Molecular and Cellular Biology 80, "Neurobiology of Behavior"

The material in MCB80, “Neurobiology of Behavior “—largely devoted to providing a broad overview of nervous system—is fairly interesting. But the manner in which it's presented…well, let's just say that "unhelpful" would be an understatement.



It definitely helps to be a science concentrator in this class. The material is very biological, so those with a biological background have a huge advantage over the Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy concentrators required to take the course because they're in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior track. The Kandel textbook, written for upper level courses, is dense and chock-full of arcane jargon—don't bother buying it.



The strength of the course is the professors, who, despite their foibles and idiosyncrasies, actually seem to care about teaching (perhaps because they’re both recent transfers from Washington University in St. Louis.) The more grandfatherly of the two, Joshua R. Sanes, has handwriting that makes chicken scratch look like artistic calligraphy. This wouldn’t be a problem except for his insistence on writing lecture notes on the fly on his tablet PC, which he projects on the screen. For extra fun, ask Sanes to pronounce the name of "Rita Levi-Montalcini," a famous Italian neurobiologist. You won't be disappointed, believe us. Professor Jeffrey Lichtman, who has a somewhat strange fetish for powerful microscopes, is perhaps the better lecturer of the two (though his sense of humor might leave some scratching their heads.) Both are receptive to questions, even in mid-lecture, and clearly put effort into their lessons.



The sections are worse than useless. They have no structure besides rehashing material for the five minute quizzes that are given at every lecture—which are huge annoyances in themselves, though they do make actually attending classes (which aren't taped, unlike almost every other introductory science class) an incentive. But if you ask to delve into the material beyond the lectures, be prepared to be met by a wooden stare and an awkward silence.



A word on the take home exam: Don't let the words "take home" lull you into a false confidence. If you procrastinate on this one, you'll be in for a very long and stressful night. None of the answers can be taken straight out of the textbook, and you'll find yourself often making educated guesses. On the plus side, you'll breathe a sigh of relief when it's returned—the grading is fairly easy. Another tip: during the review sessions in May, just put on your best sad puppy dog face and appeal to the head TF that "this concept is too hard," and poof!—its gone.