Evolution Today
Universiteit Leiden
À propos de ce cours
In this course you will learn how evolution works. You will develop an understanding of evolutionary processes and their formative power. You will see how evolution has shaped biodiversity, and continuously influences our daily life. Evolution impacts human endeavors as varied as medicine, agriculture, psychology, economy, and culture. It is the major unifying principle for biology and a fundamental natural law. In five weeks we will make evolution accessible for you and help you to recognize evolutionary processes around you, in nature as well as in society. We make use of the unique collection of Naturalis, the natural history museum in Leiden, but also take you to the field. Using classical and up-to-date examples, we will show you how scientists address evolutionary questions. In the last module, we will have a look at the future. How will humans evolve? And how do we influence our own evolution and that of other organisms?
This course is aimed at anybody with a drive to obtain a deeper, broader, and pragmatic understanding of evolution, including high-school students, BSc (undergraduate) biology students, MSc (graduate) students from other disciplines, medical professionals, conservation officers and educators in museums, libraries, national parks, and schools.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
1
Section
Welcome to the course Evolution Today
Great that you are joining us! In this course you will learn about Evolution. Before you start with this course we invite you to first take a look around and meet your fellow learners. We would like to know what brings you here and what you would like to get out of the course. If you encounter any difficulties while studying, please let us know in the forum. For technical difficulties or questions regarding the course certificate, you can always contact the Coursera Learner Helpdesk. Good luck & we hope you will enjoy studying in this course!
6 readings
6 readings
Meet the instructors & the team2m
Welcome to Leiden University!3m
Complete our short survey10m
Study tips for studying online5m
Being successful in an international virtual learning community5m
Behaving in an academic way5m
2
Section
Do we change?
In this module, you are going to learn that a very powerful mechanism, natural selection, leads to evolutionary change. We are going to have a detailed look at what is required for this natural selection. And, knowing these conditions, we can judge whether traits in humans are evolving at the moment. This is a surprisingly simple module. I am looking forward to discuss human evolution with you at the end!
5 videos (Total 20 min), 5 readings, 5 quizzes
5 videos
Natural Selection4m
Natural Selection in the Field4m
Dialogue6m
Sexual selection4m
5 readings
Evolution is Everywhere5m
Observe it with your own eyes!10m
Online lab simulated evolution10m
Eyes, HIV and Human Body Height10m
Science evolves5m
5 practice exercises
Natural Selection2m
Natural Selection in the Field3m
Human Evolution2m
Sexual Selection4m
Test your knowledge10m
3
Section
How do we change?
This is a real puzzle-module. We are going to decipher the language of DNA, and see that mutations in this DNA lead to new variation. As we saw, variation is the raw material for natural selection. Thus, take your pen and pencil and unravel with me the code of your own DNA!
5 videos (Total 20 min), 2 readings, 4 quizzes
2 readings
Imperfect weasels10m
Gene Switches10m
4 practice exercises
E-tivity: translating a short human gene15m
E-tivity: mutations in human genes15m
E-tivity: playing with Hox-genes5m
Test your knowledge15m
4
Section
Who is this "we" anyway?
In the first two modules, we have asked ourselves whether we experience evolutionary change, and if so, how this change comes about. In this module, we will explore who this "we" is anyway: is it us, the individual? Is it our species? Our genes? Who is in charge here?
6 videos (Total 35 min), 5 readings, 6 quizzes
6 videos
Levels of Organization4m
Selfish Units8m
Supressing Selfishness6m
Promoting Collaboration7m
Discussion7m
5 readings
The false allure of group selection by Steven Pinker30m
Distinguishing between Selfish DNA and The Selfish Gene10m
Selfish cells30m
Video lecture on behavioral evolution by Robert Sapolsky30m
Green beards and eusociality in the Red Imported Fire Ant20m
6 practice exercises
Units of Selection5m
The Good of the Species5m
Single Round Prisoner's Dilemma5m
Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma10m
Hamilton's rule5m
Test your knowledge30m
5
Section
How have we (and haven't we) changed?
In this module, we will take a look at the limitations to evolution. Despite the strength of the process of natural selection, some things simply are not possible. Evolution has to play by the rules, and this module will explore what those rules are.
4 videos (Total 21 min), 2 readings, 4 quizzes
2 readings
Contingencies10m
Interview with Dr. Paul Ewald10m
3 practice exercises
Similarity and relatedness2m
"Living fossils" and evolutionary inertia4m
Test your knowledge12m
6
Section
How will we change?
In this module, we will have a look at the future. How will humans evolve, and, as our impact on the world increases, how will we affect the evolution of other organisms?
5 videos (Total 27 min), 5 readings, 6 quizzes
5 videos
The Future Evolution of Humans6m
Human-Induced Rapid Evolutionary Change (HIREC)6m
Novel Ecosystems5m
Evolutionary Thinking6m
5 readings
Current evolution in humans10m
Videos on fast evolution in guppy fish10m
Op-ed on novel ecosystems from the New York Times10m
An evolutionary computer game ("Niche")10m
Complete our short survey10m
5 practice exercises
Selection in humans today2m
Cities and caves2m
Tele-coupling2m
Test your knowledge12m
Final Exam of the Course40m
4.4
Top Reviews
By YY•Sep 7th 2017
Excellent course! REALLY informative and the exercise questions are helpful in understanding the concepts!
By MC•Sep 14th 2017
Sensacional, muito bom. Mas poderia estar na língua portuguesa, traduzido para o português do Brasil.
Instructors
About Universiteit Leiden
Leiden University is one of Europe's foremost research universities. This prominent position gives our graduates a leading edge in applying for academic posts and for functions outside academia.
Leiden University is the oldest university in the Netherlands. It was founded in February 1575, as a gift from William of Orange to the citizens of Leiden after they had withstood a long siege by the Spanish. Our motto is: Praesidium Libertatis — Bastion of Liberty.
About Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Naturalis is the natural history museum of the Netherlands and the national research institute in biodiversity. We collect, conserve and study animals, plants and rocks. Our collection now contains 37 million objects and that makes it one of the largest in the world. And it is still growing each day thanks to the worldwide fieldwork of our researchers and many amateur scientists.
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