The course is designed as a free open access course. The goal is to introduce learners in a simple, non-technical, accessible way to selected scientific topics across cosmology and the cognitive sciences, with their associated philosophical and conceptual issues. The course comprises seven weeks, and will be run by an interdisciplinary team of philosophers and scientists, who week-by-week will clarify the scientific background and explain the conceptual and philosophical problems.

https://www.coursera.org/course/philsci

coursera.org 에서 제공되는 또 다른 흥미로운 공개강의로 "생명의 출현"이 있습니다.

미국 일리노이 대학 어바나-샴페인 캠퍼스의 강의인ㄷ 8주 동안 지질학과 고생물학을 다룹니다.

Emergence of Life

https://class.coursera.org/emergenceoflife-002/wiki/HomePage

제1주: 지질학적 시간과 자연과학 Geological Time and the Nature of Science
제2주: 생명의 나무와 초기 지구 환경 The Tree of Life and Early Earth Environments
제3주: 화석화와 선캄브리아 생명-지구 상호작용 Fossilization and Precambrian Life-Earth Interaction
제4주: 고생대 생명과 뼈대의 출현 Paleozoic Life After the Advent of Skeletons
제5주: 고생대 식물, 파충류, 그리고 대지의 전이 Paleozoic Plants, Reptiles, and the Transition to Land
제6주: 중생대 공룡의 지배와 비행의 발전 Mesozoic Reign of the Dinosaurs and the Development of Flight
제7주: 신생대 포유류와 지구적 환경 변화 Cenozoic Mammals and Global Environmental Change
제8주: 우주생물학과 우주 속의 생명 탐구 Astrobiology and the Search for Life in the Cosmos

Course Description

How did life emerge on Earth? How have life and Earth co-evolved through geological time? Is life elsewhere in the universe? This course reevaluates these questions and the 4 billion-year history of life on Earth through the lens of the most up-to-date concepts of the "Tree of Life." The course fundamentally reconsiders what early life and evolution looked like before the root of the Tree of Life, the overall succession of life that has inhabited our planet, and the search for life in the cosmos.

Course Outline

The course consists of 8 weekly modules, each of which will be released to you shortly before the module begins.

Week 1: Geological Time and the Nature of Science

The week begins with a discussion of the historical and philosophical approaches that have been developed for (and are now actively applied to) the completion of scientific research. If done well, scientific research is both reproducible and predictive in nature. The work of Professor Carl Woese is evaluated as an example. The basic tools required for this type of scientific reasoning and the ability to overcome the challenging concepts of scale and complexity are then presented. We'll see how NASA utilized these approaches to send a message into space. Next, we'll explore the dynamic formation of the Earth itself with respect to the environmental conditions present on the earliest and most ancient version of planet Earth.

Week 2: The Tree of Life and Early Earth Environments

The advent of life on Earth came about as a result of a remarkable confluence of physical, chemical and biological processes, all of which were intrinsically linked to rapidly changing early Earth environments. Within this context, cutting-edge approaches in molecular phylogeny have revealed new understandings of the series of events associated with the emergence of life, and the possible distribution of Life within the cosmos. In this process, early assemblages of biochemical components (called the progenote) then transitioned into individual living cells. These cells then evolved to form the Tree of Life (Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya). From this time forward, Earth environments directly controlled life, but in turn life rose to directly control Earth environments. A key example was the evolution of photosynthesis by the Bacteria to oxygenate the atmosphere 2.5 billion years before present, which then triggered microbial mat growth on the ancient seafloor. The end of this Precambrian time period was associated with extreme global climate change.

Week 3: Fossilization and Precambrian Life-Earth Interaction

The accurate interpretation of ancient fossilized life requires the extreme development of crime scene investigative approaches. This version of ancient forensic science yields remarkably detailed and complete reconstructions of the lifestyles of ancient organisms that have been deceased for hundreds, thousands, millions, and even billions of years. These reconstructions, when conducted within the context of ancient environmental conditions, provide valuable information regarding the evolutionary success of organism morphology and lifestyle. Therefore, “survival of the fittest” becomes “survival of those fit best.” The first great natural experiment in this respect, run by the lineage of the Eucarya, was the Ediacaran fauna at the end of the Precambrian.

Week 4: Paleozoic Life After the Advent of Skeletons

A watershed event in the evolution of life on Earth was the development of external hard skeleton components, called the Cambrian Explosion, at 542 million years before present. The initial successes of the invertebrates were shortly followed by the appearance of vertebrates with internal skeletons. Life then utilized these new-found evolutionary capabilities, beginning distinct cycles of radiation, diversification, and extinction, which define the 3 great Eucarya faunas of the Phanerozoic. A benchmark event in this process was the evolution of jaws and its ensuing influence on predation.

Week 5: Paleozoic Plants, Reptiles, and the Transition to Land

In the early Paleozoic, plants evolved to leave the water and invade the terrestrial landscape. The shift meant an abundant food source was readily available on land, and was followed by the transition of vertebrates into land-based ecosystems. Global increases in CO2 and associated greenhouse warming in the Pennsylvanian further propelled the success of both prevascular and vascular plants and the related terrestrial radiation of the 3 lineages of the reptiles (Anapsids, Synapsids, and Diapsids). While Synapsid predators dominated the late Paleozoic, a massive meteor impact and later environmental changes reset the ecological and evolutionary stage, opening the door to the rise of the Diapsids.

Week 6: Mesozoic Reign of the Dinosaurs and the Development of Flight

More than 80% of life was extinguished during the Permian-Triassic meteoric impact event, opening vast swaths of ecological opportunity for radiation and diversification of life during the Mesozoic. Symbiosis, the mutually beneficial association of two living organisms, was widely utilized during this time period. A fascinating lineage of Diapsid reptiles rose to replace the Synapsid predators of the late Paleozoic, evolving multiple distinct types of reptiles. Flight evolved in the process, allowing Pterosaurs to have a global reach in their annual migrations. Radiation and diversification continued, with the emergence of the lineage of the Dinosaurs, Archaeopteryx and eventually the birds. The end of the Mesozoic was ushered in by another catastrophic meteor impact, driving the dinosaurs to extinction and opening the evolutionary stage for the Cenozoic.

Week 7: Cenozoic Mammals and Global Environmental Change

With the demise of the Dinosaurs, Mammals rapidly radiated and diversified during the Cenozoic. The combination of abundant food sources and significant fluctuations in global climate fostered extreme variations in morphology, body size, and interaction with the environment. One distinct advantage that mammals had over previous groups was the increase in brain size within respect to body size, evidenced by fossilized mammal skulls. Multiple theories on primate and hominoid evolution are visited, focusing on recent evidence that sheds new light on intermediate transitional forms in the lineage. This is contextualized with an overview of the extreme changes in global climate that have taken place throughout the Cenozoic and into the modern day Earth.

Week 8: Astrobiology and the Search for Life in the Cosmos

All people ask the same fundamental questions: Where are we from? Where are we going? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? The National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) is dedicated to searching for answers to these questions. The NASA Astrobiology Roadmap describes our current state of knowledge regarding the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in throughout the universe. These fundamental concepts of life and habitable environments, established upon the modern synthesis of the Tree of Life, will direct us in recognizing biospheres that might be quite different from our own. Previous, current, and future NASA missions continue to fundamentally reset and enhance our ability to scientifically answer these vexing questions.