Tuesday 1-3 pm
New location: Conference room in the Berkeley Seismology Lab (2nd floor of McCone Hall, North end of the building and through the metal doors
The goal of freshman seminars is ``for small groups of students to explore a scholarly topic of mutual interest together. By taking a seminar a student becomes an active member of Berkeley's intellectual community. The seminars depend on the regular presence and active participation of every student. Sharing ideas in class is an important academic skill that can only be acquired through practice".
Movies can be an effective way to spread information about science and its relevance to society. Science in movies, however, is often wrong and misleading. In this seminar we will watch and critique a set of modern popular movies that address topics in geoscience, environmental science, and planetary science. Is the science right? Does it matter? Was the movie effective? Movies to be discussed and reviewed cover topics in planetary science that range from the core to the search for life beyond our solar system.
Week 1 (August 28): Organization
Week 2 (September 4): Room double booked, class cancelled
Week 3 (September11): The Core
Week 4 (September 18): Discussion of The Core
Week 5 (September 25): Supervolcano
Week 6 (October 2): Discussion of Supervolcano (or some other volcano movie)
Week 7 (October 9): The Day after Tomorrow
Week 8 (October 16): An Inconvenient Truth
Week 9 (October 23): Discussion about climate change, and climate change in the movies
Week 10 (October 30): Armageddon (note, this movie is 2.5 hours long)
Week 11 (November 6): Discussion of asteroid impacts and Armageddon
Week 12 (November 13): Contact (note, this movie is 2.5 hours long)
Week 13 (November 20): No meeting (Thanksgiving)
Week 14 (November 27): Discussion of SETI and Contact
Week 15 (December 4): Our own disaster movie