Frontiers of Science
Frontiers of Science is a core curriculum requirement created by Professors Darcy Kelly and David Helfand. The course was introduced in 2004 and has been an official part of the core since 2005. Every semester student input is requested in making the course better. You'll probably still complain about it four years from now.
It is one of the most hated courses on campus.
Syllabus
The syllabus is determined by which Columbia professors have nothing better to do in any given term than lecture a bunch of half-asleep freshmen. Past topics have included:
- Origins of the Universe/Earth
- The End of the Dinosaurs
- African Climate Change
- Human Evolution
- The Earth and Us: the Global Forecast
- Quantum Mechanics
- The Nanoworld
- Is it Alive Down There?
- Brownian Motion and Life
- Physics and biology
- Quantal neurotransmission
- How Brains Work
- How Brains Communicate
- The Evolution of Human Languages
- How the Brain Produces and Decodes Languages
