BIOL1930: What Can Jellyfish Tell Us about Human Eyes? The Evolution of Animal Sensory Systems

If we tracked our ancestors back 750 million years ago, we’d see an animal who’s offspring would later become humans and jellyfish. This animal would already have most of the same gene families that we do today. Genomic content, embryonic development, cell physiology, and animal behavior are fundamentally similar in all animals, with minor tweaks at the right moment resulting in organisms as different as a worm or a bird. This course will explore how evolution builds a trait, focusing on some of the best studied traits that can be compared across animals: visual systems. We will touch on how the fields of genomics, embryology, neurophysiology, and animal behavior are intertwined at sensory systems, and how they have helped us learn about Biology more broadly. We will explore examples from different animals, especially overlooked invertebrates, and understand how their study can help human health and society. Class will primarily be discussion and low-stakes presentations based on both assigned and student-chosen readings from scientific literature, pop sci. articles, and news sources.

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