Fear and Loathing in a Biological World

Don’t panic! Trust me when I tell you it will be fine. You are not the first class of students that will experience the angst of Fear and Loathing in a Biological World and I am certain you will not be the last. As you huddle in the comfort of the cinderblock room that will be “home” for the next four years (yes, you can graduate in four years, although it did take me nine years for my Bachelor of Science!), remember to pace yourself. There is time enough for the full college experience. I would hate for you to miss anything that will make for a colorful story for your children and grandchildren.

As this is an introductory course, we are forced to include a phenomenal amount of material. Because we cover so much, we will only be touching on each of the topics for a short time before we find ourselves moving on. Learning is a permanent change in behavior due to experience. How many times did your parents warn you “Don’t touch that, it’s hot,” only to wait until no one was watching you so you could finally touch it. Don’t be ashamed. Everybody had to do the same thing to learn what “hot” means.

Learning is in the doing— lecturing to you is my way of giving you a preview, so when the experience comes, it is easier for you to make sense of it and learn from it. Or in the case of my less traditional students who may have witnessed many of these events already, this will help to clarify what happened or why. Thank you and hang on; we won’t be back this way again!