Online courses directory (417)

Hank Green teaches you biology!. Why Carbon is a Tramp. Water - Liquid Awesome. Biological Molecules - You Are What You Eat. Eukaryopolis - The City of Animal Cells. In Da Club - Membranes & Transport. Plant Cells. ATP & Respiration. Photosynthesis. Heredity. DNA Structure and Replication. DNA, Hot Pockets, & The Longest Word Ever. Mitosis: Splitting Up is Complicated. Meiosis: Where the Sex Starts. Natural Selection. Speciation: Of Ligers & Men. Animal Development: We're Just Tubes. Evolutionary Development: Chicken Teeth. Population Genetics: When Darwin Met Mendel. Taxonomy: Life's Filing System. Evolution: It's a Thing. Comparative Anatomy: What Makes Us Animals. Simple Animals: Sponges, Jellies, & Octopuses. Complex Animals: Annelids & Arthropods. Chordates. Animal Behavior. The Nervous System. Circulatory & Respiratory Systems. The Digestive System. The Excretory System: From Your Heart to the Toilet. The Skeletal System: It's ALIVE!. Big Guns: The Muscular System. Your Immune System: Natural Born Killer. Great Glands - Your Endocrine System. The Reproductive System: How Gonads Go. Old & Odd: Archaea, Bacteria & Protists. The Sex Lives of Nonvascular Plants. Vascular Plants = Winning!. The Plants & The Bees: Plant Reproduction. Fungi: Death Becomes Them. Ecology - Rules for Living on Earth. Why Carbon is a Tramp. Water - Liquid Awesome. Biological Molecules - You Are What You Eat. Eukaryopolis - The City of Animal Cells. In Da Club - Membranes & Transport. Plant Cells. ATP & Respiration. Photosynthesis. Heredity. DNA Structure and Replication. DNA, Hot Pockets, & The Longest Word Ever. Mitosis: Splitting Up is Complicated. Meiosis: Where the Sex Starts. Natural Selection. Speciation: Of Ligers & Men. Animal Development: We're Just Tubes. Evolutionary Development: Chicken Teeth. Population Genetics: When Darwin Met Mendel. Taxonomy: Life's Filing System. Evolution: It's a Thing. Comparative Anatomy: What Makes Us Animals. Simple Animals: Sponges, Jellies, & Octopuses. Complex Animals: Annelids & Arthropods. Chordates. Animal Behavior. The Nervous System. Circulatory & Respiratory Systems. The Digestive System. The Excretory System: From Your Heart to the Toilet. The Skeletal System: It's ALIVE!. Big Guns: The Muscular System. Your Immune System: Natural Born Killer. Great Glands - Your Endocrine System. The Reproductive System: How Gonads Go. Old & Odd: Archaea, Bacteria & Protists. The Sex Lives of Nonvascular Plants. Vascular Plants = Winning!. The Plants & The Bees: Plant Reproduction. Fungi: Death Becomes Them. Ecology - Rules for Living on Earth.

Hank Green teaches you ecology!. The History of Life on Earth. Population Ecology: The Texas Mosquito Mystery. Human Population Growth. Community Ecology: Feel the Love. Community Ecology II: Predators. Ecological Succession: Change is Good. Ecosystem Ecology: Links in the Chain. The Hydrologic and Carbon Cycles: Always Recycle!. Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles: Always Recycle!. 5 Human Impacts on the Environment. Pollution. Conservation and Restoration Ecology. The History of Life on Earth. Population Ecology: The Texas Mosquito Mystery. Human Population Growth. Community Ecology: Feel the Love. Community Ecology II: Predators. Ecological Succession: Change is Good. Ecosystem Ecology: Links in the Chain. The Hydrologic and Carbon Cycles: Always Recycle!. Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles: Always Recycle!. 5 Human Impacts on the Environment. Pollution. Conservation and Restoration Ecology.

Environmental problems do not recognize geographic or disciplinary boundaries. Therefore to develop sustainable solutions to environmental challenges...

Environmental problems do not recognize geographic or disciplinary boundaries. Therefore to develop sustainable solutions to environmental challenges we must incorporate the natural and social sciences and also deeply engage local communities. ...

Each part of the world faces specific vulnerabilities to climate change and has different opportunities to mitigate the effects and build resilience in the 21st century. With the Paris Agreement at COP 21, the global community has signaled its intent to act. Indeed, without climate action, decades of development progress are threatened, meaning that we are at a ‘make it or break it’ point in time. This course presents the most recent scientific evidence, regional impacts and climate action strategies, and some opportunities for you to take action on climate change.

Моделирование биологических молекул - одна из бурно развивающихся областей современной науки. В курсе даются основы строения биомолекул, примеры применения программных пакетов для молекулярного моделирования, разъясняются подходы к математическому описанию молекулярных систем и разбирается программная реализация этих подходов на центральном и графическом процессорах.

Курс «Введение в биоинформатику» адресован тем, кто хочет получить расширенное представление о том, что такое биоинформатика и как она помогает биологам и медикам в их работе. The course is aimed at those who would like to have a better idea of what bioinformatics is and how it helps biologists and medical scientists in research and clinical work.

In this six-week course, you will learn the basics about our energy and climate obligations. You will also prepare yourself to continue learning as these issues evolve. You will evaluate demand-side (e.g. more efficient buildings and automobiles) and supply-side (e.g. solar and wind) strategies for more sustainable use of energy. The course will require fact-based analysis of our energy obligations and possible ways to meet them. Please also consider enrolling in Sustainable Energy Innovation which begins June 2.

Join us for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics! Mega-events like the Olympics are complex phenomena that combine decisions about a short-term festival with long-term social impacts. On the surface, the public spectacle is compelling but going inside the games reveals so much more about the event, athletes, and host city. We will explore the many dimensions of mega-events—history, culture, politics, business, law, sports management, health, and economics—and provide the tools and language to interpret and understand the 2014 Winter Olympics. Join us, and fans around the world, for a month of Olympic spectacle.

From understanding social identities to modeling the spread of disease, this eight-week course will span key science and survival themes using AMC’s The Walking Dead as its basis. Four faculty members from the University of California, Irvine will take you on an inter-disciplinary academic journey deep into the world of AMC’s The Walking Dead, exploring the following topics: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—is survival just about being alive? Social order and structures—from the farm and the prison to Woodbury Social identity, roles, and stereotyping—as shown through leaders like Rick and the Governor The role of public health in society—from the CDC to local community organizations The spread of infectious disease and population modeling—swarm! The role of energy and momentum in damage control—how can you best protect yourself? Nutrition in a post-apocalyptic world—are squirrels really good for you? Managing stress in disaster situations—what’s the long-term effect of always sleeping with one eye open? Each week we’ll watch engaging lectures, listen to expert interviews, watch exclusive interviews with cast members talking about their characters, use key scenes from the show to illustrate course learning, read interesting articles, review academic resources, participate in large and small group discussions, and—of course—test our learning with quizzes. We recommend that you plan on spending about two (2) to four (4) hours per week on this course, though we believe the course is compelling enough you’ll want to spend more time. At the end of this course, you will be able to: Describe how infectious diseases—like a zombie epidemic—spread and are managed Apply various models of society and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to existing and emerging societies as a means for understanding human behavior Analyze existing social roles and stereotypes as they exist today and in an emerging world Debate the role of public health organizations in society Describe how mathematical equations for population dynamics can be used to study disease spread and interventions Apply concepts of energy and momentum appropriately when analyzing collisions and other activities that either inflict or prevent damage Summarize multiple methods for managing stress in disaster situations

This lab course supplements BIO302: Human Anatomy [1].  Although we cannot virtually replicate the lab experience, this “lab” will familiarize you with scientific thinking and techniques and will enable you to explore of some key principles of human anatomy. The material in this lab supplement relates to the material covered in the lecture and reading portion of the course.  While that portion focuses more on large-picture concepts, here we will focus more on visual understanding, manipulation, and practical use of your knowledge.  You will review the anatomy and histology of the organs by using images of models, microscopic slides, and videos on cat and sheep dissections.  Then you will be asked to assess your knowledge, which eventually can be put to practical or experimental use.  Working though this lab supplement, you will realize that you must memorize new terms and locate different structures and organs, which can only be achieved by repetition and practice. Note: This course makes use of…

This course will teach you the fundamentals of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is the study of energy and its transformations. Energy is a physical property that can be converted from one form to another in order to perform work. For example, a stone rolling down a hill is converting gravitational potential energy into the kinetic energy of motion. Thermodynamics can be applied to systems we use every daysuch as, for example, heat pumps and refrigerators, internal combustion engines, batteries, and both electrical and mechanical power generators. An awareness of thermodynamics will help you examine other concepts involving chemical processes more quickly and will enable you to understand why many physical phenomena (such as automobile engines or chemical explosives) work the way they do. The knowledge you will gain in this course also will help you determine how much work an object can put out and predict how to optimize an object’s operation. In this course, you will learn about the laws of thermodynamics…

This course will teach you the important role that metal ions play in key biological processes.  You will learn that many biological functions are performed at the cellular level by metal ions that are incorporated into the activation sites of proteins and enzymes.  For example, when oxygen is transported through blood in the human body, it is bound to iron ions that are incorporated into the hemoglobin protein.  In order to function properly, these iron ions must be high-spin and in their +2 oxidation state.  As you progress through this course, you will learn about these and other requirements and mechanisms that must be present in order to facilitate critical biological functions. You will begin this course by reviewing the basic principles of inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology.  Following a brief overview of the spectroscopy methods that scientists use in the study of metals that contain protein, you will explore the structures of the most relevant metal centers in biological…

Bioorganic chemistry studies the chemistry of organic biomolecules.  It is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that combines organic chemistry and biochemistry.  Please recall that organic chemistry investigates all molecules that contain carbon and hydrogen, and biochemistry focuses on the network of molecular pathways in the cell.  Bioorganic chemistry employs organic chemistry to explain how enzymes catalyze the reactions of metabolic pathways and why metabolites react the way they do.  Bioorganic chemistry aims to expand organic-chemical research on structures, synthesis, and kinetics in a biological direction. This one-semester course will cover several advanced chemistry topics and will discuss the chemistry behind biological processes.  The course begins by introducing you to the mechanisms behind the most common biological chemical reactions (Unit 1).  You will then take a closer look at the metabolic processes of biomolecules.  You will apply your knowledge of the structural feature…

This course will begin with brief overview of what important current research topics are in oceanography (physical, geological, and biological) and how acoustics can be used as a tool to address them. Three typical examples are climate, bottom geology, and marine mammal behavior. Will then address the acoustic inverse problem, reviewing inverse methods (linear and nonlinear) and the combination of acoustical methods with other measurements as an integrated system. Last part of course will concentrate on specific case studies, taken from current research journals. This course is taught on campus at MIT and with simultaneous video at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Do you have an interest in biology and quantitative tools? Do you know computational methods but do not realize how they apply to biological problems? Do you know biology but do not understand how scientists really analyze complicated data? 7.QBWx: Quantitative Biology Workshop is designed to give learners exposure to the application of quantitative tools to analyze biological data at an introductory level. For the last few years, the Biology Department of MIT has run this workshop-style course as part of a one-week outreach program for students from other universities. With 7.QBWx, we can give more learners from around the world the chance to discover quantitative biology. We hope that this series of workshops encourages learners to explore new interests and take more biology and computational courses.

We expect that learners from 7.00x Introduction to Biology – The Secret of Life or an equivalent course can complete this workshop-based course without a background in programming. The course content will introduce programming languages but will not teach any one language in a comprehensive manner. The content of each week varies. We want learners to have an introduction to multiple languages and tools to find a topic that they would want to explore more. Participants with programming experience will find some weeks easier than students with only biology experience, while those with a biology background should find the week on genetics easier. We recommend that learners try to complete each week to find what interests them the most.

Workshop Content Creators and Residential Leaders

Gregory Hale, Michael Goard, Ph.D., Ben Stinson, Kunle Demuren, Sara Gosline, Ph.D., Glenna Foight, Leyla Isik, Samir El-Boustani, Ph.D., Gerald Pho, and Rajeev Rikhye

Residential Outreach Workshop Organizer and Creator

Mandana Sassanfar, Ph.D.

This workshop includes activities on the following biological topics: population biology, biochemical equilibrium and kinetics, molecular modeling of enzymes, visual neuroscience, genetics, gene expression and development, and genomics. The tools and programming languages include MATLAB, PyMOL, StarGenetics, Python, and R. This course does not require learners to download MATLAB. All MATLAB activities run and are graded within the edX platform. We do recommend that participants download a few other free tools for the activities so that they learn how to use the same tools and programs that scientists use.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

No region on Earth is immune from natural disasters. As we gain scientific understanding into the causes and nature of such phenomena, we become better able to mitigate the effects of disasters. Yet as the world's population continues to grow, an increasingly large number of people are at risk.

This science course examines different types of natural disasters and our ability, or inability, to control and predict such events. You will gain an appreciation of natural disasters beyond the newspaper headlines, and will better understand how the effects of disasters can be reduced.

There is an urgent need for people from all walks of life to better understand the scientific principles behind the occurrence of natural disasters:

• City planners need to know where, and where not, to site buildings.
• Politicians need to make scientifically informed decisions.
• Emergency management officials need to understand the nature of a potential disaster and ways to mitigate such an event.
• Journalists need to report scientifically accurate information.

Learner Testimonial:

“Professors Stix and Gyakum have created and presented an engaging course, and have helped in my quest for a better understanding of the world around me.” – Previous Student

Get a basic overview of microbiology before exploring advanced topics like bacterial cell morphology, nitrogen fixation and protozoan diseases through this online Education Portal course, Biology 103: Microbiology. Watch our video lessons on STDs, bacterial diseases and foodborne illnesses as you prepare to earn real college credit through the Microbiology Excelsior Exam . Though the subjects covered in these lessons are somewhat intense, our experienced, knowledgeable instructors have kept the videos brief, engaging and easy to follow. You also can benefit from the multiple-choice quizzes and written transcripts that complement each video.

Biomimetics is based on the belief that nature, at least at times, is a good engineer. Biomimesis is the scientific method of learning new principles and processes based on systematic study, observation and experimentation with live animals and organisms. This Freshman Advising Seminar on the topic is a way for freshmen to explore some of MIT's richness and learn more about what they may want to study in later years.