One of the greatest scientific feats of our era is the astonishing progress made in understanding the intricate machinery of life. This intensive, 72-lecture course gives you the background and guidance to explore in depth the fundamental principles of how living things work-principles such as evolution by natural selection, the cellular structure of organisms, the DNA theory of inheritance, and other key ideas that help you appreciate the marvelous diversity and complexity of life.
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Strengthen your appreciation of the marvelous diversity and complexity of life. In Biology: The Science of Life, explore in-depth the principles of how living things work from cell structure to human growth populations. Then, in Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology, learn how your body performs the many detailed functions essential to your life.
How has cutting-edge science changed our understanding of life? Discover the answers in this two-course set that includes Epigenetics: How Environment Changes Your Biology and What Darwin Didn’t Know: The Modern Science of Evolution. In this first course, join an expert in epigenetics for a journey inside your genome to discover the molecules that are switching your genes on and off—and the deep chemistry of life. And in the second, explore the ways evolution took off as a rigorous and powerfully predictive science, accumulating steady improvements to Darwin's original ideas.
Are we alone in the universe? Or does the cosmos pulse with diverse life forms? Life in Our Universe reveals the cutting-edge research leading scientists to believe that life is not exclusively the domain of Earth. Taught by Dr. Laird Close, an award-winning Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The University of Arizona, these 24 stunningly visual lectures offer an unparalleled look at the most intriguing discoveries coming from the new field of astrobiology, as well as the mysteries that remain. You'll examine the remarkable coincidences that created our planet and sustained its habitability for 3.5 billion years. And you'll join the hunt for microbial life elsewhere in our solar system and Earth-like planets in alien solar systems—one of astronomy's "holy grails."
Could our planet have been seeded with life from elsewhere? How have natural forces conspired to remove most traces of life from the planet? And how has life itself responded with determination to survive and thrive in a multitude of astonishing forms? Learn about the amazing story of our world— its origins, extinctions, and evolutions—in the 36 lavishly illustrated lectures of A New History of Life. This is a gripping presentation that assumes no background in science.
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