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?
Offered By
Evolution Today
Universiteit LeidenAbout this Course
Learner Career Outcomes
50%
Learner Career Outcomes
50%
Offered by
Universiteit Leiden
Leiden University is one of Europe's foremost research universities. This prominent position gives our graduates a leading edge and prepares them for careers both within and outside of academia. Leiden University is the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575. Our motto is: Praesidium Libertatis (Bastion of Liberty) - Freedom of spirit, thought and expression. Leiden University has a campus in Leiden and The Hague, with 7 faculties, 47 Bachelor Programmes, 79 Master Programmes and nearly 30,000 students.
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.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
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!
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!
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!
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?
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM EVOLUTION TODAY
I enjoyed doing this course, however, couldn't get 80% correct in the last quiz, as I didn't quite grasp the DNA part. However, I did this course for fun and am quite content with 77%!!
Good course. Fascinating facts and valuable observations. It makes you look onto the world with a wider view.
Excellent course! REALLY informative and the exercise questions are helpful in understanding the concepts!
Quite well explained and laid out. A impressive program for understanding the basics of evolution.
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