Form Feeds Function in Vertebrate Evolution (lecture series)

This course provides a solid functional-comparative understanding of how vertebrates, including ourselves, are built, function and evolve. Lectures explore how form (anatomy or morphology) feeds function (physiology and biomechanics) in movement biology (locomotion, feeding, sensing, cardiorespiratory). Only by understanding comparative evolutionary history can you appreciate how animals came on land, vertebrates became Olympian movers, humans and birds became bipedal, why we use parts of the ancestral jaw to hear, and how we avoid choking when swallowing. Such knowledge is key for medical and veterinary school and will support you in biomedical and biotechnology fields, and in various general science disciplines. The course emphasizes modes of thought, including the differences between evidence and inference, and between correlation and causality. Tuning your way of thinking and dealing with information will aid you for the rest of your life, not just in your profession.