Should we fund more nuclear plants or rely instead upon hydro-electric dams? Is there such a thing as “clean coal”? What about new technologies?

For the first time in human history, we are living in a world immersed in scientific communication.  More and more information (in all media) is based on science—from natural and human disasters and climate to deciding on your first home and a bottled water of choice.  In order to be a well-informed citizen, you should be competent in critically and scientifically examining information (and disinformation) that is pouring through these media (e.g., radio, TV, internet).  In this seminar, we will develop your scientific reasoning and communications skills, which

As a society, Americans have embraced the idea that happiness is an important goal in life. But what does it really mean to be happy? And what makes people happy? In this course, we will examine several historical and modern perspectives on what influences happiness, flourishing, and psychological well-being.