Courses tagged with "Brain stem" (299)

What makes living things tick?. Homeostasis. A Voyage to Mars: Bone Loss in Space. Bread Mold Kills Bacteria.

You’re acquainted with your DNA, but did you know that your cells synthesize enough DNA during your lifetime to stretch a lightyear in length? How does the cellular machinery accomplish such a feat without making more mistakes than you can survive? Why isn’t the incidence of cancer even higher than it is? And, if the DNA in each and every cell is two meters long, how is this genetic material compacted to fit inside the cell nucleus without becoming a tangled mess?
 
Are you ready to go beyond the “what" of scientific information presented in textbooks and explore how scientists deduce the details of these molecular models?
 
Take a behind-the-scenes look at modern molecular genetics, from the classic experimental events that identified the proteins involved in DNA replication and repair to cutting-edge assays that apply the power of genome sequencing. Do you feel confident in your ability to design molecular biology experiments and interpret data from them? We've designed the problems in this course to build your experimental design and data analysis skills.
 
Let’s explore the limits of our current knowledge about the replication machinery and pathways that protect the fidelity of DNA synthesis. If you are up for the challenge, join us in 7.28.1x Molecular Biology: DNA Replication and Repair.

In Part 2 of this Molecular Biology course, you’ll explore transcription of DNA to RNA, a key part of the central dogma of biology and the first step of gene expression.

Did you know that transposable elements, the genetic information that can move from location to location, make up roughly 50 % of the human genome? Did you know that scientists have linked their movement into specific genes to the causes of certain diseases? You’ll also learn how these “jumping genes” work and how scientists study them in Molecular Biology: Transcription and Transposition.

Are you ready to go beyond the “what" of scientific information presented in textbooks and explore how scientists deduce the details of these molecular models?

Take a behind-the-scenes look at modern molecular genetics, from the classic experimental events that identified the proteins and elements involved in transcription and transposition to cutting-edge assays that apply the power of genome sequencing. We've designed the problems in this course to build your experimental design and data analysis skills.

Let’s explore the limits of our current knowledge about the transcription machinery and mechanisms of transposition. If you are up for the challenge, join us in 7.28.2x Molecular Biology: Transcription and Transposition.

In Part 3 of 7.28x, you’ll explore translation of mRNA to protein, a key part of the central dogma of biology. Do you know how RNA turnover or RNA splicing affects the outcome of translation? Although not official steps in the central dogma, the mechanisms of RNA processing strongly influence gene expression.

Are you ready to go beyond the “what" of scientific information presented in textbooks and explore how scientists deduce the details of these molecular models?

Take a behind-the-scenes look at modern molecular biology, from the classic experimental events that identified the proteins and elements involved in translation and RNA splicing to cutting-edge assays that apply the power of genome sequencing. Do you feel confident in your ability to design molecular biology experiments and interpret data from them? We've designed the assessments in this course to build your experimental design and data analysis skills.

Let’s explore the limits of our current knowledge about the translation machinery and mechanisms of RNA turnover and splicing. If you are up for the challenge, join us in 7.28.3x Molecular Biology: RNA Processing and Translation.

In this course, we will see how evolutionary trees resolve quandaries from finding the origin of a deadly virus to locating the birthplace of modern humans. We will then use methods from computational proteomics to test whether we can reconstruct Tyrannosaurus rex proteins and prove that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

Learn about novel sensing tools that make use of nanotechnology to screen, detect and monitor various events in personal or professional life. Together, we will lay the groundwork for infinite innovative applications, starting from diagnosis and treatments of diseases, continuing with quality control of goods and environmental aspects, and ending with monitoring security issues.

Nanotechnology is an emerging area that engages almost every technical discipline – from chemistry to computer science – in the study and application of extremely tiny materials.  This short course allows any technically savvy person to go one layer beyond the surface of this broad topic to see the real substance behind the very small.

If you are interested in learning programming, but find pure programming courses not very exciting, this course is for you.

Instead of just learning programming principles outside of any context, you will learn JavaScript programming by implementing key biological concepts in code so they can run in your browser.

If you know a little (or a lot of) programming already, but want to learn more about the rules that govern life without having to pick up a traditional academic textbook, this course will also be of interest to you. You will learn some key ideas that form the basis of modern biology, from population genetics to evolutionary biology to infectious disease spread.

No prior programming knowledge needed.

An introduction to data integration and statistical methods used in contemporary Systems Biology, Bioinformatics and Systems Pharmacology research.

Week 1: A first simple neuron model

Week 2:  Hodgkin-Huxley models and biophysical modeling

Week 3: Two-dimensional models and phase plane analysis

Week 4: Two-dimensional models (cont.)/ Dendrites

Week 5: Variability of spike trains and the neural code

Week 6: Noise models, noisy neurons and coding

Week 7: Estimating neuron models for coding and decoding

Before your course starts, try the new edX Demo where you can explore the fun, interactive learning environment and virtual labs. Learn more.

In this capstone students will have a choice of three projects related to perception, to be completed across 6 weeks: (1) write a research proposal, (2) write a popular press article, or (3) create a video demonstration or multimedia application.

Nudge-it is an multi-disciplinary European research project studying new ways of establishing and reinforcing healthy eating habits. Join us to learn about eating, appetite and obesity.

Every day reports of food scandals and recalls are published. One day it’s scary bacteria in meat, and another day it’s dangerous pesticides in fruits. According to some, meat needs to be cooked well to prevent food-borne illness while others warn not to heat food to prevent the formation of poisonous substances.

Many consumers worry about the conflicting and confusing messages about food hazards

This nutrition and health course will teach you about the hazards associated with food and give you the tools to assess and quantify the dangers they can present. You will learn the effects of food processing, the shared responsibility in the food chain and the prevention of food poisoning/intoxication. After this course, you will be able to differentiate what is a food myth vs. an actual risk. Finally, you will gain a contemporary view of how different risks can be weighed in a scientific way.

This course is part of the Nutrition: Healthy Food for Better Living XSeries.

Food plays a central role in our society but few people actually understand what it does to our bodies. Learn more about nutrition and how our diet profoundly impacts our current and future health.This introductory nutrition course addresses the relationship between nutrition and human health with a focus on health problems related to overnutrition.

In this course, Professor Sander Kersten from Wageningen University will introduce you to the chemistry of the three macronutrients fat, carbohydrate and protein. You will learn how macronutrients are absorbed, stored, and metabolized for energy, and you will gain a contemporary view of how different types of fats, carbohydrates and proteins affect human health. Moreover, NUTR101x will cover energy homeostasis and the regulation of bodyweight, and provides ample coverage of the topic of obesity. Finally, the course will make you familiar with nutritional research and research methodologies.

No previous knowledge needed. By completing this course, you will have the necessary tools to better weigh and interpret the information overload about nutrition and health.

NUTR101x is part of the Nutrition - Food for Health XSeries of Wageningen University. To continue learning, check out Nutrition and Health Part 2, which focuses on malnutrition. 

Food plays a central role in our society but few people actually understand what it does to our bodies. Learn more about nutrition and how our diet  profoundly impacts our current and future health. The course will focus on undernutrition and micronutrients. The team of Professors from Wageningen University will introduce you to vitamins and minerals and their role in human health.

The course will address the micronutrient content of foods and will cover the role of the various micronutrients in the body.  In addition, NUTR102x will discuss how suboptimal nutrition may affect human health and will pay particular attention to global hunger and malnutrition.

No previous knowledge needed but course adds to knowledge from NUTR101x. Join us to learn more about nutrition and health.

NUTR102x is part of the Nutrition-Food for Health xSeries of Wageningen University.

This seven week course will explore nutrition concepts that take center stage in mainstream media outlets and become conversation topics among consumers interested in food choice as it relates to optimal health and physical performance.

This course will look at how intelligent and innovative use of the ocean can sustainably deliver the key resources necessary to help meet some of the great challenges faced by humanity.

Interested in taking AP Biology, or an advanced biology course, but unsure if you are ready? This is the course for you!

This short course will briefly review basic concepts covered in AP Biology, and will include advanced challenge questions. Starting with a review of genetics and related content, the course will prepare you to tackle Investigation 2 and 3 of the AP Biology curriculum. You will learn how to create a mathematical model of populations and be able to compare DNA and Protein sequences using BLAST. The students who complete this mini-course will be better prepared to tackle more advanced course material in the future.

FAQ

Do I need to buy a textbook?

Generally, no. Having access to an introductory-level biology textbook would be useful; However, the course will refer you to various free online resources if you need more review of a particular concept.

Will this course prepare me for the AP Biology Exam?

No. The purpose of the course is to help you achieve success in the AP Biology course that you will be taking subsequently.

Does it cost anything to take this course?

No. The course is completely free. However, if you want to obtain a verified certificate, there is a small fee involved.

Advanced Placement® and AP® are trademarks registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, these offerings.

The Origins course tracks the origin of all things – from the Big Bang to the origin of the Solar System and the Earth. The course follows the evolution of life on our planet through deep geological time to present life forms.

The human mind is an evolutionary product, just like the body. However, the mind does not remain in fossil form like bones and teeth. Therefore, to better study and understand our minds their evolutionary origins we need to compare our cognitive features with those of different living primates. This approach is called "Comparative Cognitive Science (CCS)". CCS is a unique combination of Psychology and Primatology. CCS tries to give answers to the fundamental questions such as "what is uniquely human?", "where did it come from?”, "how did we get here?”, and "where do we go?" This intensive course focuses on chimpanzees, the closest relatives of humans.

This course covers selected areas of current research on CCS. We focus on behavioral studies of nonhuman animals, especially chimpanzees. Since the chimpanzee and the human share the latest common ancestor, only about five million years ago, this great ape provides the key to understanding our nature.