Physics at its finest! Literally. We will discuss the smallest constituents of matter and the most fundamental components of the universe: elementary particles. We'll discuss all the usual suspects, like quarks and leptons, plus new discoveries at the Large Hadron Collider (the Higgs boson!) and weird stuff like dark matter and supersymmetry. We'll also talk about the intersection between particle physics and astrophysics: how particles govern everything from the early universe to the structure of galaxies. We won't steer clear from the math. You will learn how to construct Feynman diagrams and actually calculate lots of fun things like the masses of particles and how they interact with each other. Expect to encounter group theory, calculus and plenty of algebra. There will be optional take-home assignments for interested students.

Do you love science? Do you enjoy regaling and/or boring your friends with long discussions about neurons, exoplanets, ice flows, or the Higgs boson? Are you considering studying science in college or becoming a scientist someday? Are you passionate about astronomy, geology, botany, neuroscience, zoology, chemistry, physics, something completely different, or all of the above? Do you want do do more than just read about cool things that other people have discovered? Then this class is for you! The great minds of science didn’t just learn from courses and books. They took matters into their own hands and uncovered their own answers. In this class, you’ll take your interest in science and turn it into a quest. Science is more than a hobby or a career. It’s an adventure! We’ll learn how to look at the world in a scientific way, taking lessons from the likes of Feynman, Einstein and Darwin. Among much else, we will talk about keeping a scientific notebook, designing and performing your own experiments, and how to do your own research. This course is for students who have a strong prior interest in any (or many!) fields of science. Students will be encouraged to do some experiments and other projects between classes, customized to their area of interest.

There's something weird going on out there. Astronomers have detected an invisible substance called "dark matter'' that causes stars and galaxies to move in strange ways. This mysterious stuff makes up much more of the universe than normal matter like us, but we still don't know what it is! Come learn about the biggest mystery in modern astrophysics. We'll talk about why we think dark matter exists, what it might be made of, and how scientists are searching for it.

The ocean is a beautiful and perilous place. When it comes to watery graves, the Titanic is just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended). Come hear tales of disaster at sea and learn how to return yourself safely to shore, whether you're on a fishing boat hundreds miles off the coast of Alaska, or in a kayak on the Charles river.

What do floor tiles, wallpaper and honeycombs have in common? They are formed by repeating a fixed pattern in an orderly fashion, which adds to their beauty. That beauty is shared by some symmetric 3D shapes formed from repetition, such as cubes. As it turns out, the prettiest shapes that are full of symmetry can be cleanly described using just a few numbers. In this lecture We'll also look at some interesting patterns within those numbers.

Given two shapes of the same area, can one be cut into pieces and rearranged into the other? For a century, puzzlemakers have challenged each other to solve such "dissection puzzles" using the fewest number of pieces. Try your hand at one! http://www.herngyi.com/blog/geometric-dissection-puzzle This lecture will cover basic techniques to create and solve dissection puzzles, some of the math behind them, and special types of dissection puzzles like 3D or hinged dissections.

Do you know which object in the solar system has methane oceans? Or whose moon has 300 mile-high sulfur plumes? Who is the largest dwarf planet in the solar system? (Hint: it's not Pluto.) Come and find out all this and more! In this class, we'll learn about the fascinating celestial bodies with whom we share our Solar System. We'll talk about what makes each of our celestial neighbors so unique and interesting. This class will also discuss the amazing tools and vehicles that we use to explore other planets. Time permitting, we'll touch on extrasolar planets and other Solar Systems.