Discussion of methods of basic scientific research, the impact of technology on society, and ethical problems in human genetics. Credit not applicable to biology major Offered in 2001-02. Medical Anthropology A cross-cultural study of health, healing, and beliefs about the body and illness. Topics include maternal and child health, birth practices, traditional family planning, ethnomedicine, ethnopsychiatry, and epidemiology. An introduction to basic assumptions and methods of research in sociocultural anthropology, including participant observation, ethnographic interview, focus groups, cognitive methods, survey, and census.
Students gain hands-on experience in research.
Population and Culture A cross-cultural examination of the world population crisis, with emphasis on fertility and mortality in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Readings from Malthus and later authors. Microbiology A study of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and algae, with particular emphasis on their physiology and the adaptations that allow them to exploit certain environments. Laboratory exercises develop skills in identification and safe handling of microorganisms. A lecture and laboratory study relating the principles of inheritance to modern concepts of the structure and chemistry of the chromosomes and the molecular biology of the gene.