The central question of this course: “why study wood?” If “why study wood” is the question, one answer would be that it is the only raw material available to us that is truly renewable in human life span terms. Wood is as important to society today as it ever was, despite the development of many man-made substitute materials, changing resource availability, and the changing needs of society. Some items on the list of wood products stay the same (lumber, plywood and veneer for building construction, furniture, shipping pallets & crates and other containers & packaging materials, railroad ties, utility poles, chemical feed stocks, etc), but the list also keeps changing to meet new needs and challenges as the resource changes. In short, wood is a far more diverse, green, and renewable resource than you might have imagined. Join us to learn about the important role of wood in human history, civilization, and our future. By the end of the course, learners will be able to: - describe wood as a raw material and its critical importance to the world economy, and the lives of the people that make that economy work. - identify the projected trend for wood consumption to continue to grow in the coming years, despite the image of wood as a "low tech" material. - identify the ways in which wood's properties can lead to its efficient and sustainable use. -identify wood's positive role in boosting the world economy and ability to lead to unexpected vocations.

Welcome to an Introduction to Breast Cancer! In this course, we’ll learn a bit about the leading cause of cancer in women worldwide – from the basic biology of the disease, to risk factors and prevention, to treatment modalities to survivorship. We’ll talk to leading experts, explore some of the milestone studies that have pushed this field forward, and have interactive discussions on discussion boards and social media. You’ll even have an opportunity to let us know what topics you want to cover on tweetchats, so we can try to make the content fit your interests. There is something in this course for everyone – if you’re a breast cancer survivor or the friend/family member of someone with this disease, this course will help you to better understand this disease, and give you ideas for questions you may want to ask your doctor. Maybe you’re a healthcare provider or studying to be the same, this course is a great refresher on where the state of the science is. If you’re a healthcare administrator wondering about how the interdisciplinary components of breast cancer care fit together, or an entrepreneur thinking about unmet needs in this space, or someone in public health interested in prevention, this course is also for you! Are you ready to learn a lot, and have some fun while we’re at it? If so, I hope you’ll join us! Let’s get started!!!

In December 2019, a cluster of patients with pneumonia of unknown cause appeared in Wuhan, Hubei. Governments at all levels and Department of Health Administration highly valued and rapidly organized the centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), medical institutions, and scientific research academies to conduct a survey, rescue, and collaborative research. This new antigen was quickly identified as a novel coronavirus, named as 2019-nCoV by World Health Organization (WHO). Meanwhile, the pneumonia caused by it was named as novel coronavirus pneumonia. Implementing the decisions by the CPC Central Committee and State Council with Xi at the core, the whole country took comprehensive actions in social mobilization and deployment, taking epidemic control a most important work in the immediate future. The spread of the epidemic has been effectively controlled. However, novel coronavirus has spread to the whole world thereafter, so it called for closer international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control. Based on this situation, it was urgent to set a new MOOC program about COVID-19 and impart scientific knowledge of the disease to foreign students, undergraduate students, and all the other common people abroad, laying a solid foundation for the triumph of the war against COVID-19. The novel coronavirus is a new strain of coronavirus that had never been found in humans before. This huge family already known can cause cold or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and other severe diseases. The main signs and symptoms of the infected people include respiratory symptoms, fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, and dyspnea, etc. In severe and critical cases, there will appear pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. The two-month war against COVID-19 has helped us accumulate loads of experience in disease prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment, which can be shared with the whole world as a reference. In front of the need of our students and common people on COVID-19 prevention knowledge, the Health Science Center of Xi’an Jiaotong University has organized related experts to issue the English lectures of the epidemic prevention and control for people at home and abroad and international community. The contents are mainly about “Introduction,Diagnose,therapeutic Strategy and Prevention for COVID-19”. Through this course, we sincerely hope all our students and the common peoples of the world have scientific knowledge of COVID-19 and increased self-protection awareness, improving international community’s capacity for the prevention and control of COVID-19. We should work in great unity, take science-based and targeted measures against the epidemic, and have confidence in conquering the virus.

This class is aimed at people interested in understanding the basic science of plant biology. In this four lecture series, we'll first learn about the structure-function of plants and of plant cells. Then we'll try to understand how plants grow and develop, making such complex structures as flowers. Once we know how plants grow and develop, we'll then delve into understanding photosynthesis - how plants take carbon dioxide from the air and water from soil, and turn this into oxygen for us to breathe and sugars for us to eat. In the last lecture we'll learn about the fascinating, important and controversial science behind genetic engineering in agriculture. If you haven't taken it already, you may also be interested in my other course - What A Plant Knows, which examines how plants see, smell, hear and feel their environment: https://www.coursera.org/learn/plantknows. In order to receive academic credit for this course you must successfully pass the academic exam on campus. For information on how to register for the academic exam – https://tauonline.tau.ac.il/registration Additionally, you can apply to certain degrees using the grades you received on the courses. Read more on this here – https://go.tau.ac.il/b.a/mooc-acceptance Teachers interested in teaching this course in their class rooms are invited to explore our Academic High school program here – https://tauonline.tau.ac.il/online-highschool

In this course you will learn how evolution works. You will develop an understanding of evolutionary processes and their formative power. You will see how evolution has shaped biodiversity, and continuously influences our daily life. Evolution impacts human endeavors as varied as medicine, agriculture, psychology, economy, and culture. It is the major unifying principle for biology and a fundamental natural law. In five weeks we will make evolution accessible for you and help you to recognize evolutionary processes around you, in nature as well as in society. We make use of the unique collection of Naturalis, the natural history museum in Leiden, but also take you to the field. Using classical and up-to-date examples, we will show you how scientists address evolutionary questions. In the last module, we will have a look at the future. How will humans evolve? And how do we influence our own evolution and that of other organisms? This course is aimed at anybody with a drive to obtain a deeper, broader, and pragmatic understanding of evolution, including high-school students, BSc (undergraduate) biology students, MSc (graduate) students from other disciplines, medical professionals, conservation officers and educators in museums, libraries, national parks, and schools.

Radiation is all around us - without it we wouldn’t exist. Yet the word has become synonymous with danger, death and disaster. This MOOC will allow the world to see radiation in a new light, to expose its benefits as well as its risks. X-ray radiation, for example, is a scientific and medical discovery that has improved or prolonged billions of lives. Most of us have had an X-ray at some point in our life, at the Dentist, in a hospital or clinic. Yet few people really understand what X-rays are or where they come from. In this course, we will travel along the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation from unimaginably long to infinitesimally small wavelengths. At each significant point along the way we will stop and consider: What is the wavelength and frequency of this radiation? Is it ionising or not? Who discovered it and how? What are the uses of this radiation and What are the risks associated with it? Through this we hope to clarify a topic that is often confusing and concerning for many.

This course is about what we can learn from examining the human skeleton, and how we can use this knowledge to reconstruct the lives of people who lived in the past. In archaeology and anthropology, human skeletal remains can provide unique insights into the past and the present; insights that cannot be gained otherwise. These insights are explored in five main themes spread out over five weeks of learning. First, it is shown how age-at-death, sex and stature can be estimated by the close examination of (archaeological) skeletal remains. In subsequent modules it is shown how human bones can provide information about the diseases and injuries that people suffered from and what they ate. Also, it is shown how the human skeleton provides information about the kinds of activities that people engaged in and about how they migrated and moved around their landscapes. In this course, you will examine all aspects of the human skeleton that can provide us with information about these different facets of life. Together we will explore the scientific field that is known as human osteoarchaeology. - Human, because it is about us and our ancestors, - Osteo, because it is about our bones, - Archaeology, because we use this information to better understand the behaviors and events experienced by past people. During the course, you will decipher the clues left behind in the skeletons of past peoples with the methods and techniques that are presented. You may also discover some clues hidden in your own skeleton and what they reveal about the life that you are living. Want to know more? You can take a look at the course trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJi22TxzpRw

Have you ever wondered what it would take for humans to travel beyond the comforts of our home planet, Earth? You are invited to join us in Space Medicine - an online experience facilitated by two recent Duke graduates in which you will learn about and engage in the most pressing medical challenges facing NASA and others advancing the future of space exploration. Space Medicine is a free, non-certificate course featuring interactive modules and weekly live discussions. Participants will reflect on questions pertinent to the future of human health in space, such as: - How do humans respond to extreme environments? - How can engineers, doctors, and scientific researchers come together to prevent space related health issues before they occur? - If future generations of humans attempt to live in space, what challenges will they face? - Which evolutionary adaptations to living on Earth are useful to surviving a months- or years-long voyage? No prior experience in science or medicine is required, as life science concepts will be introduced as necessary. At the end of the course, you will have gained valuable experience in applying modern medicine to space-based situations, from space flight to journeying to Mars.

How are all of the species living on Earth today related? How does understanding evolutionary science contribute to our well-being? In this course, participants will learn about evolutionary relationships, population genetics, and natural and artificial selection. Participants will explore evolutionary science and learn how to integrate it into their classrooms.

The second phase of translational research — known as “T2” — assesses the value of applying discoveries to clinical practice, which leads to the development of evidence-based guidelines. This course focuses on clinical trials, the value of applying discoveries to clinical practice, and best practices for conducting research. You’ll see examples of human subjects research through clinical trials that have been translated into practice and, later, into basic scientific discoveries. You’ll also discuss the role of the federal government in supporting and regulating translational research conducted on humans. This is the third course of five in the “Translational Science” series.