This course will assess the relationships among sequence, structure, and function in complex biological networks as well as progress in realistic modeling of quantitative, comprehensive, functional genomics analyses. Exercises will include algorithmic, statistical, database, and simulation approaches and practical applications to medicine, biotechnology, drug discovery, and genetic engineering. Future opportunities and current limitations will be critically addressed. In addition to the regular lecture sessions, supplementary sections are scheduled to address issues related to Perl, Mathematica and biology.

Some argue that genre fiction is only a marketing category, but other critics say that different genres meet specific expectations of readers. This course examines these different agreements of what the reader wants and what the writer provides under the aegis of different genres. We will look at how genres are divided into subgenres, and how they are combined into cross-genre work, always keeping in mind the Reader-Writer Contact that is at the heart of genre writing. We shall also think about the ways in which crossing genres has led to the establishment of new genres (steampunk, preternatural romance) and strongly established subgenres (historical mystery, urban fantasy).

Fantasy is currently one of the most popular genres across every platform in fiction. From film to gaming to literature, fantasy tops the charts. Why? Why do people who believe in democracy and live with the magic technology appear to long for wizards and dragons and the matters of kingship? In this class, we will explore this question, and from that base read articles, novels, write exercises and stories in this genre.

This course will provide a gentle, yet intense, introduction to programming using Python for highly motivated students with little or no prior experience in programming. The course will focus on planning and organizing programs, as well as the grammar of the Python programming language.
The course is designed to help prepare students for 6.01 Introduction to EECS I. 6.01 assumes some knowledge of Python upon entering; the course material for 6.189 has been specially designed to make sure that concepts important to 6.01 are covered.
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

This course will provide a gentle introduction to programming using Python™ for highly motivated students with little or no prior experience in programming computers. The course will focus on planning and organizing programs, as well as the grammar of the Python programming language. Lectures will be interactive featuring in-class exercises with lots of support from the course staff.
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

This course introduces the parallel evolution of life and the environment. Life processes are influenced by chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the solid earth. In turn, life can influence chemical and physical processes on our planet. This course explores the concept of life as a geological agent and examines the interaction between biology and the earth system during the roughly 4 billion years since life first appeared.

This course deals with mechanics of deformation of the crust and mantle, with emphasis on the importance of different rheological descriptions: brittle, elastic, linear and nonlinear fluids, and viscoelastic.

The Earth’s crust is primarily composed of melting products from mantle plumes and mid-ocean ridges - both presently and over the course of Earth history. While both systems represent upwelling features in a convective mantle, they can be viewed as end-member systems in that plumes represent buoyant flow whereas mid-ocean ridges represent passive corner flow. This paradigm is not strict - flow beneath ridges may be buoyant in some places, for example, but it does provide a reasonable framework for enquiry.
Plumes and ridges can be studied independently, but in many places across the globe the systems interact, often in intriguing fashion. The nature of these interactions provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of both systems, and provides new perspectives on the mantle, crustal, and water column processes associated converting heat from the Earth’s interior into new crust, hydrothermal flow, and biological communities on the seafloor.
The approach taken for the 2001 Plume-Ridge Interactions Seminar series was to start with basic ideas about mantle convection and tectonics, and an overview of the global hotspot and ridge systems. We then addressed three case studies of plume-ridge interactions in detail. Our first case was the interaction of the. Each of these systems provides a different perspective on the nature of plume-ridge interactions, and by comparison and contrast we are able to distill the fundamental aspects out of the complex array of geophysical and geochemical data associated with plume-ridge systems.

In this year’s Geodynamics Seminar, we will explore the depth and breadth of scientific research related to Earth’s present and past ice-sheets, glaciers and sea-ice, as well as extraterrestrial planetary ice.
Invited speakers have been chosen from experts in the current frontiers in ice-related research, including planetary ice, climate records from polar and tropical ice cores, the Snowball Earth, subglacial volcanoes, ice rheology, ice sheet modeling, ice microkinetics, glacial erosion and tectonics, subglacial life and polar remote sensing.
A field trip to Iceland in Summer 2006 will allow us to view some of the island’s ice caps and glacial geology, the exposed mid Atlantic Ridge and evidence of ice-volcano interactions.

In this year’s seminar, we will embark on a scientific journey through some of the most controversial topics about the origin and formation of our home planet. This journey will take us to other planetary bodies - even to other solar systems - as we immerse ourselves in observations and theories from the microscopic to the universe scale.
The seminar will be organized around three broad questions: How was the Earth formed? What did early Earth look like? When did living organisms first appear on Earth?
Experts in meteorites, geology of other planets, thermodynamics and tracers of living organisms, and theories of formation and evolution of planets, including early atmosphere and oceans, will come to WHOI and help us address these questions.

Learn how to read and interpret maps and data and use basic cartography principles to create maps that can be used in reports and presentations. After learning basic concepts, attendees will work through an exercise using ArcGIS Pro or QGIS.

This course offers an introduction to discrete and computational geometry. Emphasis is placed on teaching methods in combinatorial geometry. Many results presented are recent, and include open (as yet unsolved) problems.

This course is an intensive introduction to architectural design tools and process, and is taught through a series of short exercises. The conceptual basis of each exercise is in the interrogation of the geometric principles that lie at the core of each skill. Skills covered in this course range from techniques of hand drafting, to generation of 3D computer models, physical model-building, sketching, and diagramming. Weekly lectures and pin-ups address the conventions associated with modes of architectural representation and their capacity to convey ideas. This course is tailored and offered only to first-year M.Arch students.

This course focuses on the algorithms for analyzing and designing geometric foldings. Topics include reconfiguration of foldable structures, linkages made from one-dimensional rods connected by hinges, folding two-dimensional paper (origami), and unfolding and folding three-dimensional polyhedra. Applications to architecture, robotics, manufacturing, and biology are also covered in this course.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to videographers Martin Demaine and Jayson Lynch.

The main goal of this course is to present the basic ideas of quantum field theory (QFT) in a completely rigorous and mathematical way. Topics of the course include generalities on classical and quantum mechanics and field theory, 0-dimensional QFT, 1-dimensional QFT, d-dimensional QFT, supergeometry and field theories with fermions, and an introduction to 2-dimensional conformal field theory.

This course introduces students to selected aspects of geometry and topology, using concepts that can be visualized easily. We mix geometric topics (such as hyperbolic geometry or billiards) and more topological ones (such as loops in the plane). The course is suitable for students with no prior exposure to differential geometry or topology. Think of it as a moderate hike, overlooking various parts of the geometry and topology landscape. Bits are flat, bits are uphill, there are occasional rocky parts (may be different for everyone), but none that are designed to be cliff faces. The class moves from one topic to the next quickly, so it’s important to learn continuously.

This is a second-semester graduate course on the geometry of manifolds. The main emphasis is on the geometry of symplectic manifolds, but the material also includes long digressions into complex geometry and the geometry of 4-manifolds, with special emphasis on topological considerations.

Geometry of Manifolds analyzes topics such as the differentiable manifolds and vector fields and forms. It also makes an introduction to Lie groups, the de Rham theorem, and Riemannian manifolds.

The topic for Fall 2006 is short film and radio plays. This course investigates current trends and topics in German literary, theater, film, television, radio, and other media arts productions. Students analyze media texts in the context of their production, reception, and distribution as well as the public debates initiated by these works. The topic for Fall 2006 is German Short Film, a popular format that represents most recent trends in film production, and German Radio Art, a striving genre that includes experimental radio plays, sound art, and audio installations. Special attention will be given to the representation of German minorities, contrasted by their own artistic expressions reflecting changes in identity and a new political voice. Students have the opportunity to discuss course topics with a writer, filmmaker, and/or media artist from Germany. The course is taught in German.

This course gives an introduction to German language and culture. The focus is on acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical concepts through active communication. Audio, video, and printed materials provide direct exposure to authentic German language and culture. A self-paced language lab program is fully coordinated with the textbook/workbook. The first semester covers the development of effective basic communication skills.