Want to elevate your day-to-day outfits but on a budget? Curious about trying new styles but not sure where to start? Interested in breaking the "rules" of gendered fashion? Then this class is perfect for you! Taught by a non-binary person who loves to express their creativity through their outfits, this class will teach people of all genders how to make simple outfits more elegant using cheap items you may already have at home! This class will cover everything from skirts to bow ties, joggers to crop tops, and masks to make-up. Apply what you learn to your own wardrobe, and get ready to impress everyone around you with your awesome new looks! All you need to bring to this class is creativity and an open mind!

Ever wondered what opera is about? During class, we will analyse some the most famous operas and talk about the composition, staging, the plot and more. We'll listen to clips of different operas and see how the art form has changed over the years.

Want to learn some sick dance moves to impress your friends an family? Look no further. In this class, we will go over some foundational hip hop dance moves and learn a quick combination. No dance experience is required.

Do you ever wonder how music was created in old video game systems? This class will give an introduction to 8-bit music and chiptune. We will start with a brief introduction to the mechanics of 8-bit music (specifically the 2A03 chip), then explore 8-bit compositional techniques and the current chiptune music scene. The rest of the class will be spent learning Beepbox (https://beepbox.co), a simple browser-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to help you start making your own 8-bit music.


Prerequisites
Access to either a laptop or a tablet. Music theory knowledge/composition experience is helpful but not required.

In this class, a member of Johns Hopkins' only Latin dance team, Baila!, will give you an introduction into the fundamental steps and techniques of Salsa and Bachata. Whether you want to learn more about the world of Latin dance or just want to show off at the next party, this style of dance is a great sport and is sure to boost your confidence. Skills will include basic principles of timing, basic footwork, and variations in simple turns

Are we essentially an animal or a brain? In this class we can discuss the notion of persons and do some fun thought experiments. Also, we can discuss any related topics if people are interested.

Moving a piece of media from one region to another often involves some form of change in order to allow the new audience to understand it. However, there is a constant balancing act between changing the work for the audience to understand it, and being true to the original intent of the piece. We will explore this trade off and some notable examples.

Across several language traditions, we see the use of poetic verse as device for learning accessible knowledge to students of certain fields. In this class, we will be surveying samples of didactic medical poetry from the Arabic, Persian, and Chinese traditions as well as from the Latin West.


Prerequisites
Previous knowledge of any language is NOT necessary

The United States constitution is the world's oldest active codified constitution, yet despite that our current system of government is vastly different today than during its inception. In this class we will explore how the relationship between the US's government and its citizens changed as it transformed from a fledgling nation of former British colonies to a global superpower.

This course explores the hazy line of medical ethics and the many medical advances that have been borne from non-consensual human experimentation. We will discuss varied cases of exploitation: richer nations to poorer nations; government to prisoners; colonizers to enslaved people.
DISCLAIMER: This course will discuss serious topics such as war, POWs, slavery, and other forms of exploitation.

We can discuss the expected utility theory, some decision puzzles, and reasons behind our choices. We can also discuss any related topics if people are interested.

Students will learn how to encrypt messages using a variety of ciphers, starting with simple algorithms and moving to more complex ones. We will go over techniques for decrypting encoded text, getting plenty of practice decoding by hand, and will also apply basic computer programs to decryption.

Everything these days runs on computers, so it is important that these systems are secure and resistant to attacks. Learn about some common security vulnerabilities in today's computers, cyber attacks which exploit those weaknesses, and ways to protect against these attacks.

While it has its pros, I’ve always felt unfairly imprisoned by reality. Sure, the universe did a good job on the stars and trees and a few other things, but like you, I’m just a transient consciousness trapped in a fragile sack of meat, with little to no ability to explore and influence the vast universe.

Which is why imagination is so important: how else would we break free from the mundanity of everyday life? But it's so easy to dismiss those exciting scenarios and fascinating questions just because they're not real or probable.

The great thing about science, though, is that it’s universal: it applies to anything you and I can think of. So why not use it to explore beyond the boundaries of our existential cage? Forget the force on a box sliding down a slope – we’re going to find out how to power a house on Mars, how to blow up a black hole, the prospect of funneling the Niagara Falls through a straw, and more.

There is no doubt that humans live longer
today than at any other point in our history. However, the diseases we face (obesity, heart disease, cancer, etc) are those that we rarely needed to defend against a few centuries ago. This class gives an evolutionary answer as to why many of the diseases of modernity exist and plague us today.

This class will evaluate the validity of "old wives' tales" and also take a look at various scientific failures throughout history. Our goal is to understand the importance of being critical about our sources of knowledge while also maintaining an open mind when it comes to scientific methods and different types of evidence. The topics discussed will provide a broader picture of how science relates to our cultural values.

Jurassic Park is the quintessential dinosaur movie, and spawned an entire franchise based on the idea of reverse-engineering dinos from fossils. But how much of the science behind the park is true? What did they get wrong? More importantly, is a real Jurassic Park in our future? We will analyze the science in the movie and make predictions about the future of biotech.

In a world of Netflix and Instagram, procrastination seems inevitable. But where does this urge to procrastinate come from? This class will explore the science behind procrastination and hear experts' advice on overcoming it.