Science of Information

We live in the Information Age, but what is information, anyway? In 1948, Claude Shannon published a seminal paper formalizing our modern notion of information. Through lectures and lab visits, we'll learn how information can be measured and represented, why bits are the universal currency for information exchange, and how these ideas led to smartphones, the Internet, and more. We will get a glimpse of information elements in other domains, including neural codes of the brain, cryptographic codes, genetic code, quantum information, and even entertainment. As a final project, students will create podcast episodes on one of the topics explored in the course.