How do individuals interact? How do they cooperate, compete, and respond to incentives? All involve strategic behavior, the purview of the economic theory of games.

Study game theory through experiments, competitions, mathematical analysis, and debate, and apply game theory to model, evaluate, and predict outcomes of strategic behavior in the real world.

Conduct a final research project in which you model and analyze a real-world strategic interaction.

Would a boat made of bread and peanut butter actually float? Could one tree be recycled into sweaters and bicycle seat covers? Could a pancake as big as a city block flatten a school? Children’s books ask readers to believe in imaginary worlds—but sometimes, there are important science concepts behind their words and pictures. This course delves into the science behind the stories. You and your classmates will explore the digestive system, weather patterns, engineering, and city planning while reading Judi and Ronald Barrett’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

This course explores the craft of writing, including techniques like brainstorming, outlining, drafting, and revision that effective writers use across multiple genres. You will write a family narrative describing an event experienced by a family member, telling a story that is important to you and your family history. You will also pen an argumentative essay on a topic of your choice and compose a vivid poem using concrete images and abstract concepts.

This writing class explores the techniques great writers and filmmakers use to convey mystery and suspense in popular culture. You and your classmates will learn and discuss how elements like sound and cinematography build suspense in film; the literary merits of the mystery genre, and what mysteries tell us about humanity. You’ll read works by classic mystery writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, and Agatha Christie, and watch clips from early horror classics and noir films from the ’40s and ’50s.

The human body is an amazing but sometimes gross thing. From the blood inside us to the gas that comes out, each slimy, gunky, or smelly part has a vital role to play in keeping us healthy. Why do we burp, and why does it smell? What are boogers made of? What’s in blood, and why is it so red? And why do scabs form once the bleeding has stopped?

Explore these questions and bodily functions with your peers through online discussion, anatomy and physiology mini-lessons, research articles, and short at-home experiments.

As forms of cultural and political expression, satire and comedy are important tools for exposing uncomfortable truths about powerful individuals and institutions that might otherwise seem untouchable. Explore the ethics of humor in order to examine the role satire and comedy have played in American cultural and political debates via newspaper cartoons, TV shows, and stand-up routines. Consider the ethical implications of producing and consuming satire as well as the role context plays in how it’s received by others.

IBM founder Thomas J. Watson once said, “Business is a game—the greatest game in the world if you know how to play it.” In today’s global economy and the international political arena, the study of games and strategy continues to be a vital field for historians, economists, and politicians to explore. In this course, you will learn the principles of probability, statistics, and combinatorics, and how to apply them while making strategic decisions based on an opponent’s actions and reactions.

Why are some things easier to remember than others? Why do people have vastly different memories of the same event? Why do most people remember Darth Vader saying, “Luke, I am your father,” when what he really says is, “No, I am your father”? Delve into these questions and more through an investigation into the fascinating world of memory.

How can an abandoned car, devoid of license plates, help detectives solve a jewel heist? How can a single strand of hair keep a man from going to jail? In this course, you will uncover the answers to these types of questions while learning the science behind forensic investigation. After reviewing the scientific skills of observation and deduction, you’ll learn techniques forensic scientists use to analyze hair, fibers, fingerprints, impressions, and documents while processing a crime scene.

The Human Genome Project has sequenced all of the approximately 20,000 genes in human DNA. How did scientists gather this information? Can it help cure congenital diseases or cancer? What ethical questions does it present? In this course, we’ll explore the intersection of biology, genetics, and technology and its impact on society. We’ll review fundamental principles of cell biology and genetics, including mitosis, meiosis, and Mendelian inheritance, get to know the structure and function of DNA and RNA, and sources and types of mutations.