The Biology of Pandemics
You’re already familiar with COVID-19 as the disease that has disrupted normal daily life for the past months. But have students wondered about the virus itself, and how it affects the body? In this one-week online course, held jointly with the National Museum of Qatar and Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar, students discovered the biology of this pandemic and placeed it into the context of historical pandemics. Students used mathematical tools to understand how scientists study the spread of the virus. Working with a group of peers, students used computer simulations to explore the impacts of social distancing, travel restrictions, vaccination, or other pandemic response tools, and presented their findings to the other participants.
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