What is truth, and how has our understanding of truth developed over time? What has it meant to "live the examined life?" In this class we will explore important time periods and figures in Western philosophy: Socrates, Descartes, Sartre, just to name a few. We will examine and analyze the questions they have pondered throughout the ages, and how their search for a greater understanding of the universe has evolved to the questions we ask today. This course is intended for people with all backgrounds in philosophy and wish to explore philosophy in a historical context.

Have you ever wondered how we could possibly cure cancer? It seems like a hopeless cause - the NIH invested over $4.8 billion in funding in 2013 alone - yet cancer still causes unnecessary suffering for so many people. This class will examine the six biological hallmarks of cancer (Hanahan et al 2011). The class will focus on current, cutting-edge therapies that hopefully can eradicate cancer such as immunotherapy, personalized medicine/genomics screening, nanoparticle delivery, and siRNAs/mRNAs. We will read popular science articles and discuss their scientific validity (aka fancy speak for "see if they’ll actually work"). We will also see how we can use computers through bioinformatics to mine for drug candidates. We will also have lectures from people who are currently working in the field of cancer biology. (this class was named after Bob Weinberg’s [professor at MIT] famous 850-page tome, The Biology of Cancer - you should totally check it out)