James Mallet (Organismic & Evolutionary Biology)
First-Year Seminar 51P | 4 Credits (Fall 2024) | CANVAS SITE
Monday, 9:00 AM–11:30 AM
One hundred and fifty years after Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species…, you would think that scientists already have a good definition of species. In fact, a major debate still rages among biologists as to what species are, and how they evolve from other species. This seminar will cover these issues. Darwin used impeccable logic and convinced his readership by the 1860s that the entire diversity of life could be explained by means of evolution. Yet it’s possible that prior creationist notions of species still prevented even most biologists from accepting Darwin’s ideas about the nature of species. We needed a solid theory of heredity to understand what species are and how they evolve, and indeed it was this problem for evolution that led scientists to seek for and ultimately achieve the discovery of DNA. How has genetics and genome science changed our view of species? From 45,000 years ago, Neanderthals coexisted in Eurasia with modern humans for about 3,000-5,000 years. The latest genomic data show that some admixture took place. So, were we the same species? Or two different species? Does it matter? This seminar provides you with tools to make up your own mind on this. Course topics range over history, philosophy, and genetics; we explore the uses of species in classifying branches in the tree of life, and in conservation and laws about endangered species.
Note: No background in biology is required. All first-year students are encouraged to apply. There will be a required trip to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology for the purpose of identifying real species.