Information and syllabus for the Spring course "Social Issues in Biology" (Microbiology 213) is below (and attached). 

Interested students should contact Jon Beckwith at jon_beckwith@hms.harvard.edu.

A Reading/Discussion Course

Microbiology 213: Social Issues in Biology. Instructors: J. Beckwith, R. Born, N. Krieger, S. Lory, A. De Pace, D. Glass, C. Wu and J. Kung are mostly faculty from the HMS Basic Science Departments. For each session, students can obtain readings and associated questions at the My.Harvard.edu course website.  The book, “Mismeasure of Man” by Stephen Gould, for the second session can be obtained at The Harvard Coop in Harvard Square. The course is limited to 18 students. Contact Jon Beckwith before starting date atjon_beckwith@hms.harvard.edu. The first meeting will be on Thursday, February 7 from 2-5 PM at HMS NRB833 and continue for the remaining Thursdays of the class. There will be a session on the very first day (February 7) so students should obtain the reading available on the course Website before the first session.

 

 

February 7   Nancy Krieger        Why epidemiologists must reckon with racism

           

February 14 Steve Lory              Eugenics, past, present and future                                             

                       

February 21  Rick Born               Probability, statistics and “truth” in science  

 

February 28 Jon Beckwith          Gould’s book: Mismeasure of Man: on Louis Agassiz, Samuel Morton’s  skulls and 168 years of scientific controversy. Bias in science?

 

March 7     Angela  DePace        Responsible communication to the public :  how population genetics misinterpretation supports racist attitudes                                                                                                                                                

March 14     Angela  DePace      Activism in the  university on gender and racial bias: Work of Nancy Hopkins, Ed Kravitz, etc.                                                       

                                                        

March 21     David Glass               Reproducibility in science as an ethical issue

           

March 28     Steve Lory                The use and misuse of forensic DNA profiling

 

April 4          David Glass              Past silencing of minority voices: Rosalind Franklin and E.E. Just; Implications for today

                                               

 April 11     Chao Ting Wu, Johnny Kung , and the pgEd team: Engaging diverse publics on issues in genetics

 

April 18      Rick Born                 When social issues distort scientific discourse

 

April 25       Jon Beckwith        Scientist activists re: science in warfare science, promoting the teaching of evolution, for diversity in the university; debunking genetic determinism