Special Topics: Biology Across Disciplines

In this course, we will explore the applicability and relationship of biology to art, business, and psychology. First, we will discuss art as a foundational practice of biology and how biology as a science can explain our interactions with art, particularly our experiences of making and listening to music. Next, we will discuss the business of biology and how research is funded and the process of clinical trials and human studies. We will then consider two topics at the intersection of psychology and biology: (1) human development from conception to adulthood and (2) the influence of cognition on how we make decisions about biological issues and best practices for evaluating biological data in light of what we know about how we use data to make decisions. Finally, we will discuss education and why evidence-based education is important for developing general scientific literacy.