HUMAN BIOLOGY – FALL 2026

Coordinators: Mark Cardillo, David Bartash, Marian Schulteis

This course explores the fascinating systems and components of the human body; i.e., the brain and nervous system, the heart and circulatory system, and the digestive system. In addition to the body’s principal systems, we look at specific and important components, such as the complexity and function of the cell, discrimination of cancer tissues, and how the body changes with age.

(Thursday, B Week, PM, Auditorium, M. Cardillo)

To view a video click on the link above its description.

HUMAN BIOLOGY
Systems of the Body

Presenter: Marion Schulteis
Presentation Date: September 17, 2026

Your body is the most remarkable machine you will ever own. Every second, its organs, tissues, and trillions of cells are communicating, solving problems, and working together to keep you alive.

In this first class, we’ll take a fascinating preview of the human body, its systems and organs, that we’ll explore throughout the course. Along the way, I’ll share some of the surprising discoveries I made while researching each system — and a few things about your body that may surprise you.

HUMAN BIOLOGY
Understanding the Cell

Presenter: Bob Majeska
Presentation Date: October 1, 2026

Cells are fundamental units of all living entities; they sustain themselves, grow and reproduce independently. Cells with rare exceptions have retained these capabilities as they combine to generate all the life forms we recognize. Knowing how individual cells operate is useful not only to understand how the organisms they comprise (like humans) function – but also the basis for many diseases and their treatments.

This session will review several aspects of cells and how they operate. Topics will include cell composition (NOTE: a modicum of chemistry here), cell “anatomy” (structures identifiable under microscopes of different power) and processes common to all cells (energy utilization, growth, reproduction, death). The session will also consider how cells become specialized in making different tissues and how cells communicate.

HUMAN BIOLOGY
Nurturing Hands

Presenter: Larry Shapiro
Presentation Date: October 15, 2026

Nurturing hands/clever hands/enigmatic hands. We’ll discuss how they can do what they do and how evolution by natural selection brought that about, and we’ll consider what philosophers have to say about the relationship between our hands and the brain, hands and the evolution of tool-making, language and speech, hands and the mind. This joint meeting of two classes came about because I over-promised and committed to two courses that meet at the same time. Here is a topic that can fit into either course. Philosophy and Literature is a discussion class with the option to read about the topic beforehand. Our reading is from a book called Prehension/The Hand and the Emergence of Humanity. I’ll be offering to send it to those who request via Quest Business.

HUMAN BIOLOGY
The Biology of Cancer

Presenter: Susan Jomark
Presentation Date: October 29, 2026

By the time we reach “a certain age,” most of us have been touched in some way by cancer. If we have not been so cursed ourselves, then via a friend or a family member. One day one is given a clean bill of health and then, seemingly out of nowhere, one is facing a life-threatening disease.

What could have gone wrong? Why have our previously normal organs / tissues / cells suddenly gone rogue, started to grow uncontrollably and traveled to other parts of our bodies, growing new tumors at sites far and wide?

The earliest descriptions of cancer date from ancient Egypt and attempts to understand it and fight it have been ongoing in the thousands of years since. As newer scientific techniques have evolved, so has the understanding of cancer grown exponentially and ever more sophisticated methods to treat it.

Today, there is an incredibly vast body of knowledge of the underpinnings of cancer and it is constantly growing. While a thorough understanding would require months to years of study, this talk is an attempt to explain some very basic mechanisms of cancer formation.

HUMAN BIOLOGY
Growth in Height and its Ramifications

Presenter: Bonnie Franklin
Presentation Date: November 12, 2026

Childhood growth and eventual adult height are of profound interest to physicians, scientists, and families. This talk will explore variations in height around the world, how timing and the rate of childhood growth affects height, and the main environmental, genetic and clinical factors affecting growth in individuals and populations. Societal attitudes will be discussed, as well as the manufacture and cost of growth hormone (GH), and its use as a treatment for specific causes of short stature.