Fall 2019: Major Events in the History of Life and the Human Genome
Over the course of the last 4.5 billion years, life has faced a number of challenges, and in response has evolved a number of remarkable innovations. These innovations are written in DNA, and thus molecular fossils for many of the major events in the history of life can be found within our very own genomes. This course will survey the human nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, using a gene or region from a chromosome as a “ticket” to a particularly important event or process in the history of life including the origin of life itself (Chromosome 14), the advent of protein synthesis (Chromosome 22), the invention of DNA (Chromosome 8), the rise of atmospheric oxygen (mitochondrion), the origin of species (Chromosome 2), the origin of animals and the rise of macroecology (Chromosome 12), and the origin of humans and human language (Chromosome 7). Peterson.
Winter 2020: Emerging Infectious Diseases: How Microbes Rule the World
Emerging infectious diseases, which have shaped the course of humanity and caused untold suffering and death, will continue to challenge society as long as humans and microbes co-exist. This course will explore why infectious diseases emerge and re-‐emerge. The viruses, bacteria and eukaryotes that cause these diseases continually evolve in response to their hosts. Dynamic interactions between rapidly evolving infectious agents and changes in the environment and in host behavior provide such agents with favorable new ecological niches. In addition, dramatic increases in the worldwide movement of people and goods drive the globalization of disease. Guerinot and McClung.
Spring 2020: Animal Minds
Darwin claimed that other species share the same “mental powers” as humans, only to different degrees. This course will examine the evidence for Darwin’s claim, focusing on the evolutionary, neural, and molecular basis of animal cognition. We will ask how and why organisms behave as they do, exploring the ways in which evolution has adapted organisms’ information gathering, perception, learning ability, memory, and decision making to both their physical and social world. Key examples will be drawn from navigation, tool-use, communication, and cultural imitation. An overarching emphasis will be placed on the active process of scientific discovery, especially how strong inference and multiple competing hypotheses enable scientists to make discoveries. Jack and Laidre.