Biology

“Nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution” (Dobzhansky, 1964). This course discusses the most important developments in modern evolutionary biology, and includes topics such as the origin of life; the evolution of cells; the evolution of multicellularity, development and cancer; the evolution of individuality and complexity; the evolution of cooperation and altruism; the evolution of sex and death; the evolution of societies and languages. In addition, the course examines specific evolutionary mechanisms, forces and consequences, such as mutation and selection, symbiosis, life history traits, germ-soma separation and cell differentiation.