 Hello, everybody. So this lecture is your very first lecture in general biology, face-to-face a la rigs. And if you're watching this thing, it means that you're probably enrolled in my face-to-face class. I used to call this the syllabus lecture, and I've changed my mind. I'm trying really hard to call it a welcome lecture instead of a syllabus lecture because it does not replace actually reading the syllabus. And in fact, in the past, I've spent this lecture talking about all parts of the syllabus, and I am not doing that this time. I believe that you can read. And so you can go, like, I believe you need to read because you need to read the syllabus in spite of this video lecture. But I also think that you're getting into a rigs class. Not just a rigs class, you're getting into a rigs class that is also a biology class. And biology classes can be rough. They're not messing around. But honestly, the content is so freaking cool every single day that it'll be super fun. But there's a lot of new things that you are going to experience in a rigs-style class, and I think it's really important that you know what you're getting yourself into. So let me tell you what we're doing. You're going to read the syllabus because you're going to log into Canvas, and by the time I finish this video and publish it to YouTube, I will also publish your Canvas course. This is sort of what you're going to see. I'm going to move some stuff around. I will constantly be editing and uploading and doing all sorts of stuff in Canvas, but you want to get comfortable with being in there so that you can get all the course materials that you're going to need. I want to talk a little bit about why I teach the way I do. I want to talk about what you need to do in order to survive a rigs class. I want to talk a little bit about your materials because that's something that is usually upfront in the center in your brains. And then there are a couple of specific assignments that I want to spend a little bit extra time talking about. So again, just so you know what you're getting yourself into. I might very well be one of the most fired up biology humans on the planet. Like, I can't believe that I'm so lucky that I get to actually earn money doing this. Like seriously, this is the best job in the freaking planet, but it's a lot of work. So let's get started. I'm going to tell you some key things that you are going to want to keep in mind philosophically speaking when we dive into this class. So I'll be right back and we'll do that.