Science-Videos

"Light will be thrown..." With these modest words, Charles Darwin launched a sweeping new theory of life in his epic book, On the Origin of Species (1859). The theory opened eyes and minds around the world to a radical new understanding of the flora and fauna of the planet. Here, Darwin showed for the first time that no supernatural processes are necessary to explain the profusion of living beings on earth, that all organisms past and present are related in a historical branching pattern of descent, and that human beings fall into place quite naturally in the web of all life.

Now, 150 years later and 200 years after Darwins birth, we celebrate the amazingly productive vision and reach of his theory. In this Fall Quarter course, we will meet weekly with leading Darwin scholars from around the country to learn about Darwins far-reaching legacy in fields as diverse as anthropology, religion, medicine, psychology, philosophy, literature, and biology. With such a broad reach across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, no wonder the theory of evolution by natural selection has been called the single best idea, ever.

Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky is giving a complete lecture on Human Behavioral Biology and explains the basic premise of the course and how he aims to avoid categorical thinking.

Virology - Biology W3310 and W4310

The basic thesis of the course is that all viruses adopt a common strategy. The strategy is simple:

1. Viral genomes are contained in metastable particles.

2. Genomes encode gene products that promote an infectious cycle (mechanisms for genomes to enter cells, replicate, and exit in particles).

3. Infection patterns range from benign to lethal; infections can overcome or co-exist with host defenses.

The course will emphasize the common reactions that must be completed by all viruses for successful reproduction within a host cell and survival and spread within a host population. The molecular basis of alternative reproductive cycles, the interactions of viruses with host organisms, and how these lead to disease are presented with examples drawn from a set of representative animal and human viruses, although selected bacterial viruses will be discussed.

Argonaut is a type of octopus most commonly found in tropical and subtropical seas. Its presence in temperate waters of Southern California indicate that warm water currents from the South are prevalent. Argonauts are pelagic (usually found far offshore in the open ocean) and demonstrate a dramatic sexual dimorphism (male is about one inch long and females up to 18 inches). The male argonaute has one of it's eight arms (the third) highly modified to carry sperm to the female. The modified arm of the male is called a hectocotylus and during mating this arm breaks off and crawls into the female to remain there until the female is ready to fertilize her eggs. When first discovered in the early 1800s the hectocotylus arm was thought to be a parasitic worm and was given the species name of Hectocotylus (therefore the origin of the term hecotocotylus arm of cephalopods).

The female argonaut makes a thin, laterally compressed calcareous shell with one chamber that is used as a brood pouch for eggs. The first of the eight arms of the female bears a wide sail-like lobe that is used to secrete and form the shell. The shell looks like an extinct ammonid shell or resembles shells from the extant cephalopod group called nautiluses. Thus, argonautes are commonly referred to as "paper nautiluses", however, they are octopuses and not closely related to nautiluses. Due to their beauty and delicate nature, argonaute shells are highly prized by collectors

Argonauts eat plankton like krill, shrimp and pelagic snails. A recent paper describes an argonaut positioned on the top of a jellyfish and eating away the bell to be able to send arms down through the jelly to remove plantonic food in the jelly's stomach.

Argonauts are eaten by tuna, billfish and blue sharks

Life is extreme chemical complexity, and knowing that life-forming chemicals are widespread in the universe, it may be posited that the universe, if the conditions are right, is poised for life.

"The Components of the Immune System." Harris Goldstein, M.D., director, Einstein-Montefiore Center for AIDS Research, professor of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology and the Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases, delivers a mini-course that provides a comprehensive overview in basic immunology for graduate and medical students and for anyone interested in understanding how the immune system works. This mini-course was organized by the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH) at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa to provide Sub-Saharan students, research trainees and HIV and TB investigators with a comprehensive course in immunology.