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Universiteit Leiden

Evolution Today

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.

Status: Anthropology
Status: Taxonomy
BeginnerCourse28 hours

Featured reviews

PM

5.0Reviewed May 9, 2020

Quite well explained and laid out. A impressive program for understanding the basics of evolution.

AA

4.0Reviewed Aug 11, 2019

Good course. Fascinating facts and valuable observations. It makes you look onto the world with a wider view.

IS

5.0Reviewed Apr 9, 2020

Brilliant course, very interesting and i'd recommend it for fellow college/sixth form students

GS

5.0Reviewed Jun 16, 2019

Excellent course: interesting content and engaging instructors.

AH

5.0Reviewed May 23, 2020

I am from France and with a little more time than predicted by the teachers, this course was successful with 92.4%!

DD

4.0Reviewed Apr 29, 2018

Very good course, though the sequencing of aminos in a protein was a bit sadistic.

VV

5.0Reviewed May 28, 2017

Interesting, good examples and case study, whole content of the course is good.

YY

5.0Reviewed Sep 6, 2017

Excellent course! REALLY informative and the exercise questions are helpful in understanding the concepts!

FF

4.0Reviewed Nov 27, 2016

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%!!

NR

4.0Reviewed Aug 3, 2019

Interesting course, I would like to go deeper in to it

JC

4.0Reviewed Dec 10, 2016

a very interesting course, but the explanation is slow sometimes.

MK

5.0Reviewed Nov 2, 2017

not overly demanding so far but really interactive and interesting. 5/5

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 45

Cliff Stamp
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Reviewed Apr 3, 2017
Emiel de Jonge
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Ying Yue
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Prashant Kumar Mishra
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Reviewed May 10, 2020
Lily Aster Newton
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Reviewed Aug 25, 2017
Gabriel Ponti
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Enbo Wang
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Reviewed Jun 30, 2021
matthew symes
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Reviewed Mar 16, 2018
Noa Beau Rijkers
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Cassidy Cameron
5.0
Reviewed Oct 12, 2016
María Ángela Guzmán Vargas
5.0
Reviewed Dec 9, 2016
Paul Tonkinson
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Neilbarker
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Philip Harris
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Reviewed Jan 25, 2018
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Reviewed May 24, 2020
Marcus Vinicius Bonafé Cabral
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Reviewed Sep 13, 2017
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VISHAL VYAS
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Reviewed May 29, 2017