Sex and Death

Sex and Death: Biology From Beginning To End.

Biology is the scientific study of life. An
individual's life begins through a process of
reproduction. Reproduction may be either asexual
or sexual, and in some species both may occur.
Regardless of modality, successful reproduction
is contingent on the individual's ancestors'
ability to have survived long enough to
reproduce. The differential survival of
individuals may lead to evolution by natural
selection, another hallmark of 'life'. In the
case of sexual reproduction, an individual's
immediate ancestors also had to find a mate and
thus also had to beat the odds against a force
called 'sexual selection'. Because of intrinsic
trade-offs between the ability to survive and the
ability to reproduce, death is inevitable and is
thus perhaps also a hallmark of 'life'. This
course is organized around the biology of life
histories (patterns of reproduction and death).
Perspectives from anatomy, behavior, ecology,
evolution, develop¬mental biology, genetics,
neuroscience and physiology will be brought
together to understand life. All life forms will
be considered but there will be an emphasis on
the biology of humans. Towards our more complete
understanding of 'life' in the context of humans,
we will conduct a class project on human
reproductive behaviors and examine some
technological advances for controlling our
reproduction and lifespan.