(Integrative Neuroscience DARS section F)
The course will examine topical issues related to SEX (e.g. promiscuity, biased investment in reproduction, cloning, reproductive interventions, Viagra, sexually transmitted diseases, body image, projected ideals), FOOD (e.g.anorexia/bulimia, over consumption, fad diets, fast food, obesity/diabetes/hypertension, mass production and transportation of prepared foods), DRUGS (e.g.psychoactive compounds, steroids, natural products, pharmaceutical drug development, commercial medicines on demand/self medication, antibiotic resistance, horizontal gene transfer among pathogens), and DISEASES (e.g. emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, cannibal cows and prions, refugees and epidemics, spread of drug resistant pathogens) from the perspectives of recent human evolution and the globalization of our society.
Overview of how plagues and epidemics have shaped social processes in human prehistory and history. Examines how large-scale social transformations such as sedentism, animal and plant domestication and urbanism have produced novel forms of human/disease interactions and how disease has facilitated or frustrated migration, wars and colonialism. Also addresses how infectious disease has been conceptualized at different times by different cultural groups and treated as a threat to the social order. In a contemporary world, epidemics continue to happen and new, highly virulent diseases are emerging at a rapid rate. The reasons underlying this phenomenon and its implications for the future health of humans are explored. For majors and non-majors.
Darwinian Medicine is a new and rapidly growing field that seeks to understand human health from an evolutionary perspective and to apply this understanding to improving health practices and interventions. The principles and applications of this field are explored with an emphasis on health conditions and medical practices.
Teaches: a) the basic concept of evolution; b) why evolution provides a unifying framework for the study of biology and humans; c) selected topics showing how various aspects of human behavior may be studied from an evolutionary perspective, from mating to religion. Introductory undergraduate course for EvoS, Binghamton University's campus-wide Evolutionary Studies Program (http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~evos/), but may also be taken by itself. For majors and non-majors.
Human growth processes from conception to old age. Emphasis on human variation during the life cycle and on bio-behavioral aspects of growth. The life cycle refers to conception and reproduction (in adults), gestation of the fetus and birth of the infant, growth of the infant through childhood and adolescence to maturity, the capability to reproduce, and continued growth through maturity to senescence and death. Human growth is a complex and intellectually fascinating process. A knowledge of human growth and reproduction has value to all students in health-related, bio-behavioral and social sciences. It has practical value as well, especially for anyone who plans to reproduce and take on the task of raising children to adulthood. Hence, course also contributes to parenting skills. For majors and non-majors.
A survey of the fossil evidence for human evolution. First part of the course is devoted to evolutionary mechanisms, the role of species and the primate body; then discusses the earliest hominids from Africa, the emergence of genus Homo and the evolution of humans in the Pleistocene. Along with interpretations based on the fossils, there is some discussion of sites, artifacts and behavior as read from the prehistoric record. For majors and non-majors.
Human skeletal anatomy and other aspects of skeletal biology. Various parts of the skeleton are treated from comparative and evolutionary perspectives. Other topics include sex and age determination, pathology, biometry and the application of such approaches to paleodemographic population reconstruction and forensic anthropology. For majors and non-majors.
Biogeography combines ecology - the study of the relationship between living organisms and the environment - with the traditional geographer's concerns with the Earth, Earth history, spatial relationships and the relationship between humans and the environment. Studies basic ecological theory, evolutionary history in relationship to the movement of continental surfaces and climate change, and human/environment relationships. For majors and non-majors.
We live in an environment inseparable from science and technology; they are fundamental components of modern society. We drive, watch TV, surf the Internet and use the elevator. We cite scientific concepts: gravity, evolution, virus, ecology, etc. in everyday conversation without thinking twice about them. We assume that science and technology are historically progressive and universally valid. We are convinced that they are among the greatest achievements of the West and are spreading across the world as part of global modernization. Is this understanding of modern science and technology adequate? This course aims to deepen understanding of science and technology by situating them in a world-historical context. Instead of focusing on individual discoveries or inventions, the course examines the social meanings of science and technology in the modern world. We shall investigate issues such as the role of science and technology in European imperialism, the development of modern science and technology in non-Western societies, the configurations of modernity in different societies and the anxieties toward science and technology reflected in art and literature (from Frankenstein to Japanese animation). We shall also explore the complex reactions to certain developments in science and technology (e.g., Darwin's theory of evolution, nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering). Finally, we will consider the issue of globalization in relation to science and technology.
Helps students appreciate how medical knowledge and practices are implicated in and influenced by social, political and economic forces; how the concepts of health and disease, the relationships among hospitals, professions and patients, the character of therapeutics and the role of science, technology and industry have changed over time. The course focuses on medicine in the West from the early modern period and in America from the 18th century to the present. It also includes materials on pre-modern and non-Western medicines.
