This paper discusses a college-level course on contemporary topics in science offered to non-science majors at the State University College of New York. The authors examine the objectives, methods, and various student groupings utilized in the course, investigate why it has been successful, and make recommendations for courses of this nature. The major course objectives are: (1) to take an inter-disciplinary problem-centered approach to teaching and learning, (2) to identify and solve the problem in a humanistic way, and (3) to have students discover and use scientific literature in order to foster scientific literacy and informed decision making. Considerable emphasis is placed upon the practical aspects involved in offering the course, such as selection of topics, preparation, ways of dealing with current topics that continue to evolve, utilization of resource persons, and motivation. An appendix provides two lists of suggested topics for discussion. The first list consists of 36 items edited from student proposals, and the second provides 25 teacher-developed discussion topics. (JR)