Front Range Forum Spring 2025
Details:
- Facilitator: Brian Jones
- Phone: 970-980-1378
- Email: physicsjones@gmail.com
- Class Length: 7 weeks: April 4 – May 16
- Class Time and Place: Foxtail 2, Fridays, 9:30 – 11:30 AM
- (Friday, May 9, we will be in the classroom at the Foothills Activity Center)
Course Description:
Chickens have much better color vision than you do, and bees can see beyond the rainbow. There are snakes that can see in complete darkness, and sharks that can sense your heartbeat. Kangaroos can hop as fast as they want and never get winded, and pretty much any animal that runs can go faster than humans can. In this class, we’ll talk about the laws of nature that explain how creatures live and breathe and move around, and the senses they use to understand their world.
The class will be active—we’ll spend much of our time doing hands-on activities. The class will be social—we’ll spend much of the time working and talking with others. If you took a similar class in a previous term, there will be some repeats, but there will be a bunch of new material as well. (Like you, I am always learning!)
We’ll start each class by learning a bit of physics, and then we’ll talk about how the principles apply in the living world. We will assume no background in science, just a sense of curiosity and a desire to learn more!
Schedule & Links to Slides
- Friday, April 4
- Different Visions: How different animals see the world.
- Slides
- Friday, April 11
- Sensing Sound: How creatures use sound and vibration to sense the world.
- Slides
- Friday, April 18
- Living in Water: For creatures that live in water, the rules are different.
- Slides
- Friday, April 25
- Form and Function: How animals move and work depends on how they are built.
- Slides
- Friday, May 2
- Feeling Fields: Animals can sense electric fields and magneticfields to help them move through the world.
- Slides
- Friday, May 9
- The Meaning of Life: How is life even possible?
- Slides
- Friday, May 16
- Burning Questions: Things folks asked about in class, assembled into a class on light and color.
- Slides